Just Thinking of Disneyland...

I’ve been listening to nothing but Disneyland music today… Listening to Main Street marching band music in Charing Cross Station, the submarine ride soundtrack in the British Library, Main Street Electrical Parade on Farringdon Road in Islington, the Country Bears show on the train to Harpenden… ironically enough, the Haunted Mansion soundtrack came on when I was walking by the St. Pancras church on Euston St. and I spotted a HUGE banner advertising that the crypts are open to the public (and from what I saw, it was a very creepy church indeed… large, grey and with enormous gothic-looking women sort of holding up the building as columns; I’m actually quite anxious to check it out, now!).

It was sort of like living in a twin reality; having been to Disneyland so many times, merely hearing the sounds can make me feel like I’m almost there. Though the weather was cold and grey, I was transported into the warm, morning sunshine of Main Street Disneyland with nothing on my mind but how many times I would be going on Space Mountain* that day and what ride I’d be going on once I’d collected my first fast pass… (Probably Pirates of the Caribbean.) And yet it’s equally strange to take in all the iconic features of London and realize I’m really there. I had a strange feeling today, when walking through Soho, that it was much too much like a Universal Studios back lot set that never ends. (I suppose that means they’re doing their jobs well at Universal.) Possibly because the multitudes of tourists, or because of the sheer force of character the place possesses… Maybe both. It was sort of funny (to me, at least) to know that I could keep walking on for a very, very long time and still not run into the next themed area. I’d have to go for a swim in the Channel before it starts to look like a French back lot.

*Try listening to the Space Mountain soundtrack while going down one of the longer escalators in the tube stations… it’s sort of farcical when you replace the beginning incline of the ride, with all the flashy lights and anticipation, with a long (and sometimes shiny – but the only flashy lights you’ll get come from the dozens of video advertisements along the escalator at Charing Cross) corridor of people waiting to get on an underground train. But you do get the effect of riding inside a very large, fast worm once you’ve arrived, and that can be exciting, too. You just couldn’t tell based on the miasma cast over every tube traveler’s face.

[Sorry for not having much to say today… I went to a job interview at Foyle’s bookshop today, and I met with Katie to discuss sharing a flat. That’s about it.]