Oct. 31, 5:50 P.M.
The Clink hostel, basement kitchen
There are so many cool events going on tonight... I wish I could go to all of them. :)
http://www.timeout.com/london/halloween/
But, since I'm going with Katie (and her boyfriend, and some other friend of hers, and possibly other BUNAC people...), it has to be after 8, which already limits my options. It looks like we're going to the "Halloween Ghost and Murder Walks" one.
I'm in the hostel kitchen right now, and I put together a quick late lunch/early dinner with some pasta and steak, but there are some Italians sitting near me who totally put my pathetic little meal to shame. They're having pasta, too, but with some kind of a veggies and cream sauce thing, and lots of bread (it's only toast, but I guess it wouldn't be a meal without some kind of bread). Earlier one of them took my pepper grinder without asking, and I complained (I explained that they could use it, but I wished they'd ask next time), but their English was very, very limited, and as a nice gesture, they shared some of their wine -- so now I'm having a sweet, fizzy Italian wine to go with my substandard pasta dish.
Also, I stopped by the St. Pancras church today on the way back to the hostel. I've been wanting to check it out ever since I noticed the big pink banner inviting entry to its crypt gallery, and I figured what better time than on Halloween, right? God, it's truly the creepiest church I've ever seen... it's got huge gothic women statues/pillars, massive grey stones, a really unkempt garden and heavy wrought iron gates. I followed the signs to the "London crypt" onto the grounds; nobody else was there, but the gates were open. I wandered around the building, but I couldn't find a single open door; I tried pulling, but they wouldn't budge. So much for that Halloween idea. There was a list of gallery exhibitions -- I may have just missed the last day of the previous one; the next one opens on Nov. 6, and it's to showcase the work of some costume designer. Not exactly what I'd have expected in a creepy place like that, but I'll go when it opens anyway.
Nov. 1, 4:36 P.M.
Porchester Gate Flat, Bayswater
Well, I ended up going on the "ghosts and murders" walk, which was fun, but unfortunately Katie was unable to make it, and everybody else I know was at the BUNAC event. After the walk, I went to where I thought the event was, but was completely wrong... There are a number of pubs called the "Walkabout" and by then it was already too late to go back and look up all the other locations, so that was pretty much the end of my night. So, yeah, that part sucked. After that, I went to a convenience store, bought a couple candy bars (my only consolation: I've never seen those particular ones in the US), and took the bus back. I met a nice Australian guy and some American girl on the bus back, and they were really nice to chat to... the American girl came from Pasadena, of all places, but now she's a student at Cambridge (she agreed with me that London is so tame in the Halloween department... It could use some excitement like the WeHo Halloween Carnival!). It was also weird that I seemed to be an information dispenser from the moment I got that bus stop... I directed some British girls (not from London, I guess) to the Embankment station, and I told the Aussie which buses he needed to get to Angel Station in Islington. Yay, people are assuming I know stuff about this city! It keeps happening a lot, actually.
So... today I've moved into my new flat. I'm emailing you from Tatiana's laptop (I'm taking her place, actually) in my bedroom. I did lots of shopping today, mainly for bedding things; I've yet to do some grocery shopping, too. I hit up every department store on Oxford St. (OMG, Selfridge's is AMAZING!!!); what I wouldn't do for a simple Bed, Bath & Beyond or Linens 'n Things... it took me forever to get a decent feather pillow for under £25.
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