We Are In London!

5/19/06
Worcester

Today we visited the Worcester Cathedral. I'd never seen one before and it was pretty amazing. I walked in and thought to myself, "Khazad-dûm!" There were stone pillars that looked straight out of Moria. And of course, lots of stained glass--one with a pink giraffe in it. There was also this long hall, with dark wood pews on either side, and it reminded me of the hall in Charn, in The Magician's Nephew, you know--with all the kings and queens? Thre was even a table at the end, where the hammer and bell would have been. And there was a tall cabinet-looking thing, and I asked Sarah Dee "What's in there?" and she said, "Narnia."

Gosh, it's a good thing I'm a complete geek, or I wouldn't be able to describe anything.

Peculiar thing about the weather in England: it only rains for about 10 minutes at a time. Then it's sunny for about 5 minutes, overlapping the rain by about 1 minute. Then it's windy and gray and overcast for 30 minutes, and then the cycle starts all over again.

Weird place.


5/21/06
Worcester

Nothing can describe what it was like to be in Stratford-upon-Avon and seeing a production of Romeo and Juliet by the Royal Shakespeare Company, so I won't even try. Yesterday was my favorite day of the whole trip (and remains so even now). I wish I lived there.

Today Marion and Denis took Heidi and I to a real, inhabited castle nearby. Pretty much amazing.

A word about British newspapers: Breasts. Almost every page features breasts! IN THE NEWSPAPERS!! Today there was an article about a woman who had some genuine disease called something like "Constant Arousal Syndrome" and she has like 250 orgasms in a day, according to the headline. Mixed in among articles on football and some violence...in the newspaper, not tabloids. I can only imagine what their tabloids cover. Actually, I hope I never imagine them.

These are the haikus that Aubrey Weger wrote on this subject:

Boobs. Boobs. Boobs. Boobs. Boobs.
Turn the page tentatively...
Boobs. Boobs. Boobs. Boobs. Boobs.

British newspapers
Are much more interesting
Than American.

Thanks, Aubrey!

Oh yeah, and Denis and Marion's favorite kind of music is country. :)


5/22/06
Worcester, Downtown, The Library
9:45 AM

"FamiliarStrange"

The sky is dark
Heavy with the prophesied birth
The sounds of her labor familiar
Strange, because I am strange
Unfamiliar with the old red brick
And the bluegreenred doors (but no purple)
That hide people
With strange accents
And lace curtains
The patterns of traffic are strange
Seeming to point everywhere
And Peugeots and Citroëns go in all directions at once
Confusing my muddled notions of Order
And Predictability
But the faces are familiar
Strange, on the wrong side of the car
Because I am strange
Timorously skipping across slippery white lines
Jumping the last few feet, to stand
Grinning, on the oppposite curb
Safe
Another game won
The sky heaves her last
Drops of ancient water collect in my eyelashes
Darken my hair
Splash my cheeks
(Carefully painted just two short hours before--
An effort to like myself)
The cold pinprick is shocking
The age old joker
Recycled
Made from the same water that flows from my garden hose
Drawn from the rivers of my childhood
Siphoned from the ocean I saw from 35,000 feet
It's presence familiar
Strange, because I am strange
Frizzy-haired and resigned to this inevitability
Not bothering with my purple umbrella
Accustomed now to soggy forays
Down unfamiliar gray streets
That feel old
Full of stories
Stories I've never known, because I've never heard
But stories I would recognize in an instant
Because they are their stories
Our stories
My Stories
And I am strange--familiar
Because they are familiar