Meandering around the Thames

For all intents and purposes, I really did get lost.

Today, I set out into the city with a few goals in mind.  One, I was going to hunt down a small shop or boutique where I can get my watch battery replaced.  Or at least be one step closer to doing so (i.e. learn the name or location of a shop).  Second, I was going to either locate where I can buy textbooks or, even better, buy textbooks.  Third, I was going to meet someone I only met once and attend a theater show in Shakespeare's Globe.  Maybe.  Fourthly:  get lost.  Why not?

I set out and I walk to the Globe I can't find the people I was supposed to meet.  I hang around for a while and enjoy the scenery of the river and think on where I'll get lunch and if I could burn away the scratchy feeling in my throat with a scalding thermos of tea.  Then it's almost two o'clock and I figure I'm not going to meet them anyway so I wander towards the Tate Museum of Contemporary Art, which is huge, by the way.  I buy what is probably the British version of a brat at a random food stand and eat that.  I eat that as I observe the Thames.

I saw a pigeon with a peg-leg as I was eating.  I thought those things only appeared in movies.  Apparently not.  Made my day.

I got bored of the Tate.  Sorry, contemporary and modern art is a bit too weird for my tastes.  I just don't understand it.  I probably would if someone explained to me the message the artist was trying to convey, but I can't like it on my own.

Afterwards, I had nothing else to do, so I set out to get lost.  And lost I did get.  I saw an M&S food store and a few other things that looked interesting, but nothing where I can walk in and ask if they can replace a watch battery.  Then I find myself at a tube station and I think about going to get some textbooks.  So I depart for the Cavendish campus because that's where a campus bookstore is located.

The bookstore really is just a bookstore.  There were a couple sweatshirts for sale, but nothing that says "Westminster Dad" or something equally as blatant like they do in the States.  They were only 22 pounds, and I'm debating about getting one, but I'm not sure about it at the moment.  Maybe in a few weeks?  Anyway, I could only find half the textbooks I needed, which is fine because I don't need them all right away.  Besides, I got the names and locations of a few other bookstores around London I can check out.  Exploring those should be fun.

I return home to some light rain and decide that I want to just sit and drink water because I was thirsty.  I finished reading the book I picked up from the common room earlier in the week:  Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen.  It's a good book.  Not the greatest in story, in fact I thought it was slightly anti-climactic, but still a good story.  I could also be saying that because it's about a circus during the Great Depression.  Interesting times.

I finished my book and then started to make dinner.  Encountered Hattie in the kitchen.  Vanessa came in for a little bit, and Alice came in as I was starting to clean up.  After catching up on the Internet, I went to meet Oscar and the others on the first floor.  Hung out with them for a few hours, left for a bit to call Mom, returned, and then retreated to my room after midnight.

Then Dan called me on Skype (yay!) and we talked for all of ten minutes before his mother was calling him.  But I'm sitting in bed now and I'm about to go to bed. 

And that was my day.