Day 2 - Plane Socks and Tube Mice

(no really, it does make sense)

Today the adventures began! J is still stuck at work this week, so it's up to me to amuse myself in a foreign town full of foreign speakers. This works out for the best, as he's most likely done all the touristy things he wants to, and so isn't forced through them all again. I woke at 8am, and promptly went back to sleep. I woke again at 8:09am, and slept again. Finally, I acquiesced and got up. My goal this week is to feel like a native, so I did what the Romans do, and made a cup of tea. I read the paper, too. (it's like the MX, but with more trash) Got ready, met another house mate (Jayson, a funny guy) and then left, walking to the big street at the end of the road, just to see what I could see. Today as an experiment, I was wearing the complimentary socks I received on the plane. Coloured like a first-aid bandage (and feeling like one), I was curious as to just how durable they were.

My walk took me to Maryland station, where I purchased a recommended ticket and found me a train. The job for today was to bend the Underground to my will, to understand it's bizarre machinations and make it a tool for my use and not a puzzle for my confusement. The interesting thing about the “Tube” is that it has 12 distinct lines, which all criss-cross each other at different points. No where is impossible to get to, it just may involve multiple changes. And they run every 5 minutes, making it a very simple matter to travel “across the grain” as it were. Something worth noting about the Tube is how aggressively noisy it is. I'm not sure what brings the cacophony about, but something about the design of the doors lets in the roar from the tunnel, meaning even with headphones you're not really getting much peace.

I then spent the day travelling around London, walking the streets and seeing the sights. I mooched my way up and down Oxford and Regent streets, and it was halfway down one of these, that I suddenly ripped my headphones out. Not due to any type of obscenity suddenly pouring from them, but rather I realised that I was in a foreign land, and following my usual patterns for avoiding the noise of the outside world. With those headphones in, I was suddenly gaining a deeper insight into the sociology classes I'd taken at Uni, and began to really click as to what Sony were all about. Plus, with the headphones in I could have been walking down a street in Melbourne – the accents would remove all doubt.

This casual stroll took me all the way up to Marble Arch, where I caught another train and got off at a random stop to continue my prowling. I eventually made my way through the edges of Soho, the theatre district, Picadilly Circus and Leicester Square. if I was really following my Monopoly board idea, today would have gained me bonus points for the locations I hit (quite by accident, too).

The day was drawing to an end and I thought it best to retreat back to Casa Di J. I had his house-key after all. Getting back to the required station, I stood on the edge of the platform, and noticed movement below. Small mice were zipping in an out of the rail-tracks, their brown forms blending in with the dirty concrete foundations. I had to look around and check that other people had seen them, as at first I thought I was getting delusional. Nope, they were definitely there. Then all of a sudden they vanished – not disappeared, just ran away. I figure they could sense the trains coming (like Tonto used to do) as the train did indeed arrive right after this. I boarded, like a piece in Tetris, fitting awkwardly yet precisely into the available gap. Unlike Tetris, this didn't result in a whole bunch of people disappearing and freeing up space. Eventually arrived back at J's, and fell asleep. All this walking around on 4 hours sleep is tiring! J and D prepared a lovely dinner, accompanied by chinese lager (pretty good, too) and we talked nonsense for hours.

Calling it a night, I unpacked my sling bag and took stock – camera worked like a charm, phone works like a charm (but you guys will never be able to call it), and as for the plane socks? Worn through on both big toes. Top marks for comfort, but failure in the durability department. Not quite sure what the airline expected me to do with them either.

New Thing Learnt Today – The Tube is chaos incarnate, but the british people have harnessed it's power and run it efficiently. Kudos!