After I got back home, for the next two weeks my life was hell. Writing papers is not much fun. Basically, instead of doing the work before hand, I kept pushing it off and procrastinating like crazy. One of the problems with the system over here is that while one may think that one has free time, one actually doesn’t.
My papers got done. Though they could have been better. That was my fault. I will say this, I never ever thought that I would gladly do work on a Friday just to make sure it got done.
After I handed my papers in, after all was said and done, I just did things for myself. Things which makes me happy. I went to the movies as many times as I could. I saw Up in the Air, The Road, The Book of Eli. I rented many movies off iTunes. All in all, it was mostly about just celebrating the fact that I was done with all that work.
The first major thing I did with this new term was I went to Manchester with my friend Charles from Filmsoc to go to an Ale tasting festival. That was brilliant. He like me is a big fan of stouts and ales. Lagers aren’t bad. They just don’t tend to have that personality of an Ale. Lagers all taste quite similar. Charles had been to these events before. He told me to rent the pint glass. There was also a ½ pint glass but the pint glass also had a marker for ½ pint. I just bought ½ pints all day but the vendors had a habit of overfilling by accident. So, I ended up getting more beer for less money.
One of the hosts for this event was Budweiser Budvar which has trouble selling anywhere other than Europe because of Anheuser Busch. In the pamphlet for the event which had all the different beers in it, there was a short piece which ripped the American counterpart to shreds. They didn’t beat around the bush at all. They just talked about how bad the American beer is.
Pretty much the norm for alcohol percentage was 5% or so. I think the weakest beer I had was 3.9%. Needless to say it was a good day although after a while, I couldn’t really taste the new beers just because my palate was shot. We did meet a group of German girls who kept saying cheers constantly. There was also a live band which played at the tail end of the event. They played old classic hits. Knocking on Heaven’s Door. For What it’s Worth. That sort of thing.
The city of Manchester itself seemed nice. They have a tram system there not unlike San Francisco. Before going to the festival Charles and I walked around a bit. We stopped by their public library which has a massive circular reading room. We also walked through their art museum and looked at some of the paintings very briefly. It was fun.
That night in the Manchester train station, there were a bunch of football hooligans. It was a big game day in Manchester. As we were getting on the train to get back to Brum, cops were wrestling some to the ground to arrest them. It was strange because those that were getting arrested seemed to take it pretty well like it was all part of the game. It was almost as if getting arrested was something fun for them.
It was a good day but there isn’t much to talk about really. I just went up and got decently drunk off of some very nice beer. Before I came to England, I never really liked beer. Now that I’m here, I’ve gained an appreciation. The thing is that beer in the States just tends to not have as good a flavor. My flat mates think light beer is ridiculous and in truth it kind of is. I would rather have a full flavored heavy dark beer, than one which is just like drinking water…. which is slightly off.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Flight Back
I didn’t really do much while I was at home. I saw a few friends but mostly I just hung out with the family. My flight back was another interesting adventure. It started at round about five in the morning. My brother Chris was to drive me back to St. Louis to catch a mid morning flight. We were a little rushed for time but we made several stops to grab cheap coffee from truck stops. Neither of us are morning people.
We got to the airport all right. I was the last one to check in and I had to rush to get through security. I then found out that the flight was delayed by about 30 minutes. I bought some candy for the flight. I ended up not eating it until after I got back to Birmingham.
I talked with some of the other passengers before we boarded. They were heading to Ottawa for their second Christmas and for New Years.
The flight from St. Louis to Toronto was uneventful. I wish I had had my camera on me for when we actually flew into the city because it was one hell of a view. Seeing the CN Tower looming over the city like a giant citadel was quite a sight.
I kept checking my watch constantly. We were running late and I was going to have to hoof it to get through customs to get to my next flight on time. We did land in a separate terminal and were bussed over to the main concourse to get through customs. It was annoying just because I was running so late. Thankfully, I got through on time (and I now have a Canadian stamp) and I rushed to my next flight. Due to being so late they had bumped me but they allowed me to get on this flight. I was heading to Montreal. There is a flight between Toronto and Montreal almost every hour. I didn’t need to rush as much as I thought I had to.
I did have time to purchase a book from a News stand. I had finished the only book I brought with me on the flight and I needed something to entertain myself. I purchased City of Thieves by David Benioff. It’s a pretty solid read. I did however forget at how expensive books are in North America. I had gotten so used to UK book prices.
Once we landed in Montreal, the first thing I saw once I debarked from the flight was a restaurant. I probably could have found a different one, or a much cheaper one but I didn’t really care at this point. I just wanted food. I had a salmon steak and a vodka martini. I found out pretty quickly that I don’t really like those just because I don’t like vodka. I also had a pint of Heineken beer.
I found my gate. There was added security in the airport due to the Detroit incident. There was a doorway where once I walked through I was going to have to stay on that side no matter what. I decided to hang back at a café bar type place. I had two more pints of Rickard’s Red beer which is a very tasty Canadian beer that I had never heard of before. Very amber.
I got on the plane and due to my exhaustion, and the amount of alcohol which was in my system, I crashed the second I got comfortable. I don’t remembering taxiing. I don’t remember take off. I remember waking up half way through the flight realizing that the person next to me had gotten up and was sitting somewhere else. I did ask the stewardess if there was supposed to be a meal. Apparently I had slept through that as well. They did provide me with one though. I got a crew meal just because the economy meal wasn’t looking so good at this point. It was trout and as airplane food goes, it was actually pretty good.
We landed. I went through customs. Got to the underground and went to Euston train station. Once there I was going to buy a ticket to get home.
When I was in line to purchase my ticket there was a woman in front of me who was taking forever. I kept checking my watch repeatedly. The man behind me asked where I was going. I told him I could make the 9:23 to Birmingham if this woman would hurry up. “It’s always a life story.” I’m looking at this guy. The second he said that I start noticing that he looks very familiar. I then ask a dumb question. “Has anybody ever mistaken you for James Ellroy?”
“I am James Ellroy.”
My immediate reaction was that I thought he was lying but he kept giving me this wry smile. That’s when I realized that he wasn’t lying at all. I shook his hand and said that I was a fan of his work. For those of you who don’t know, James Ellroy is the crime novelist who wrote The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential among others. A few minutes later he went up to the woman selling the tickets and told her that she should do her job just because the line was getting pretty long. “Stop listening to this life story.” The woman with the life story thought he was being rude and while, yes, he was I’m still going to side with him.
Number One: He’s James Ellroy
Number Two: I could have made that 9:23 train if this woman didn’t have a 20 minute problem.
We got to the airport all right. I was the last one to check in and I had to rush to get through security. I then found out that the flight was delayed by about 30 minutes. I bought some candy for the flight. I ended up not eating it until after I got back to Birmingham.
I talked with some of the other passengers before we boarded. They were heading to Ottawa for their second Christmas and for New Years.
The flight from St. Louis to Toronto was uneventful. I wish I had had my camera on me for when we actually flew into the city because it was one hell of a view. Seeing the CN Tower looming over the city like a giant citadel was quite a sight.
I kept checking my watch constantly. We were running late and I was going to have to hoof it to get through customs to get to my next flight on time. We did land in a separate terminal and were bussed over to the main concourse to get through customs. It was annoying just because I was running so late. Thankfully, I got through on time (and I now have a Canadian stamp) and I rushed to my next flight. Due to being so late they had bumped me but they allowed me to get on this flight. I was heading to Montreal. There is a flight between Toronto and Montreal almost every hour. I didn’t need to rush as much as I thought I had to.
I did have time to purchase a book from a News stand. I had finished the only book I brought with me on the flight and I needed something to entertain myself. I purchased City of Thieves by David Benioff. It’s a pretty solid read. I did however forget at how expensive books are in North America. I had gotten so used to UK book prices.
Once we landed in Montreal, the first thing I saw once I debarked from the flight was a restaurant. I probably could have found a different one, or a much cheaper one but I didn’t really care at this point. I just wanted food. I had a salmon steak and a vodka martini. I found out pretty quickly that I don’t really like those just because I don’t like vodka. I also had a pint of Heineken beer.
I found my gate. There was added security in the airport due to the Detroit incident. There was a doorway where once I walked through I was going to have to stay on that side no matter what. I decided to hang back at a café bar type place. I had two more pints of Rickard’s Red beer which is a very tasty Canadian beer that I had never heard of before. Very amber.
I got on the plane and due to my exhaustion, and the amount of alcohol which was in my system, I crashed the second I got comfortable. I don’t remembering taxiing. I don’t remember take off. I remember waking up half way through the flight realizing that the person next to me had gotten up and was sitting somewhere else. I did ask the stewardess if there was supposed to be a meal. Apparently I had slept through that as well. They did provide me with one though. I got a crew meal just because the economy meal wasn’t looking so good at this point. It was trout and as airplane food goes, it was actually pretty good.
We landed. I went through customs. Got to the underground and went to Euston train station. Once there I was going to buy a ticket to get home.
When I was in line to purchase my ticket there was a woman in front of me who was taking forever. I kept checking my watch repeatedly. The man behind me asked where I was going. I told him I could make the 9:23 to Birmingham if this woman would hurry up. “It’s always a life story.” I’m looking at this guy. The second he said that I start noticing that he looks very familiar. I then ask a dumb question. “Has anybody ever mistaken you for James Ellroy?”
“I am James Ellroy.”
My immediate reaction was that I thought he was lying but he kept giving me this wry smile. That’s when I realized that he wasn’t lying at all. I shook his hand and said that I was a fan of his work. For those of you who don’t know, James Ellroy is the crime novelist who wrote The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential among others. A few minutes later he went up to the woman selling the tickets and told her that she should do her job just because the line was getting pretty long. “Stop listening to this life story.” The woman with the life story thought he was being rude and while, yes, he was I’m still going to side with him.
Number One: He’s James Ellroy
Number Two: I could have made that 9:23 train if this woman didn’t have a 20 minute problem.
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