bumming around London

On Boxing Day we went into London by car because the trains weren't running. Strange they would just shut the suburban stations like that. Dec 26th isn't a real holiday. It's just a day people like to have off, and it's become a tradition. No train service? The heck is that? How will people get to the shops??

So we drove, which wasn't too eventful. Only a few wrong turns on the way home because the gps doesn't have time to read out the road name before you've missed it already, in the twists and turns downtown. And the screen is so small it's hard to tell if it means turn right now immediately, or a couple meters on. Personally, I prefer to take a good look at a good map before setting out, and not to have the thing on if one can help it. But when there's lots of turns and one-ways, it's useful.

When we got to Waterstones it was closed, though there were people messing around in the windows. It was after 11 already so I figured they'd be open if they were going to open, and we went to that other huge old bookstore down the block instead. They were open. They sold me a dozen books, and it could have been many more but we were hankering for lunch. For a while I alarmed JP by accumulating a huge pile, but I trimmed it down before heading to the register.

Lunch was nice except for the now-repeated experience of JP's bank card not working. This was the maybe the fourth time, though he always eventually found an ATM that would take his card. I had some problems with mine, too (though not at the bookstore!). It's better to withdraw a big chunk of cash anyway, because below a certain sum the minimum transaction fee is more than the % fee for larger amounts. And I find counting out cash keeps my spending in check.

Once fed, we strolled around the parks and had a look at Buckingham. 

The weather was iffy. We had the good luck not to get rained on, and the sky was often interesting. I can look all day at bare trees against the sky. It's the stark silhouette of the branches, so solidly black and intricately complicated, all form and no color, against the delicate changes of blue-white-lavender/grey in the sky, all color and no form, that captivates me. 

I took a couple of shots, including this one, and some 20-something American walking with her friends behind us started going on about how stupid it is to take photos of some random tree in a park while on vacation. 'Oh, look, here's a tree I saw in London!' 'And look! Another tree!' 'Gee, how dumb is that, to take such boring, dumb pictures!'

I don't mind people not being able to appreciate the same beauty that I do. But it does embarrass me to be an American sometimes, knowing there are so many of this kind of jerk walking about loudly dissing what isn't any of their business at all.

 Oh, look, another photo of a building I saw on vacation. Does the flag mean the Queen is In?

 Frankly, I find the trees much more interesting!

 Oh, look, another building and a statue I saw on vacation. Winston Churchill, of course.

 St Mary's with Tree.

And lastly (for today), the backside of Parliament.
After that it started getting dark, so we had a coffee and wandered back towards the car. Waterstones was now open - Yea!!!- so naturally I just had to stop in. Just six books this time. With the pile I'd made previously, I often wasn't sure whether a particular volume had made it to the register at the other shop, and it's silly to buy duplicates - not like I can just pop back and exchange one easily. As it turned out, all 18 books for the day were unique. I'm set to read for a few months.