October 1, 2008:
Here’s what I know: Somewhere in H-E-double hockey sticks the guy who created Excel is listening to every song he owns on his iPod. Jason and his headcold have left, but I’m still achey in the ribs. S’okay, I hear the NHS rocks But I digress…
I figured out how to plug the thing in, how to sync, and that you can only convert wmv files (all my vids) to iWhatever if you have a Mac. Damn you, Justin Jeeper-Creeper-Bartleby Mac-daddy-Die Hard-Long—your cuteness is a wiley deception!
Cut to Regina Airport and iHave an iHour to spare. Let’s watch Dr. Horrible. So I rev up the iPod, find the vid—after scrolling a while and discovering up and down are reversed in iWorld.
Pt.2--?
Pt.3--?
Where’s the “Laundry day, see you there…”? Where’s the “So make the Bad Horse gleeful, or he’ll make you his mare…”?
Huh.
Well, it could be worse.
Part 2 and 3 play nice and look iPretty.
So I’ll pop on the music now as it’s almost time to board the plane.
iSaid, I’ll pop on the music…music?
Huh.
Well, what have we learned?
1. Do not believe iPod when it says it has done something.
2. Do know that ‘sync’ is just another iTerm for “messin’ witcha!”
And
3. If you are over 40, don’t iBother—it’s not going to iWork.
Because
iPhone is from the devil.

17:16 pm, October 2/08
A police officer just walked by me all geared up in white short sleeve dress shirt and 20 lbs of Kevlar like a castmember of Hot Fuzz.
I have talked to Lisa twice and I have Keith’s mobile # so we’re good to go. They’ll be here in just over an hour. Keith will be in orange so I can’t miss him. Lisa’s accent is super soft. Just on the phone she reminds me some of Susan.
So far no one weird, no one scary, no pickpockets, although I’m rabid about watchin’ mah stuff. Lots of handsome men in suits, sorta like a bunch of Iantos strategically placed around the room. Very comforting, and kinda hot.
I figured out the phones, too, although you don’t get change back, so don’t forget that, cos ‘a buck is a buck, even when it’s a pound’. Oh, and pound coins look old and unfinished and are very thick--like pirate treasure!
I got some wifi (had to pay for it, boo!) But got a chance to email everyone, or at least a few people, and let ‘em know I made it! I updated my sig on Facebook and that was about it. I’ll have /12 hr minimum, left if I don’t use it again—that way I can gak it for the way home. Meh, whatever works. The trip is catching up with me.

October 3 AM at Tasha’s here in the north end of XF Fandom…Ah, but god it’s good to talk to a fan—even a shipper *L* Even they get it, you know. Tasha has the movie so maybe we’ll watch it. We watched/talked thru Paper Hearts last night. Up til 2 last night. It’s 8 now so might go back to bed—got water, need a shower and my throat seems better. We had ham and pineapple pizza last night that was super good.
They censor Angel and Buffy here, when Spike says “wanker” or “bollocks” because they are such bad swear words here—how weird is that?
Tesco's is their version of Superstore, although it reminds me a bit of co-op with all your food, plus books and clothes and stuff. And there are Tesco's and then Tesco Express, which is sort of the seven eleven version--bit more pricey. But I bought stuff there just the same. Instant coffee, which I learned to tolerate, and Lockets, cough drops which are cooler than Halls cos we don't have them at home. Also, you know, Hob Nobs and Jaffa Cakes!! It really is all about the tea here and what to snack on.

What can I say about a pub crawl through New Forest except that the roads are scary and dark, the trees grow in canopies over the roads, and of course, we're on the other side *L* We went to the Rampant Cat, with cheap pints, and the Fox Inn (for the name, mainly *L*) which had a lovely deck on it. The food was a bit pricey there--Keith and Lisa said it was posh--and not in the good way. Loved the "Duck" signs on the beams, though. Like you have to tell me that! Last stop was the Mayfly, a place they like alot and the food was terrific! I had bangers and mash with mushroom gravy and it was huge! I drank coffee all along the way and it wasn't horrible. No pints for me. Found their snacks too funny, and bought Nobby's Nuts for Thomas.
 
 

So we stopped for petrol and I filled up the car--way less money than a hotel every night, and since Keith was driving us all over the place--he had a very cool GPS in his car that made me giggle since it spoke with an accent (although I swear I was hearing that lovely voice saying "In 1.5 miles take the roundabout to M4" in my sleep that night). Instead of a crappy gas station in the middle of nowhere, they have these great big rest stops, with parking, facilities, the gas station of course, and then a building full of restaurants, convenience stores and coffee shops.  We had Costa coffee (sort of their version of Second Cup) Far superior to Starbuck's (which I was stuck with at Heathrow) and be warned--if you order black coffee here you get an Americano.Which is cool if you like that sort of thing, but there's no just plain ol' coffee in their world. They offer typical coffee food--you know, overpriced sandwiches and lots of baking, including a little "bikkie tray" with six different little cookies on it for tea. And their signature white chocolate raspberry muffins are scrumptious (didn't have one then, but had one in Liverpool after Debbie raved about 'em--more on that later)

Oxford was our first stop, and until we got there, I was still thinking of Oxford as sort of an ancient University of Regina, or something. No, Oxford is a city, and the University is part of the city.  Oxford City is beautiful and steeped in tradition, as you would expect it to be. It was also full of pubs and said pubs had beautiful boys lounging about smoking in front of them, which was deliciously unexpected.

Oxford has 39 colleges, each with its own internal structure and activities. Currently, Oxford prides itself on having educated 4 British, and at least 8 foreign kings, 47 Nobel prize-winners, 3 Fields medallists, 25 British Prime Ministers, 28 foreign presidents and prime ministers, 7 saints, 86 archbishops, 18 cardinals, and 1 pope. More importantly than that, at least for us, is that Fox Mulder got his degree in psychology there.

Next stop, Avebury. Lisa and Keith had tried to convince me that Stonehenge is lame--mostly, I think, because they live there and can see it every day when they drive by, so it's not so foreign. But also because it's a National Site, so you have to pay for it, and it's got a bit of the "believing it's own PR" about it. More on that later.  So they suggested Avebury, which I wasn't familiar with, but which they explained was like Stonehenge only you could get up close and personal with the rocks. Hey, these folks have got the goods so far, so who am I to argue?
Avebury was very cool!
Avebury is the site of a large henge and several stone circles in the English county of Wiltshire surrounding the village of Avebury. It is one of the finest and largest Neolithic monuments in Europe dating to around 5,000 years ago. It is older than the megalithic stages of Stonehenge, which is located about 32 kilometres (20 mi) to the south, although the two monuments are broadly contemporary overall...
Alot of the stones were pulled down to actually build the town a bazillion years ago, so there are monuments in some places, and in others the stones are small. But plenty of big ones too, and all over the place. There's a large circle round the town, then smaller ones inside.
We had lunch first, at the Red Lion, and I had Fish and Chips in the pub with mushy peas—super good and the fish was huge and I couldn’t finish it. The coffee was terrible. (cos I know you're interested in the food rather than the scenery *L*) "And now, the coffee update from Britain, with Michele Tyndall....Thanks, Bob. Today, coffee was palatable at Tasha's place, but terrible in Avebury..."
We walked around the stones, touched some of them, posed in front of several for pics, and most important for this particular leg of the tour, detoured around massive amounts of sheep shit! *L* There was a great flock of them, totally harmless, of course, all round the stones, but it did make for some interesting dancing through the field *L* That whole thing was very James Herriott to me, and I loved it.

As an aside, and even more so at Stonehenge, so far, the word that kept coming to mind was noble. There's a sense of history, of course, a feeling around the buildings of Oxford, the stones at Avebury, Sillbury Hill, even the pubs and roads and Andover itself that makes you know you are in this place where for thousands of years there have been people with ideas and plans and desires (from "Let's live here!" to "This would be a great place for a castle" to "Why don't we try putting some rocks over there!" *L*) and that Canada was not even a blip on the radar. It makes you feel like a bloody pioneer! Everything is massive and stone and obviously put here with the thought that it is going to be here forever. And age, of course, just reading signs and the like, about when it was all built. But there's more too it than that.

The Henge Shop in Avebury is like Awarehouse here, very new agey and full of crystals and the like, as well as touristy, with the gift shop, postcards and all that. I didn't buy anything but a couple postcards as I was doing the UK for under 10 pounds a day or something like that, and frankly I was saving it up to blow my wad at Stonehenge. But the coolest thing I got was a small stone that Keith found at one of the henge sites that he gave me. Not only a sweet gesture on his part, but I popped it into my crystal collection and couldn't help but think when I got home that this stone was part of history and now it's travelled 1/2 way round the world. Beyond cool.

And then it's off to Stonehenge!
OMG...words do not do it justice, nor even pictures, although I took tons, both with the digital (Thanks, Kristin) and the regular one for the panorama pics (which turned out brilliant).  It was late afternoon, a bit gloomy, but that just seemed to make it more impressive, like it's looming over the fields like some giant sentinel...ooh, look at me waxing poetic *L* But seriously--didn't cost too much to actually go on site (and they cut us a deal cos of Tasha's disability card--good deal that). My first thought was "it's not thousands of feet high!" which I think TV tries to make it. Still, super big and all. But again, nobility of purpose was the phrase in my mind. You know that whoever built it, for whatever reason (and everybody has a theory) whatever the case, they built this thing to last. They weren't fuckin' around here. Somebody knew that there'd come a millenium, and it would still be here. I admit, I think I walked about slackjawed for a while, a little overwhelmed.  The tourist in me, I suppose, screaming over all the higher brain functions "EEE, I'm at bloody Stonehenge!!!!" But just wow. Serious wow. And then of course I had to pull my Sentinel dolls out of my purse and that really is my favorite picture from the entire trip!

A swing round the public loos and then the gift shop and hooray, "Stonehenge Rocks" is their motto this year. No beige hat, though (as I was looking for the one Fox Mulder wears at the end of "all things"). But I had to get the tshirt for Jason and of course everything else not clothing for me! *L* I even got an environmentally correct bag from there. Took another break on the way home and ate overpriced BK. Then home for uploading of pics and some sleep. I have to mention here, only cos I bought one at Smith, that they sell a Yorkie bar that is advertised on the side of the bar as "Not for Girls" and has a pic of a woman with a circle and a line through it--too funny! (I thought it was a chocolate bar but turned out to be some kind of chocolate energy bar)

October 6--Alla t choelia fi m yn cerdded at Caerdydd! (I can't believe I'm going to Cardiff!)
Cardiff, home of Russell Davies, creator of Queer as Folk, writer and revamper of the Doctor Who franchise and creator of Torchwood. Can you believe we're going there. Also, kinda forgot, but Wales is a whole other country! It's easy to forget when every other country is five minutes away! *L* We did this massive toll bridge that was completely fogged in so you couldn't see water at all, and then we were in Wales! (This really was exceptionally wonderful as my original itinerary of trains and stuff didn't have Wales on it, so this was a big bonus!)
Lunch at Trader's tavern, and I had Guinness Pie, which was brilliant. The pub was postered with music shows as the Millenium Center gets lots of big name acts there, but also smaller ones, and there was an advert for an Erasure show on the post next to our table. By the way, everything is super dear over there, but go with pub food if you visit--1/2 the price of restaurants and brilliant food in epic proportions! The house ale there was something called "Brains" beer, a light ale.
We walked around lots with me snapping occasional photos of things I'd seen on Doctor Who and Torchwood. I kept pointing them out to Keith Lisa and Tasha, like a big geek. But really. (as an aside, watching Torchwood weeks later I'm still all "ooh, I was right there!" about the whole thing!)
The weird thing, and this is just about everywhere, but terribly noticeable in Cardiff, is random castles. Seriously. Like you're in front of this amazing castle, been there for hundreds of years, massive stone turrets, real Princess Bride/Robin Hood Prince of Thieves stuff. And it's beautiful and historic and epic, and then you turn and look across the street, and there's HMV, Forbidden Planet, Starbucks and Woolworths. WTF? Its the strangest feeling. Cardiff Castle was a perfect example of this. We also did a shop in the Queen's Arcade mall, as I'd seen the interior on Torchwood, and the whole John Barrowman/Queen thing gave me a laugh. Found the perfect picture for Whit at Forbidden Planet and had a great chat with the staff. They didn't have TW action figs in yet, but they were coming. I got a pack of Dr. Who cards and tried to get the girl at the front of the shop to give me their XF poster (it's the one with the blood in the snow that isn't available here) by telling her I came all the way from Canada for it. This line didn't work anywhere, as I got to Whittard for tea and they have discontinued Summer Pudding!! Got more postcards, though. Welsh is one messed up language!
Then it was off for another drive to the Red Dragon Center for the Doctor Who Up Close exhibition. Totally cool, full of costumes and props from the show, from Jack's coat to Daleks and everything in between. I got a bunch of pics for Chad, and enjoyed it very much. The gift shop sucked me in and I bought a window sticker and a Torchwood poster. I gave the guy at the counter my worn out "all the way from Canada" story and told him I recognized sites from TW. He told me they were filming just outside!!! Said they blew something up earlier (spoiler for series three, I hear the Hub is history!)
Off we go to Roald Dahl Plass, home of the Hub!! It's all there! The Pierhead building, the Millenium Center, the Invisible Lift! I took tons of pics of people milling about and took pictures of Cardiff Bay, which was pretty. And then, oh, and then!
Actually filming with Gareth David-Lloyd!!! (thats Ianto Jones, if you don't know) Just a green screen shot, but I was just about pissing myself. He's a cutie, and I want men here to dress like that now, dammit! Oh, it was so cool! Again, not so good with the words. Just trust me on this. The sun was setting, and we saw the gal that plays Gwen show up. Turns out they shot all night (I didn't know) but after Gareth went back to his trailer we wandered back to the car, taking a few more shots along the way. The Millenium center was lit up from the sun--beautiful! and the lift tower as well. So gorgeous! Bottom line is, if you get a chance to see an ep of Torchwood, just know I WAS THERE! :)

Oh, I almost forgot Watermill Park. One of the parks that Keith works at in Andover and he took us there one evening. Significant for it's beauty, very still and beautiful and serene in that duck pond (not in Cascade) way. But also because it's the basis for Watership Down. Where Watermill Park sits is the end of the river that goes past Watership Down in Kingsclere. How freakin' cool is that?

Oh, time flies, let me tell ya.
Got up early next morning and took a cab to the train station to pick up an all day pass as we're off to London. Got a really good deal on my ticket to Manchester next day as well. Rode the train and it was interesting--been ages since I've been on a train. Less than an hour and we were at the station, and the name escapes me. Mainline or something like that. Then it was stairs, and the steepest, and I do mean steepest escalators--I couldn't look down! To the Underground! Have you seen American Werewolf in London? Brilliant and exactly the same.
NOTE OF WARNING! No peeing in the Underground. Not only do you go down even more stairs, but there's a bloody turnstile at the bottom that you pay 30p to go through and that I barely fit. If I hadn't done so much walking this week I'd probably still be there!!!! 60 cents Canadian to freakin' pee!!!! Ridiculous!
Anyway, so we rode the tube and every stop has yet another lovely British voice saying "Mind the Gap between the train and the platform". It's not that big a gap, but Mind The Gap is a catchphrase now. I got a pin that says it! Might I also mention that all the city roads are spraypainted "Look Left" at the corners and crosswalks. I figured it out in one day so I don't know what that says about the UK population, but better safe than ratjam, I guess.
London is brilliant but you could be there a month and not see it all. High points were Trafalgar Square, definitely, and Picadilly Circus--it looks just like it does in the movies! High School Musical 3 was premiering so big crowd, very busy. Lots of traffic, lots of beautiful boys in suits! Saw the back of the Palace, but declined the 1/2 mile walk around to the front. Instead, followed the arch back to the theater district and saw ads for shows there. Also, Avenue Q, although I missed the show. Next time, right? So many beautiful buildings and statues. Plus, the cheeziness of double decker busses and red phone boxes! Lots of neat shops and of course pubs everywhere! Walked through Chinatown and it's really chinatown--not like here. There were dead things in the windows! Hit another Whittards still looking for Summer Pudding but came away with London Tea, and choccies and tea in fancy boxes as well. The gentleman working there was a sweetheart--very helpful, gave us samples of some sweet tea (iced tea) and even told Tasha to mind the step as he could see she was using a stick to walk and it was a bit slippy. Not real rain all day, more like a mist. Grey, but not cold. Took some pics when I remembered, did mostly alot of goggling at things *L* We actually wound up eating at Pizza Hut, if you can believe that, but they had a pizza pasta buffet that was not too dear, and the salads and stuff were brilliant. Oh, and the waiter was sweet. Saw Big Ben from a distance and the London Eye. Saw the Crimean war memorial, the Trocadero, Hyde park, lots of stuff. Again, so much history, so much time in one place. And so close together. You can walk or tube it anywhere, really.
You all need to go. It was brilliant and I can't say it enough. And I need to go back.

Did my goodbyes to Keith and Lisa that night as I was catching the train in the morning for Manchester.