Day Zero
The first thing that became England for me this morning was the scent of coffee. We were reaching the end of the long process to get outside of the airport when the stale and disinfectant air faded and instead become filled with the aroma of coffee. And not a subtle one at that, oh no, it was one so thick that you could probably see it in the air, so thick that it got inside your mouth, into your lungs and miraculously spread to the brain (from the smell alone). The next scent was smoke, cigarette; in the beginning it mixed with the coffee and together created a cosy atmosphere of a smokefilled coffee shop.
Many of you I'm sure have wondered why is it that I have such wild imagination; today the answer came to me quite inexplicably. It is quite simply because I live in a book. Don't believe me? Let me quote the beginning of the Wikipedia page on the place where I'm going to live in (am living): "Wantage is a town and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, near the Thames Valley, in the English county of Oxfordshire"
Now, if that doesn't sound like a book here are some more fact about my life that I discovered today:
- It is possible to pick up a taxi at London Heathrow Airport and for it to be a London Cab, with a driver who doesn't own a map, doesn't have a clue about Oxfordshire, and manages to do the following things while driving us to the new house: smoke 5 cigarettes (in his own cab which has 5 'no smoking' stickers) eat and read the newspaper.
- If you take a piece of paper and scrunch it up and pretend it's actually 2D, with the creases being roads it is quite possible that you have an accurate map of Oxfordshire. If anything, following the roads makes the whole place probably 3 times bigger.
- Wantage according to Mum is a hole (although I'm sure she means it in a loving way) and in a way it is. Nobody know where it is, what it is, and more importantly why it is.
Day 1
I spent the first day lazing about, deservingly getting over jet-lag and 5 hours of sleep for the whole journey and the day before and after it. Today walked about the town a bit. Town maybe a too big word for it. It certainly is a town; by late dark ages, early middle ages standards but to today's standards it is rather tiny (on googlemaps). It doesn't however feel like a village, it may certainly be smaller than many villages I seen, but, it is a town. It's like the people took the essence of that ancient probably Roman founded town and build around it through the ages creating a small patchwork of history.
While I didn't manage to get a booklamp (utter essentials) I did manage to get my hand on my very own library card today. About which I'm going to natter happily about in this paragraph. The libraries in all of Oxfordshire are interconnected (apart of the Bodleian I suspect) so you can pick a book anywhere and drop it off anywhere. While there are charges for somethings, most of them don't apply to under 18. I was also given a selection of designs for my card, which made me rather happy.
And now the confession. Yes, I borrowed books, yes I should have written to people I miss rather than indulge myself it these treasures but...then I wouldn't be me. So, read around 130 pages of biographical material called 'The Film Club' I believe. It's about a father and a drop-out from school son, and how they connected through watching 3 movies a week together. I haven't read all of it, but it already sound like a movie to me. A good philosophical edged one.
And now jet-lag is catching up with me and all my semi-eloquent phrases are turning into noodles. I will email. (Just remember the time difference)
5 comments:
Alex! Lovely to hear from you!
bwahahaha, wantage...such a funny name :)
when do you start school over there? and are oyu going into uni or back to high school?
life is as normal as you can imagine and grace and stef have not been at school >:(
write back
love, amy
P.S: my neighbour died. the day after he died the real estate agents swarmed his house. now there is a lovely yellow 'auction' sign staked into his front yard. O.o
PPS: public speaking sucks ballz.
PPPS: hugs from everyone!
Dear Alex:
I cannot say how much I'd wish to be back in London right now. Yes, NOW! In my mind London is (and always will be) this romanticised city perpetually stuck in wintertime...full of art, history, laywers, lawyers' Christmas parties and hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmellows. :)
From what I've gathered, Wantage looks great. Where are you living? And are you renting or otherwise?
(I shall spy on you through google maps when you give me your address!)
Photos please?
And is the time on this blog synced with your local time?
And on Rita's news? Nothing much has happened I guess...
- I got voted through to the public speaking finals
- Along with Spenser...
- I passed the maths test (95%), despite having only done up to 3B. Just as well, since I would have otherwise experienced a strong urge to kill you along with the waffles book.
Please tell me you still have the fountain pen? :)
Rita
PS. I WILL send you the photo
Hey Mouse
I would have written earlier, as in emailed, but our computer crashed and we only just got new ones. ughh. computers are awesome but they still don't have word etc. and all my contacts are gone! nooooooooo :(
glad to hear you are settling in, i envy you so much, i would give pretty much anything to visit the country of Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice. but then again, i have been imagining it consistently for pretty much my whole life now so maybe it's not as good as i see it in my imaginations. i doubt it though, it seems to be a land where dreams easily become reality.
everything's pretty much the same here. Life continues as per normal, except the lives of your closer friends who put on a brave face and tough out the day with sad eyes but determined faces ;)
We are all missing you though. I know you're dissapointed you weren't around to see my new nickname take off but feel better knowing that if it weren't for you, it would never have come about and i would still be telling Rita off for calling me 'Furzy's sister'
gee this is a long post, if you have bothered to read this whole thing then high fives and congratulations. I'll email you soon dreamer buddy :D
¬Duck
Figured I should say hi as well....Hi.
Not much going on back here that hasn't been mentioned already...except:
-Grace and Amy met Hugo Weaving.
-IT computer pull apart failed miserably, only two or three of them actually worked when put back together.
-Maths Elective got so boring last week that Dal did my homework for me.
-Matt got in trouble for riding one of the teachers' bikes outside the gym when we were setting up for the assembly. Mr Munroe was not amused.
-I am out of things to say....hope you're having a great time back in the land of tea and crumpets.
Dear Alex,
Not many things to say other than we all miss you (Atleast, I'm pretty sure) and a few other things:
1. Grace is 'working' on that fanfiction she was supposed to write for you.. With the help of my amazing brain and Kris and Olivia dancing on trains.
2. Your lucky, you missed out on Public Speaking.
3. I'm running out of things to say.
I'm sorry I wasn't there when you left, but I had a horrible cold that kept me bed-bound for almost 2 weeks. And if I knew you were leaving when you were, I would've broken out of the house and came to see you, then be off to bed before Davo saw I was gone.
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