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| I've been told that it is HIGH time for me to update, so....
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| DO I HAVE THE WORST TRAVEL LUCK, OR WHAT?!?!?
In case you haven't seen, there were a calculated series of 7 terrorist attacks perpetrated on London today (7.7.2005) which I heard about at 10:30 am in the Oxford train station, waiting for a train to, in fact, go into London. I, therefore, will be spending the night in Oxford again, and travelling to Heathrow to fly out tomorrow. I have booked a bus that goes direct from Oxford to Heathrow airport, thereby bypassing London altogether. So, barring an attack on the airports, or, God forbid, a 9/11-esque attack using the airplanes themselves, I will have no further problems on my return home.
As much as I have enjoyed my time here over the last six weeks, I honestly can't wait to get away from anarchist rallies and terrorist attacks, etc. back to peaceful, quiet Oklahoma.
Keep the Londoners in your thoughts and prayers as they have a lot of work to do to help the COUNTLESS people who were injured in today's attacks. | | |
| Two days until the G8 conference, and the scene in Edinburgh has changed DRASTICALLY. Today, a group of 200-300 anarchists scheduled a march through the city centre. Police roped off the route and prayed that it would proceed peacefully, wouldn't that have been nice. A group of anarchists from Italy came and joined the march, but this group is well documented for their violence and can be recognized by their wearing all black and face masks. Sure enough, violence broke out with protesters punching and kicking police, throwing bottles, cans, rubbish, and even firecrackers at the police who eventually called in reinforcements dressed in riot gear and mounted on horses (the horses also wore bullet proof mats and goggles. It was an interesting sight).
It is a very sad day just barely following a group one hundred times as large, but whose intentions were good and peaceful. I am unsure what the anarchists wanted to accomplish, as all they got were curses and angry responses from the crowd gathered to watch the proceedings, they certainly gained no new converts. | | |
| I am in Edinburgh a few days before the historic G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, and the scene here is unbelievable!!! Today, LITERALLY 225,000 people held a rally in the middle of Edinburgh calling for Debt Cancellation/Aid to Africa from the leaders of the G8 (the "Group of 8", for those who don't pay enough attention to international politics, literally, the heads of government/state of each of the world's 8 most wealthy nations). I strongly encourage anyone who hasn't to go to www.one.org and lend their signature to the petition to President Bush to ask him exactly for what I mentioned above.
I wish I had the vantage point enough to catch a picture of the people rallying today! It was amazing, Christian/Muslim/Hindu, Socialist/Capitalist, Young/Old, Rich/Poor, all uniting in ONE voice, calling EIGHT men to do what is right over the next week. Help them.
www.one.org www.one.org www.one.org | | |
| Bad news. None of the jobs I have looked into have come through. It turns out that English pub owners aren't just DYING to hire an American student for only 9 weeks' work. I guess I should've anticipated that.
But on the good side, I am now just travelling about the UK for a couple of weeks, and then heading home early. That means that I can spend some time at the lake this summer (which is probably the thing I was most sad about missing this summer). So if you're in OK in mid-July onward, give me a call on my American cell number if you want to hang out and hear some crazy stories other than the one I am about to write:
I went to this little village town near Bath called Devizes, Wiltshire. It was really a nice place, and I was staying at this really posh little pub that this guy let me stay in for free (I thought because he felt bad that he didn't have a job to give me). It turns out that what he really wanted was for me to be like a damn circus animal. He always wanted me to be in the pub (free drinks for me when I went down there) to talk to the patrons. This town doesn't see that many tourists, and for many of them, I was the first American they had ever met. I would just sit down there, they'd order me drinks (sometimes I would have to refuse or suffer the wrath of a hangover the next morning). They'd just want me to tell them anecdotes about what it was like in America. It was really nice, at first, until I realized that I was, in essence, being paraded around as a sideshow attraction to help reel in this guy's business. Kind of depressing. I am now outta there and sight-seeing, etc. Hope to hear from you all soon. | | |
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