Daily Grind
It's 11am Wednesday morning and I've not had reliable internet access except when I come to this internet cafe about a 5 minute walk from the flat. I spent some time here yesterday morning catching up on email, news, etc. and I'm back again this morning.
After a sketchy morning yesterday, I hauled my butt out of bed and after spending some time at the internet cafe I took my first tube ride, going to Mile End station (the nearest stop) and taking the Central line to Oxford Circus. Why there? Well, the Regent Street Apple Store is a half block or so from there and that was one place I decided I wanted to visit early. I've only been to one other Apple store, in Palo Alto, a few years back when I was in San Francisco for MacWorld. It was a much smaller store than the Regent Street one here, but then unlike the downtown London one it's not a flagship store. The place is indeed beautiful and loaded with Apple gear, and was definitely very busy. There were a few dozen staff members at least so they at least appear to be doing good business. However, after wandering around for 15 or so minutes, the lustre wore off as it's just a store in the end, and I wasn't there to buy anything.
I left the store and did some walking around, winding up going toward and past Tottenham Court Road and then up toward Goodge Street tube stations. There's a monthly gathering of London-based Doctor Who fans which takes place at the Fitzrovia Tavern, a block southwest of the Goodge St. station, and I made sure to find it since I was in the area so I knew where to go if I happened to be able to make one of those gatherings. I stopped in for a bit to have some lunch and a few pints, and wound up sitting with a few older ladies (the place wasn't packed but it was far from empty) in town for some reason or another. After a few pints of bitter (proper, room-temperature bitter, not that shite you get back in Canada!) I left, did a smidge of grocery shopping at a nearby Sainsbury's, then hopped the tube back to the flat to do nothing else the rest of the day as my feet were killing me.
Along the way I did buy the new Underworld album which came out Oct 16 in North America but has been out a few weeks here in the UK. I'd previously downloaded it, but will have to listen to it again since I've got a ticket for their concert on Friday and the Roundhouse by Chalk Farm tube station.
Time to go now. I left my camera back at the flat but I think I'll be going back to pick it up and do some more sightseeing around town. Perhaps Big Ben and Parliament.
After a sketchy morning yesterday, I hauled my butt out of bed and after spending some time at the internet cafe I took my first tube ride, going to Mile End station (the nearest stop) and taking the Central line to Oxford Circus. Why there? Well, the Regent Street Apple Store is a half block or so from there and that was one place I decided I wanted to visit early. I've only been to one other Apple store, in Palo Alto, a few years back when I was in San Francisco for MacWorld. It was a much smaller store than the Regent Street one here, but then unlike the downtown London one it's not a flagship store. The place is indeed beautiful and loaded with Apple gear, and was definitely very busy. There were a few dozen staff members at least so they at least appear to be doing good business. However, after wandering around for 15 or so minutes, the lustre wore off as it's just a store in the end, and I wasn't there to buy anything.
I left the store and did some walking around, winding up going toward and past Tottenham Court Road and then up toward Goodge Street tube stations. There's a monthly gathering of London-based Doctor Who fans which takes place at the Fitzrovia Tavern, a block southwest of the Goodge St. station, and I made sure to find it since I was in the area so I knew where to go if I happened to be able to make one of those gatherings. I stopped in for a bit to have some lunch and a few pints, and wound up sitting with a few older ladies (the place wasn't packed but it was far from empty) in town for some reason or another. After a few pints of bitter (proper, room-temperature bitter, not that shite you get back in Canada!) I left, did a smidge of grocery shopping at a nearby Sainsbury's, then hopped the tube back to the flat to do nothing else the rest of the day as my feet were killing me.
Along the way I did buy the new Underworld album which came out Oct 16 in North America but has been out a few weeks here in the UK. I'd previously downloaded it, but will have to listen to it again since I've got a ticket for their concert on Friday and the Roundhouse by Chalk Farm tube station.
Time to go now. I left my camera back at the flat but I think I'll be going back to pick it up and do some more sightseeing around town. Perhaps Big Ben and Parliament.
Labels: life
posted by chris burgess at 11:07
3 Comments:
As you've now realized, that monthly Doctor Who gathering--the next one is the evening of Thursday, November 1st--is not at the Fitzrovia, but rather the Fitzroy Tavern. London has way too many pubs, doesn't it?
I found the same thing at the flagship Apple Store in Manhattan. It's big, there's lots of Macs, but it's not a hell of a lot different from being in a shiny, fast=paced version of Westworld. Well, other than the fat that we saw Pat Sajack and his son checking out Macbooks. :)
What's worse is the Fitzrovia is in the Fitzrovia district of the city... about a block or block and a half away from the Fitzroy Tavern. That just makes it more confusing than it needs to be.
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