Sitting on a Parkbench Older than My Country

Well I finally made it and I can thank British Airways for getting me here in one piece. I would definitely recommend flying with them to anyone. The flights are a little on the expensive side but worth the extra money. The seats are comfortable, the food is decent and the service is helpful. You also get a little tv screen to watch movies and the like. My favorite channel showed you exactly where the plane was at all time. If they had this when I was younger I would have been the best behaved child on the planet. I was picked up by a worker at the club named Brian Dear. He reminded me of 'Brick Top' from the movie 'Snatch'. He was just as foul-mouthed, wore glasses and even looked a bit like him. Needless to say, we hit it off great and found plenty to talk about during our travels through the rolling hills and green pastures, namely football (soccer). I came to find out that Brian played for the East London side West Ham United back in the 60's and holds a few records as well. He scored 5 goals in 20 minutes in a game in 1965 vs. West Bromwich Albion and also has a European Cup Winner's Medal, which predated today's Champions League. It was interesting to hear him talk about his days as a football pro. He even traveled with his team to the US to take on teams in the North American Soccer League. He mentioned the names of Clive Toye and Phil Woosnam, two Englishmen who helped sign Pele to the New York Cosmos and also the subject of the excellent book I'm reading, "Once in a Lifetime" by Gavin Newsham. I spent a majority of my transatlantic flight reading about these two and the man driving me home knew them personally, amazing.

When we arrived in Southend, Brian stopped at Pizza Hut and I got some pizza, but it was nothing like the pizza I know and love back home. It tasted like flavored cardboard with plastic pepperoni on it. I should have known better. We soon arrived at my destination, The Waverley. A quaint bed and breakfast right on the River Thames. Quaint is a funny word, the only two instances I have ever heard it used is describing either a town or a house. Anyways, Cherryl the owner seems very nice and helped me to my room, which is just a tad smaller than a single dorm room. What it lacks in size it more than makes up for in the beautiful view I have. I have a balcony that overlooks the beaches and river. Its really nice, have a look yourself:


Ok ok, It was low tide and cloudy, but as the day passed it became beautiful out. 65 and sunny..and I cant wait to see a sunset.

This morning I enjoyed an early homemade English breakfast with two local cricket players who had a match in Southend today. For some reason the English love tomatoes. Having walked around town, every breakfast menu includes tomatoes has part of the meal, very strange. Even stranger is the bacon, its not the thin strips that Michael Scott wakes up to every morning on his George Forman but rather more akin to a slice of ham that tastes like bacon. Like a man on a mission I set out to take on Southend after breakfast. I had plenty to do. I walked along the waterfront towards the longest pier in the world. The waterfront reminds me a lot of either Hampton Beach or Nantasket minus the decay. There are little waterfront arcades, restaurants and even Adventure Island, a small theme park. I then made my way up the hill inland towards High Street, the downtown crossing of Southend. The first shop I entered was Poundland--essentially a dollar store. I bought some necessities and tolietries. After that out of the way I made my next purchase a UK mobile phone. I went to a place called O2 and if you didnt know any better you would have thought you were walking into an armani store that just happened to display cell phones. They had these exotic displays for the phones, like in grass and in water and whatnot. It was intense. Even the packaging that my phone came in was exquisite:


Not your average box.

That was pretty much it for what I needed to do for the day so I just wandered around aimlessly just taking in the sights and sounds. I made plenty of mental notes that I saved to share.

Observations:

+ There is no 1 pound note, its a coin. So a few times I have gone through my wallet looking for a note and it doesnt exist. Thankfully for me I have years of experience of paying with coins. I spent four years of high school paying for lunch using quarters from my mom's coin jar. Thanks mom.

+ It seems as though everyone smokes here, I cant turn anywhere without seeing someone ripping a rod. Even youngsters. You can smoke in restuarants too, but that going to change on July 1st (with a minor uproar Im sure).

+The Waverley has a tap of Carlsberg and I couldnt be happier. However, I had a Carling today and it was everything I dreamt it was. It may surpass Carlsberg as my favorite beer by the end of the Summer. If you sponsor a football trophy (The Carling Cup) it clearly has to be a cut above the rest.

+ 70% of the eating establishments are take-out kitchens that are nothing but the kitchen. Theres no room to eat inside. You walk in the door and theres a tiny lobby with an menu over the ordering window and the kitchen in the back and thats it. The Pizza Hut I went to last night was like that.

+ I saw more rugbys than I did soccer balls, which was somewhat surprising. I did see a group of kids playing in a nearby park however. The jersey of choice around here is definitely an England National team jersey, with Manchester United the next most popular. I saw a few Chelsea jerseys so I'm safe around here I think. I thought that was interesting because the closest Premiership team to here is West Ham United and I only saw one jersey, maybe it was laundry day.

+ Bad News: I still havent gotten used to how people drive on the opposite side of the road so Im a likely target for a hit-and-run.

+ Good News: These cars are so small that if I do in fact get hit, the injuries would amount to no more than a charlie horse.

+ Parking lots/garages are called 'car parks' and they have this genius meter in front of the entrance to the lot that calculates how many spaces are open based on how many times the gates had opened for those who are either coming or going. The US needs these. Theres nothing worse than seeing a sign out front of a parking lot that says 'full' when you can clearly see a handful of open spots.

+ As aformentioned the cars here are extremely small and economical. If the gas prices in the US ever reached the heights they are here, there will be a mutiny, I bet my 9th child's life on it. Aside from freight trucks or work vans, the largest personal car I've seen is a Toyota Rav-4. No SUVs, and its kinda nice.

+ Speaking of cars, its time for the debut of:

WEIRD CAR OF THE WEEK!

I have seen so many strange automobiles that I thought it would be fun to keep tabs on all of the hottest rides in the UK. Without further ado, here is the inaugural entry.



This Vauxhall is part station wagon/part paddy wagon. It is closely related to the mullet with its business in the front/party in the back attitude. The racing stripe is optional. I have seen a few of these around town today and I am sure they are pratical for local repairmen and the like, but damn those things are ugly.


Alright I'm off to find a nice pub, sit down and have myself a meal. Tomorrow is the match at Wembley (finally!) and I'll let you know how that went later on this weekend. Cheers!

P.S. If anyone notices me typing with 's' rather than 'z' like materialise rather than materialize please stop me. The letter 'z' gets little love as it is.

I Dream of Napoleon in Aquamarine

Kele from Bloc Party had one hell of a dream; it’s one that would make even Jerry Garcia envious. While Kele has been reminiscing of European history in Technicolor, I have been dreaming of the ultimate stadium, Wembley. I have seen this mecca of a stadium on television. It is the cathedral for the world religion of soccer. It has been closed for the past seven years in order to receive the proper refurbishing (I read up on the stadium history so that I would feel worthy enough to enter the gates of England’s version of Graceland). As a result, I have made it a mission to visit London’s 90,000-seater when I'm overseas. Whether it is on a tour or actually watch a match with my own two eyes as long as I get to step inside this piece of heaven on earth. As luck would have it England is playing Brazil in an international friendly next Friday (June 1st). Two of world’s greats on the same pitch; I have been scrounging for tickets all week. I finally hit jackpot on Thursday. One ticket in section 503 (read: nosebleeds!) costing me an arm and a leg. But you know what? I really don’t mind. I’m going to the greatest stadium in the world and seeing the likes of Ronaldinho, Robinho, Kaka’, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, and the return of David Beckham. Wembley is sold out and the English fans are going to give the England squad a proper welcome home. My first foray into the beautiful game is going to be a baptism by unwavering passion and intensity accompanied by Brazilian Samba music and I could not be more excited.

Play on:

I watched the Champions League Final on Wednesday and it was a highly entertaining match. It was a back and forth affair but the end result was a disappointment. It made me cringe to watch another Italian side win a major trophy. I’m no soccer genius but I think that Liverpool should have taken Bolo Zenden off after he showed futility on the left flank. Once AC Milan scored that fluke goal, Rafa Benitez should have put Harry Kewell on. He really didn’t have much time to put his mark on the game. Adding to Liverpool’s woes was the fact that Steven Gerrard’s world class ability eluded him. He seemed very ordinary as he miffed a chance to equalize after creating a dangerous turnover in Milan’s end. Liverpool often relies on Gerrard and his talent to win games. Unfortunately for the Reds, Gerrard did not find the back of the net. Milan put another one in the net and the game seemed out of reach. Peter Crouch came on too late to make an impact and although Dirk “the Gargoyle” Kuyt’s late consolation made things interesting, but it was too little too late.

My farewell tour led me to Boston earlier this week with a trip to the ICA. This building might look like a giant storage facility on the waterfront, but its full of awesome and equally bizarre artwork. Thanks to my tour guide I was able to see the best of what this place had to offer. On a nice day I recommend taking a few moments and just watching the busy Boston Harbor; I’ve always been a sucker for the salt air. The best part about this place is that its pretty cheap, $10 for students and its free on Thursday’s from 5 pm- 9 pm. I capped off my night with a dinner at Brown Sugar, a great Thai place on Comm Ave near BU. The service is good, nauseatingly good. Just expect a ton of water refills. If you like Thai food then I highly suggest you visit, but I have just one caveat, don’t get the Thai Tea. Not only does it taste terrible, but it will never quench your thirst. The weather was warm, the T was bumping and the 'R's were nonexistant; I’m going to miss Boston.