"brrr"
I feel I should blog about the weekend's activities, although I predict rambling.
Akira and I went on a University RAG-typical (organised by Leeds University Union's RAG team) "Jailbreak" adventure. Our task: get as far away from Leeds as possible in a 36 hour period without spending any money. Easy, we thought. The RAG girls (hehe) encouraged us to pack warm and cool clothes as we wouldn't know where we'd end up. "You'll definitely get out of the country", they encourgaed.
So, after a day of work, we set off on Thurs pm, excited and optomistic. We had managed to secure some free Virgin train tickets (thanks, Ricky B. This is that publicity that I promised you) before leaving. The plan at this point was to get to Heathrow and beg for a flight anywhere. The guards let us on the tube and we got to Heathrow. So far, so good. Whilst trekking on the travelators we were filming our experiences, with spirits still high.
From hereon the story saddens. Heathrow was closed for the evening. Whatever happened to international flights throughout the night? OK I don't travel at all and I know nothing about the running of airports, but I don't think that was a radical assumption, was it? Post explore of every terminal and about 30 mins shuteye (note NOT sleep) on a metal bench we were rejected despite being truly smiley and utterly polite by countless ironed-haired, sunbed-tanned immaculately painted airline girls, who refused to acknlowledge that they didn't have the authority to give us free flights. Instead of them directing us to a supervisor when requested, they cooed, "no" repeatedly. After about 5 hours of this we went to Gatwick. (Thanks to nice men at Underground for our Travelcards and Southern Rail and Gatwick Express companies for free train tickets. You are lovely!) Gatwick was horrid. Hate the word, but was chavvy. Monorail-esque transport between terminals was unnerving. At least we got to see some planes, though.
So, no luck at Gatwick. Thought we were confident in our knowledge of London and attempting to walk the short distance from Victoria to Waterloo. It took us an hour. Really must admit that I only know a tiny area of London, at some point. I request a tube map and streetmap for birthday, please. Eurostar were fuckers at Waterloo. (It apparently costs over £200 anyway - unbelievable!) Akira and I were feeling exhausted by this point, and spirits were now officially low. Boo. Our final plan was to get to Portsmouth and try for a ferry to Le Havre. So we did. Hurrah! And we got a little sleep, too.
Had a day in France, which was nice, but 3 things let me down.
1 - Le Havre is pretty boring.
2 - I can't speak French anymore.
3 - There were crabs and lobsters at le marche. ALIVE! In case you didn't know, I had quite a phobia of these whereby I turn pathetic and get shaky and sick when I see them. In fact I can't see them. They have prevented me from going to beaches before. Akira was patient and tried to get me to overcome this, which was not successful.
Somewhere in between the good and bad aspects to the trip lay (and lay they did, the beasts) Ak's gaseous emissions. If we ever go away again, please stay away from the onion saucisson. Seriously. Merci.
After this we ferried back. Time for a positive note. 3 good things about the trip:
1 - The Napolean Dynamite like guy on the ferry. His hair was unreal.
2 - Being beyond tiredness (i.e. waffy and hyper) and going on deck when the sea was pretty rough. No matter what excuses Ak comes up with, I won the game of see-how-long-you-can-stare-at-the-spray-for-without-dying.
3 - The beyond-tiredness inducing properties of not giving a damn that I had no make up on. That's quite a triumph for a high maintenance lady like myself.
Return route was a journey of hell. We were confident that we could get back to London from Portsmouth, however the taxi driver was adament we couldn't. It turned out that he was a lying bastard who wanted us to pay for him to take us to London (fuck off, Southern buggerface) however there were issues with trains. So, replacement bus journey to Petersfield or somewhere. Then train to Waterloo. It was here that I caught pneumonia. I have never been so cold in my life. Might have been due to sleep deprivation, granted, but it was horrid. Shout outs (from MC Moon) to Ak who was very sympathetic at this point and has not taken the piss as much as he could/should have done for the fact I was wearning 2 jumpers, 2 coats, 3 hats and whining and shaking like an utter loser. Then walked to Victoria (as it turned out it was quite a distance, after all), then night-bussed from there. Then no taxis to take us to Akira's house. Managed to get to bed circa 3.45am Sunday morning. All this for 7 hours ish en France. Phew!
Sponsorships accepted, natually.
Moon. xxx
Akira and I went on a University RAG-typical (organised by Leeds University Union's RAG team) "Jailbreak" adventure. Our task: get as far away from Leeds as possible in a 36 hour period without spending any money. Easy, we thought. The RAG girls (hehe) encouraged us to pack warm and cool clothes as we wouldn't know where we'd end up. "You'll definitely get out of the country", they encourgaed.
So, after a day of work, we set off on Thurs pm, excited and optomistic. We had managed to secure some free Virgin train tickets (thanks, Ricky B. This is that publicity that I promised you) before leaving. The plan at this point was to get to Heathrow and beg for a flight anywhere. The guards let us on the tube and we got to Heathrow. So far, so good. Whilst trekking on the travelators we were filming our experiences, with spirits still high.
From hereon the story saddens. Heathrow was closed for the evening. Whatever happened to international flights throughout the night? OK I don't travel at all and I know nothing about the running of airports, but I don't think that was a radical assumption, was it? Post explore of every terminal and about 30 mins shuteye (note NOT sleep) on a metal bench we were rejected despite being truly smiley and utterly polite by countless ironed-haired, sunbed-tanned immaculately painted airline girls, who refused to acknlowledge that they didn't have the authority to give us free flights. Instead of them directing us to a supervisor when requested, they cooed, "no" repeatedly. After about 5 hours of this we went to Gatwick. (Thanks to nice men at Underground for our Travelcards and Southern Rail and Gatwick Express companies for free train tickets. You are lovely!) Gatwick was horrid. Hate the word, but was chavvy. Monorail-esque transport between terminals was unnerving. At least we got to see some planes, though.
So, no luck at Gatwick. Thought we were confident in our knowledge of London and attempting to walk the short distance from Victoria to Waterloo. It took us an hour. Really must admit that I only know a tiny area of London, at some point. I request a tube map and streetmap for birthday, please. Eurostar were fuckers at Waterloo. (It apparently costs over £200 anyway - unbelievable!) Akira and I were feeling exhausted by this point, and spirits were now officially low. Boo. Our final plan was to get to Portsmouth and try for a ferry to Le Havre. So we did. Hurrah! And we got a little sleep, too.
Had a day in France, which was nice, but 3 things let me down.
1 - Le Havre is pretty boring.
2 - I can't speak French anymore.
3 - There were crabs and lobsters at le marche. ALIVE! In case you didn't know, I had quite a phobia of these whereby I turn pathetic and get shaky and sick when I see them. In fact I can't see them. They have prevented me from going to beaches before. Akira was patient and tried to get me to overcome this, which was not successful.
Somewhere in between the good and bad aspects to the trip lay (and lay they did, the beasts) Ak's gaseous emissions. If we ever go away again, please stay away from the onion saucisson. Seriously. Merci.
After this we ferried back. Time for a positive note. 3 good things about the trip:
1 - The Napolean Dynamite like guy on the ferry. His hair was unreal.
2 - Being beyond tiredness (i.e. waffy and hyper) and going on deck when the sea was pretty rough. No matter what excuses Ak comes up with, I won the game of see-how-long-you-can-stare-at-the-spray-for-without-dying.
3 - The beyond-tiredness inducing properties of not giving a damn that I had no make up on. That's quite a triumph for a high maintenance lady like myself.
Return route was a journey of hell. We were confident that we could get back to London from Portsmouth, however the taxi driver was adament we couldn't. It turned out that he was a lying bastard who wanted us to pay for him to take us to London (fuck off, Southern buggerface) however there were issues with trains. So, replacement bus journey to Petersfield or somewhere. Then train to Waterloo. It was here that I caught pneumonia. I have never been so cold in my life. Might have been due to sleep deprivation, granted, but it was horrid. Shout outs (from MC Moon) to Ak who was very sympathetic at this point and has not taken the piss as much as he could/should have done for the fact I was wearning 2 jumpers, 2 coats, 3 hats and whining and shaking like an utter loser. Then walked to Victoria (as it turned out it was quite a distance, after all), then night-bussed from there. Then no taxis to take us to Akira's house. Managed to get to bed circa 3.45am Sunday morning. All this for 7 hours ish en France. Phew!
Sponsorships accepted, natually.
Moon. xxx
posted by Moon @ 2:35 pm
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