Wish my exam was on Harry Potter

I have Harry Potter on the brain. Criminology is alright, but I'd much rather the exam was on the book series. While I was cooking dinner, two guys were dissing the books at the table behind me (unfortunately I could hear them over my audiobook-Moby Dick-which is rather dull). I took my dinner upstairs in order to prevent an argument from starting.
I guess for now I will have to be contented with cosplay pictures. This is a good one. : )

London town, 2nd visit

This post is picking up right where the last one left off.
After the massive train delay, I got back to my room and had some lunch (was starving, I had eaten breakfast pretty early on in the journey). A couple hours later I met up with Elizabeth (distant relative) and we went to the Cathedral. She wanted to show me the choir there, so I thought of our outing more as viewing a performance rather than going to church. It was an all male choir, and they were very good. Now I want to sing in a cathedral, the sound was great. The inside is so cavernous that the sound waves take longer to reach the walls, so the music has an echoy quality.
After the service we went back to Elizabeth's had dinner, talked a lot, and watched University Challenge. It reminded me a lot of Jeopardy...and I did a not so good job of explaining the Jeopardy game show to Elizabeth. I'm just so used to the show (especially the theme song) being common knowledge. We got on the topic of art, and I said next time we meet I'll bring my sketchbook. To be honest, I like showing it off. : )

Skipping ahead to the weekend now. On Saturday I got up at 4:50. It is humanly possible, but just barely. My usual group of friends, plus a few new faces, were taking a 6:30 train to London. The majority of us were only semiconscious during the train ride in, and I was glad I brought breakfast with me to at least give me some stamina to start out with.  Our plan was to see the sights while walking to the Natural History museum from Liverpool street. Once at the museum, we would see a special exhibit, look around the others a bit, and then head to King's Cross to see Platform 9 and 3/4. From there we would take the tube back to Liverpool Street Station. That was the plan.
Turns out, walking from Liverpool Street to the museum takes a loooooong time, and not everything we planned to do got done. Even so, we had a great time (for the most part).
The first half of the trip was pretty much walking and sightseeing along the way.  A couple notable things were the famous bridge and the outdoor market we stopped at.  This market had some interesting products for sale to say the least.

 Ha, the last 3 I posted just to gross you readers out.
While we were walking, I saw Sophie employing the boys in a type of wheelchair pulling I had never seen before. Poor girl, being pulled along by 2 handsome young men, don't you feel so sorry for her? Lol.

At one point along the Thames we stopped for a few minutes, so Pascoe and I took the opportunity to mess around in the wheelchairs for awhile.

I also got some more shots of Big Ben and the London Eye.

Walked through St James' Park and got a glimpse of Buckingham Palace.

Bambi got startled when she say the police horses. She even barked at them, which she hardly ever does, and as that behavior is not acceptable in harness, I gave her a correction.
After the palace, more walking.
Eventually we came across a McDonald's (classy) and decided we needed a lunch break.  We got inside, settled down at a table and contemplated our choices.  What happened next was really unexpected, and freaked me out for a few minutes.  One minute Sophie is standing next to me, and the next thing I know, she falls to the floor, unconscious.  This was the first time I had ever seen someone faint, and I stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds not really knowing how to process this.  Some other people in the group circled around her, and she woke up a couple seconds later.  Good, she's alive, now how many bones has the broken?  Amazingly, nothing was broken.  She got up fairly quickly, and seemed to be doing better once we got some food into her.  Apparently lots of activity+no breakfast+little sleep=fainting in her case.  There are no pictures obviously, definitely not an appropriate time to whip out the camera.  The rest of us ordered food after we made sure S was ok, and we all seemed to be revived a bit by getting something into our stomachs, even if it was McD's. 

We then headed to the Natural History Museum. Only had enough time to explore a cuple exhibits. Would like to return to see more, it was a huge place and seemed to have some interesting displays. We went through the taxidermy halls (stuffed animals) and saw some dinosaur bones. In that exhibit there was also a robotic T Rex, a lot like the one in Toys R Us in NYC. To be honest, you can skip that, the line was just way too long. Before we had to leave, I ltook a picture with the Charles Darkin statue, def one of the highlights of the day.

: ) When I return in June I will visit Platform 9 3/4 for sure.

Well, I feel special

Between the seal/Felbrigg Hall trip and this past weekend's adventure, nothing very noteworthy happened.  Here are a couple things I remember:
I got to meet Sophie's extended family who live in Norwich.  Bernie has a guide dog as well, so we sat and chatted about everything dog one rainy afternoon.  I got to feel the UK Guide Dog harness, it is quite different than the one Guiding Eyes gave me.  Just a brief note: the UK has one large organization which trains guide dogs and matches them up with blind/visually impaired handlers.  In the US there are about a dozen schools scattered throughout the states, each with their own various training methods. The UK also uses one universal harness whereas the schools in the US use several.  I was curious about the feel of the British v American harness, and Bernie was nice enough to let Bambi try on her dog's harness.

Bambi was a bit confused about the harness swap, but didn't seem to mind the new one. My first impression of the UK harness was that it was lighter, both in weight and color, and was more visible on Bambi. The handle was thinner and a little longer than its American counterpart. The buckle of the belly strap was made out of plastic not metal, and seemed a little flimsy.  The harness handle on the UK harness could easily be disconnected, whereas it would be a real chore to take the handle off of Bambi's harness (I never have, too difficult).  In my opinion the American harness seems stiffer, heavier, and more durable than the British one.  The UK harness is lighter, and more adaptable but had a less expensive feel to it.  Blaring yellow stands out to the crowd more than the brown leather, so I suppose it would be easier to spot the UK harness from farther away, and therefor get out of the way faster (always a plus for the handler).  I didn't get to walk very much holding the UK harness, so I can't really compare the amount of feedback you feel through the handle when the dog is moving.  Overall, both have their pros and cons, and what suits one person may not be right for another, it's really up to the handler's personal needs and preferences.
The next weekend was utterly boring, and I barely left the room (or slept for that matter) because two important deadlines were the following week.  I handed one paper in on Monday, and the next in on Wednesday.  All nighters are no fun at all.  Pretty much the only time I ever see the sun rise is when I've been up all night writing a paper. Not so full of wonder when you're struggling to keep your eyes open and your mind from wandering.
On the Wednesday, after I had handed in my paper, I came back to my room and pretty much passed out.  A couple hours later S woke me up and we went down to Pascoe's to make dinner.  I was revived a great deal by the haggis. Funny, even though I know what it's made out of now, I love it just as much.

I know this sounds cheesey as hell, but I felt so happy and lucky to be surrounded by friends.  After a difficult batch of days cooking dinner with them really put me in high spirits again.  Alright, sapfest over.
On Friday, Sophie and I departed on our trip to Scarborough.  The Stevenson family had graciously invited us to their home for the weekend.  3 trains later, we arrived and were met by (other) Kate at the train station.  We walked through the park to the house, dumped our stuff upstairs, and got settled in the back room to have hot drinks (tea for everyone else, and hot chocolate for me).  This back room is where we would end up spending the majority of our time while inside, there was a large fireplace which warmed up the room, and gave it a real cozy feel.

This back room was not only warm, but much less formal than the rooms near the front of the house. Those rooms were very grand in appearance, high ceilings with chandeliers and the like. Here's a glimpse of the "drawing room".

Impressive, but the real family room was in the back room with the toasty fireplace.
For dinner Mr. Stevenson had prepared both meat and vegetable pies, mashed potatoes, and various vegetables. The meat pie was so good I had to get seconds. : )
S and I decided to go for a walk since Kate and Mrs. Stevenson had to go to work and we were left to our own devices.  We took the long way down to the main strip by the seafront.  There were many arcades with flashing lights, ice cream vendors, and small shops along this strip.  It was dark, so the shops were closed, but I got to orient myself in preparation for the next day's walk.
We returned to the house and S showed me the upstairs rooms. The renovated attic had a large rack full of theater costumes, and I secretly hoped that I might be able to try one on at some point during the weekend.  I love getting dressed up (especially in period clothing) , but since I am not an actress I rarely get the chance to do so.
When it was time to retire I took a hot water bottle up to bed with me. There was no heating on in the room S and I shared, so the hot water bottle and blankets were very useful in keeping warm.

On Saturday we got up, had breakfast, and headed out to explore Scarborough. Kate, Rob, Sophie, and I made our way to the city center and went into a few shops.  While we were in a joke shop (I was of course thinking of the Weasley twins) looking for fake blood, a parade went by.  I stood in the doorway and oggled at them, many people walking by playing instruments (many drums) and I thought "How odd...I wonder what the occasion is?".  Kate told me it was an Irish thing, something having to do with Orange...
The next stop was a store where I could pick up a few hot water bottles of my own.  It is surprisingly hard to find inexpensive hotties with covers, but this place had good prices. I ended up buying 5, 2 for me, and 3 for people back home. If I could, I would bring one back for all my friends and family in the US, but alas, I don't have the room or the money.
We also stopped into a chocolate shop. There were many different types of fudge (including wasabi) but I didn't really like the sample I tried, so I didn't purchase any. After leaving the shop we walked down to the main strip, and crossed the street to the beach.  Dogs were allowed to run off leash, so I let Bambi loose. I'll show you how she reacted.

Why do I record her running around? Not sure really, I guess because she's off leash like this so rarely that I feel I need to capture it. She had a lot of fun splashing around, and no doubt got to release some pent up energy.  She sped past us so fast once that she knocked over Sophie's wheelchair (she wasn't in it, but our bags were) and we had to quickly rescue our purchases from the wet sand. Silly dog.

Bambi was dried off with a towel, and then we went to a 50's style cafe to warm up a little. Ironically I got a milkshake...not really helping on the warm front, but it tasted good. : D We decided to go back to the house for lunch, and on the way I got some pictures taken by a patch of daffodils. I'm so glad Spring is here!

Lunch for me was a nice buttered bread roll and some cheese. Very English. I also tried my first crumpet. I wasn't thrilled with it, but it wasn't horrible.
Since it looked like rain we decided to spend the afternoon inside.  Kate told me about an interactive production of Jane Eyre she was going to be a part of in April.  S had told her I wanted to try on some theater costumes, and she suggested we could take some pictures and Photoshop them into looking like Victorian photographs to hang on the walls in the production. I was all for this plan, so Mrs. Stevenson and I went up to the attic, and she picked out 3 dresses for me to model.
We got some great photos, and I held a poll on Facebook to find out which ones people liked the best. Here are the winners:

This one got the most votes by a landslide.  I must say, I do look the part of the young, pensive governess. : ) I AM Jane Eyre!
In these I look more like an heiress.

  

These are straight from the camera, I haven't messed around with them yet. I will let you know if they come out alright after I make them look Victorian.

Here are a few honorable mentions:

This shoot has inspired me to look into a Victorian themed professional photography session wearing period clothing. There must be places out there that do that type of thing. : )

On Sunday we all went out to lunch with Sophie's mother and grandmother (from York).  Fish & Chips just tastes better by the seaside.  The restaurant had a great view; here are some photos from the outside.

After the meal us "young folks" walked from the North Bay (where the restaurant was) back to the main strip (South Bay).  I'm not sure how far it was, but we walked for quite a while.  Being by the ocean again was great, the sound of the waves has a calming effect, and even a long walk becomes a relaxing one. 

The tour of English chocolate continues as we stopped to get ice cream, and then entered a fudge shop. I finally found some peanut butter fudge (that I liked), so I got a little of that, and a bit of traditional chocolate. When we returned home, Sophie had to work on her Health Economics poster, so I turned on my audiobook and curled up on the couch. Stephen King's "Rose Madder" started out good, but it got less interesting towards the end.  The whole spider monster thing is getting repetitive King.
I retired early because we had to catch a 7 am train.  I am not used to a brisk walk early in the morning, but it woke me up a little...got the blood flowing I guess.  Like the Stephen King book, the ride started off fine, but got pretty dismal later on.

We were supposed to arrive back in Norwich at about 11:15, instead we got there at around 2:15!  We ran into complications around Cambridge because someone had stolen some wires and communications were shoddy. Why you would want railway wires, I don't know. By the time we arrived at UEA I had missed about 3/4 of my 2 hour lecture, so I just went back to my room.

That was quite a memorable weekend.  A big Thank You to the Stevenson family who were incredible hosts.