The post below was actually written on Wednesday, but for some reason Blogger and Hotmail were both bizarrely non-functional on that day, and I couldn't get to the internet cafe yesterday, so I sincerely apologize for being out of touch for so long. Rest assured that I am safe in London, and doing fine! We're also getting our phone hooked up today, so I'll be able to phone and be phoned from now on, and if you want the number shoot me an e-mail. (Unfortunately there's no voicemail capacity, so I'll probably be doing most of the phoning, as opposed to being phoned.)

I have now had two out of three of my classes, and they promise to be interesting and entertaining, although last night's concert for Music in London left a little to be desired (I'm not generally a fan of really avant-garde compositions, but at least they didn't play any John Cage). Today's a free day, and most of my roommates have headed off to a fruit and veg market in Soho. I was planning to take a boat trip on the Thames, but it's icky and cloudy and rainy off and on, so I am going to check out some little funky shops and cafes in Covent Garden instead. We're going to reconvene in West Hampstead (I've really got to think of some kind of shorthand for our neighbourhood/flat, as West Hampstead is a pain in the ass to type out repeatedly) around dinnertime, and then find somewhere to watch the sun set over the Thames. You can all be jealous now.

I've finally had that quintessential "oh-my-god-I'm-really-in-London" moment, and it was Wednesday night. Our resident party animals (Geoff and Jeff, who are off to Dublin this weekend, lucky sods) discovered a bar off Trafalgar Square called the Maple Leaf... as you can guess from the name, it's the Canadian bar mentioned in the previous post. We decided to engage in the traditional Canadian pastime of pre-drinking, since the hockey game didn't start till midnight, and why pre-drink at home when you can pre-drink in Trafalgar Square? One of the bus routes that goes to Trafalgar stops directly outside our flat and runs back and forth all night, which we considered to be a sign from God that this is what we were meant to do. We set up shop on the base of Nelson's Column, and here's where I'll reassure the parents and law-abiding figures that read this. Technically, drinking in public is illegal in Britain, but Trafalgar Square is continually patrolled by friendly policemen who keep an eye out for trouble. They don't mind if you drink as long as you're not being rowdy or causing trouble, so we were in good shape. We sat there for several hours, watching the traffic and meeting the locals, including a very sweet guy named Alan who gave us a lot of good info and watched out for the drunker ones among us (not me, I learned my lesson on Monday!). It was a great London night.

Yesterday I got to do a bit of exploring on my own, since we had a concert scheduled at 7:30 and didn't get out of class in the East End until 5. A lot of us, me among them, elected to stay in the area rather than tube for an hour all the way home and then turn right back around and come back. I took the tube to Embankment station, which is right south of Trafalgar Square on the north bank of the Thames, and crossed the footbridge to the Royal Festival Hall on the south bank.

It was my first glimpse of the Thames, and it was amazing. From the footbridge in the middle of the river, you can see a lot of the landmarks on both sides, including St. Paul's dome, and a lot of the church spires in the City. A railway bridge blocked my view of Westminster, although I've now seen the top of Big Ben and heard his famous bells. After crossing the bridge, I grabbed a sandwich, a copy of Hello!, and watched the river traffic for a while. I still had some time to kill before the concert, so I visited the South Bank Book Market, picked up a Paul Theroux book for two pounds, and watched the people passing by. I can see now why people love London life so much... it's a great city for parking yourself somewhere and just observing.

Now that I've reassured you that everything is good here, I'm going to find a nice cafe, get some food, and head over to Covent Garden. Expect some phone calls tonight!