Was it "Eat Me" or "Drink Me" that shrunk Alice?

After tickling Chris incessantly, he thought it might be good to give me a good tongue lashing, even if his best efforts resulted in my uncontrollable laughter at:

Chris: Don’t you know the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolves”?
Josh: Uh, I think you mean ‘wolf’, honey. There is only one wolf in the story.
Chris: Oh. My version of the story is just more dramatic.

I just came back from a 6-day vacation in Wales where I visited a good friend of mine, Maria. Maria is a dramatic soprano that had sung fro a while in the chorus of the Welsh National Opera where her position was somewhat like mine now. She decided that she would break out of it, much like I want to do, in order to try to become a soloist in the Wagner Fach. She is, far and away, the only person in my life that is almost exactly like me in personality and temperament. It is just so strange being with her; it’s like having my female equivalent right next to me.

What can I tell you about England and Wales? Hell, I’m not even finished telling you about my trip with my parents. Well, I took notes in my little spiral notebook. Maybe I should just tell you what it says and maybe elaborate if necessary...

Thursday, 24 August

--Flight to London
--When in London, I luck out as the Europeans have to wait in a super long line while I go straight to the front of the line titled “Non-EU”. Finally, there is an advantage to being American. I was practically waived through.
n Had to check my baggage i Victoria Station so that I wouldn’t have to lug it everywhere for the day. It cost me £6. That’s a lot!
--From the very beginning, the driving on the left thing that England is known for is confusing. On the curb of almost every road in London, is painted the words “Look Left” or “Look Right”. I wonder how many tourists had to die before they did that? It is super confusing (but, I do tend to be directionally impaired.) What I had never realized, were the implications of this on the overall society. People even instinctively walk on the wrong side on the sidewalks, causing great confusion as you wonder why this person is coming straight for you even when you have the right of way. Uh, you don’t, silly. What I couldn’t seem to get over was that the left lane is the slow lane on the highway. That was just weird. Even the escalators go in the wrong direction.
--Got a tour of Parliament. That was very interesting. Although, form my current standpoint, knowing that the entire place was decorated in this Neo Baroque style in the middle 19th Century certainly takes a lot of the Romanticism out of it.


The interior is way over the top and much of the artwork is actually bad. I guess it goes to show that old Victoria didn’t have much taste (what a surprise.) What to expect when you give one person full reign simply because she was born to the right parents. (Remind me to tell you about the song that Henry VIII wrote with the words “Pocks on you. Can I not fart? Can I not belch?”)
--Did you know that Maggie Thatcher sits now in the House of Lords, she was given title of Baroness by the Queen. Got I hate Maggie Thatcher.
--And, because of problems determining what is “constitutional” or not, the Queen has started the ball rolling for the British to have their own Supreme Court (these decisions were previously made by appointed law experts in the House of Lords.) Interesting. So, the throne comes full circle, getting ideas from us?
--Went to s supermarket to buy some stuff for the bus ride to Cardiff, and, it being vacation, decided to buy a package of cigarettes. I asked the lady behind the counter to pick out a good English brand for me, wanting to try something native. Confused, I had to help her a bit more, and said that I wanted something that “the common man smokes”. This seemed like a perfectly normal thing to say. But the word “common” means something completely different in London than it would to us in the US. I inadvertently embarrassed both her and her and me. Ooops.
--The ride to Cardiff takes about 3.5 hours. Sat next to a man who slept most of the way but talked my ear off for the last half hour. “I couldn’t help noticing your accent. Are you from America?” I later learn is not necessarily a question that should be readily answered. He worked or companies all throughout the Middle East, and, thought, mistakenly, later on that I might find it interesting to know that he had once seen a snuff video there. That really freaked me out.
--Maria’s house is a row house, for those of you who know what that is. For those of you that don't, a picture:


It is two stories and is very narrow. I felt like a giant when I came in. Her place is extremely charming and cozy. It is probably perfect for her. But, I felt, both because of my own size and innate, American need for space quiet cramped. Don’t get me wrong. She is a lovely person and made me feel so welcome in her fine home. I just feel like that scene in the Naked Gun where Leslie Nielson is standing next to some giant guy who is so big that his head won’t even fit in the camera shot. He tells him that he has something on his face and a whole banana just falls on the desk in front of them. That was me in this house. The width of her house is basically from chimney to chimney here: