Lazy Day
I spent the last 3 hours practicing card magic. Fun! I haven't really had a chance for awhile. I got through two chapters of my book and I honestly learned everything in it. (Except for one trick, which for the life of me doesn't work, even if I follow instructions flawlessly. I have no idea why.) I'm happy to know that I have been doing my airborn riffle shuffle properly, since everything else that I've been doing is apparantly wrong. I tried out a couple of tricks on Alicia and they seemed to work quite well. I still need to come up with a way to present them, but that will come.

I had a touristy day yesterday. Actually, I had originally planned to be even more tourist than I ended up. I've been looking around and I decided that getting a "London Pass" is the best way to see the various things I want to see here. Basically, it's a pass that gets you into many of London's major tourist attractions (Tower of London, Westminster, river boat rides, London Aquarium, London Zoo, etc. I figured with a 2 day pass, I could see basically everything I wanted to see. This I decided at 9:30am on Saturday. So I went downtown and bought a 2 day pass. I had to go to the bank first though (they sent me a letter accusing me of money laundering) and by the time I assured them I was an innocent Canadian who just happens to be living here, it was already past 1:00pm. Most things close at 5pm here, so I decided not to activate my pass. It's not exactly cheap, so I'll wait till I have a full free weekend. It's good until December, so I should be fine.

Anyways, since I still don't have access to my bank account, I decided to not spend any money and ended up wandering aimlessly around London. So I did, literally picking a direction and going for it. I somehow ended up in places I had already been (Buckingham Palace, Covent Gardens) but also places I hadn't been (Green Park, random streets everywhere. I ended up in the theater district again and had fun hoping from cheap ticket vendor to cheap ticket vendor, to get an idea of the prices. I didn't buy any, for a Saturday night show, the cheapest available was like 70 pounds. So I ended up walking around again, found London's Chinatown, kept walking, turned a corner and saw a giant sign saying "Les Miserables". I walked over, innocently intending to merely look at the images on the walls, then said screw it, went inside, and bought a ticket. Since I was on my own, I was able to get a fraking awesome seat, basically overhanging the stage, for 25 pounds. It's in the 40 pound zone but my seat is squished, with very little legroom, hence the discount.

The show was absolutely brilliant. Amazing cast, fantastic singing and an absolutely gorgeous set. I want to go back and see it again. I was just blown away by it.

It took me an extra 45 minutes to get home than it normally does, which is not something I treasure at midnight. I couldn't get to my train station from London Bridge, so I had to take a different train to a different stop where I could catch a train that did go to my station. Extra 30 minute ride, in the opposite direction. Screaming baby the whole way. Ah well, I made it home.

Today was somewhat more relaxed. Slept in, then gloated silently that I didn't really sleep in because the time changed back an hour. Made crepes, ate them then headed off to wander around my neighborhood. I originally planned on heading to One Tree Hill and the park but as I was walking towards it, it started to pour so I decided against it and hopped on a bus going in the opposite direction. I found a library and convinced them to give me a card. Found a shopping mall, a store that had a very Honest Ed's vibe to it and a few grocery stores. All within a 10 minute bus ride! Not bad at all.

So now I'm back here, debating whether to watch TV or practice more magic. Maybe both.