England, June 1, 1998
Cool Britannia
I loved sailing through my Cool Britannia experience
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Britain! Wow, what a country! Or was it two? I spent a week and a half
gorging on the wonders the English Isles had to offer. I have to say I
was impressed that everyone spoke English, and the shopping was endless.
My Anglican adventure started innocently way back in January, when, via an odd charge on someone's staff account I couldn't explain, I found out that PW has a regatta every summer in England, the Windsor Winch. As one who is know to wander into odd things, I jumped at the chance to go sailing. What else am I gonna do with a few hundred buck and three days of my life? So after a bit of BS, a well placed usage of the word 'jib pole,' and a bit of begging, I got on the invitee list. Joe-cool! I was going sailing! Before I wound up on the boat, I went on a little South Island Odyssey. I flew into London (of course) and went to stay with an old housemate from DC, Danny. She lives in Wimbledon, a section of London strangely devoid of tennis courts. I looked all over, but I didn't see a single one! She was good to catch up with. I got the latest gossip from DC, and her take on the American Experience. After spending time with her, and shopping like mad in London, I went to see another ex-DC housemate (well more like house crasher) Richard. We had a great time, driving to Cardiff Wales, which might be an independent country, but I'm still a bit confused. There, we packed up his University apartment and drove it back to his home in Huntingdon with his stuffed animals staring out the back window the whole way.I rested in the English countryside for a few days before it was off to London again. This time it was more of a bar crawl, with a dinner at the posh National Liberal Club as the climax. I promptly got food poisoning from the spring rolls (I knew the English cooked bad, but food poisoning too?!). The next day, as I learned all about the many toilets of England, I made my way to Southampton, where the regatta was going to be held. I met up with our crew, and of we went. A boat ramming, impromptu swim, a broken jib pole, and a wind burnt face later, we came in 6th, 5th, and 3rd out of 25 boats who sailed on a regular basis. For a close to novice crew with a world class skipper, we did pretty good and collected two bottles of champagne, if not a trophy. All in all, I really enjoyed my time in Britain, and London is now on the short list of cities I definitely want to live in. |
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Sorry for learning all those toilets! You are not alone.Maybe you did not eat some snacks with prawns! Hmm!You can't reach the toilet!Just change the trousers!