It's like Hitchcock.

There is nothing quite so terrifying as a pigeon flying directly at your face.

The brothers of hummus.

Today I went back to a beloved restaurant with Caitlin and Kelly, the twins that I live with. It's a little place called Hummus Bros, and it is amazing.

Each dish is hummus with a topping of some sort, from vegetables, to guacamole, to meat. And they have really cool drinks too, my favorite being the aloe vera juice. It sounds strange, but it's quite delicious and refreshing; there are little aloe vera pieces in it but they're kind of like fruit, and the juice itself is sweetened with honey and "a splash" of grape juice, as they describe in their menu.

It's probably the best restaurant I've been to here. AND today they gave us a free meal because they messed up and put the wrong topping on, and they just brought it out and said, we made a mistake, you can have this for free. Which worked out because Kelly was just going to share with Caitlin, and didn't get a meal of her own. AND they then asked if we would like some mint tea, on the house!

What a brilliant place. NO WHERE in the U.S. would give you free stuff like that. Sara and Alexa had gone there before as well, and they were given a free dessert. SO fantastic.

Valentine's Day, belated.

Happy (late) Valentine's Day everyone!

Last night to celebrate, a bunch of us went to a wine bar my friend Jamie told us about. I've been wanting to go for a really long time, so I was excited, and we made our way there from the station when half our group was together.

However, one of my roommates had to give me a bad start to the night. When we got to the bar, she took one look in and said, "There's not enough room." I told her I was going to go in anyway, we came there specifically to go there, and I was angry that she had the nerve to take this away from me especially since she didn't really want to go in the first place. But she insisted not all of us would fit, and I finally snapped. I yelled at her that we would go then, and I stormed off, walking as fast as I could toward the station. She called after me but I ignored her, then my friend Caitlin finally caught up with me at a crosswalk. She told me that there was another room with more tables, commiserated with me and waited with me for the others who had not yet gotten to the station. I needed to cool off and this was the only way I could think of.

But anyway, the others finally got there, and we all walked back. The people I had left behind were sitting at a big table where there wasn't enough room for everyone, so my friends Sara, Alexa and I sat at a separate table. Which was fine by me.

We ordered a bottle of the South African red wine, because Jamie had recommended it, and it was delicious. And I usually don't like red wine. It had hints of black pepper in it, and Sara described it as sharp, which I would tend to agree with.

So that was my Valentine's Day. I had a good time once I escaped from the corner I feel like I put myself in during the course of my time here, what with never saying anything to my roommate about her constantly infuriating behaviour. God, I can't remember the last time I was so mad. But after that I had a nice night out with some friends.

Cookies.

So four of my friends (all guys) were the victims of armed burglary two nights ago, after some guys they met came to their place and pulled out a gun (that turned out to be a pellet gun, but still). They were very shaken up, one had his wallet stolen; thank goodness one was able to bolt out the front door and start yelling in the street for help. So because of this, three of my flatmates and I decided to bake them cookies to cheer them up. And you lucky readers get to see everything here.

Yah, that's mostly butter there. We had to taste test; who knows how they would've tasted?? Kelly was skeptical.

They were delicious, by the way. We brought them over to the guys, and they said they were delicious. So nobody say we can't bake. Because we're fantastic bakers. We should live on Baker Street, we're so great.

Liverpool and The Beatles

This weekend I went to Liverpool with a group from my school, and it was AWESOME. We got there at about noon, hung around for a while then went on the Magical Mystery Tour. I saw so many different things, and I took pictures!

George Harrison's house, where he was born.

John Lennon's house.

Paul McCartney's house at 20 Forthlin Road, where he and John wrote most of their songs, in the room with the window right next to the door. Paul's room was the one right above the door.

These are Ringo Starr's houses, the brown one and the white one respectively, down the street from each other.

"On the corner is a banker with a motorcar, / The little children laugh at him behind his back. / And the banker never wears a mac / In the pouring rain, very strange." This bank:

"Behind the shelter in the middle of the roundabout / A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray / And though she feels as if she's in a play / She is anyway." This building (and it is in the middle of the roundabout) used to be the shelter that they sing about:

And these are self-explanatory.

That night, we went to The Cavern Club. The original is unfortunately no longer there, but that was where The Beatles first played and were discovered by their manager, Brian Epstein. The one we went to is basically the same, just not the original, and a little farther away than the first one was. But we danced there all night, and it was really fun. I also decided that night to make "Come On Eileen" our theme song, so I requested it.

The next day we went to The Beatles Story, a museum-type place that had basically the entire history of The Beatles and things from their past displayed. It really was the story of The Beatles, told through an exhibition.

When I finished going through the exhibition and was shopping in the gift shop, I was looking around and found a T-shirt with the Abbey Road album cover on it, and I really wanted it. So I bought a medium, like I usually wear, and thought I was all set. Well, I then saw my friend Shawn who had a T-shirt like mine, but hers was just fitting her. And she is smaller than me. So I asked her what size she had, and of course she said she had a medium. Well, I was really sad because I knew that size wouldn't fit me if it was just fitting her; so I asked the workers there if I could just switch my medium with a large. Unfortunately I couldn't; the codes were different. So I had to go through a whole return deal, gave them my receipt, etc. THEN I found out that Shawn had a women's fitted tee, and not the regular T-shirt I had gotten. I freaked out; now it DEFINITELY wasn't going to fit me. They told me to switch it again, since we were still in the store, but I didn't want to have to go through all that again. Plus, it would have been embarassing. So I made a decision. "Here, hold this," I told my friend Lauren. I gave her my bag, switched the large for a medium, and walked out of the store. At that point I didn't care, I just wanted my damn T-shirt.

So we walked out of the store, and ran into a very special man. This is Sgt. Pepper! He was very nice and let me take a picture with him. :)

We also went to Anfield Stadium, where the Liverpool Football Club plays, but since I don't really care too much about professional football (soccer) it didn't really capture my attention as The Beatles stuff did. But after that we did more Beatles stuff on our own. We went to The Grapes, which is on the same street as The Cavern Club; this was where John, Paul, George and Ringo would get drinks before playing their gigs. And we sat at their table! Well, only for like 15 seconds because some ladies were already sitting there and we asked them to move so we could take a picture... haha. They were very nice ladies.

All of this stuff was on Mathew Street, famous for being the starting-off point for The Beatles. There's a statue of John Lennon there now, leaning against one of the walls. The walls around him are made up of hundreds of bricks, each one with the name of a band or performer. Every single band that has played at The Cavern since its opening in 1957 has their own brick.

So I had a pretty great weekend. And the icing on the cake was this pub we heard about and ate at called Wetherspoons, where they had a deal for a pint of beer (or some other drink options) and a burger with chips for 5 pounds. That was a really great deal, especially since pints usually cost from 2 to 3 pounds each. So we ate cheap in Liverpool. :)

Now I know what it's like.

So I think we have nightingales near our flat. Because we hear birdsong at odd hours of the night. I guess now I know how everyone else feels when I spontaneously burst into song. Sorry everyone.

A day on the job.

Hi everyone. I thought I'd give you a virtual tour of what my day is like at my work placement.

First I walk from my flat to Bayswater Station, a few blocks away.

Me walking:

Then I get to the station and go inside.

It takes about half an hour to get to my destination, Farringdon Station.

Then I walk down the street and turn down a small alley-type street, toward the door that leads to the offices inside.

I walk up some stairs after buzzing in, and then walk through these doors.

This is the Duckworth office. Beyond the bookshelfs are desks, which is where I sat on this particular day. The other days I sat in a room that is kind of next to that white pole.



This was my view from my desk this day. Nice.

This day I spent looking for places to sell books. Namely, sex museums and sex toy shops for "Love and Sex With Robots," and global-warming-is-not-real websites for the anti-global warming book "An Appeal To Reason." Hm.


This is the Starbucks I go to for lunch every day, around 1 or 2 pm. There is additional seating downstairs, and I think it's quite cozy to sit and read for an hour while sipping my drink.


After my day, I walk to the Farringdon station at 5:30, or half-five as they say here. The station is pretty busy.


This particular day I got off at Notting Hill Gate station, since I wanted to go to the Waterstone's bookstore on this street.

And that is my day on work placement days.