nice weekend

Had a nice and relaxing weekend which was perfect because the next few weeks are going to be really busy, as I’m working two six day weeks in a row at the museum.

On Saturday I went out to the shops to try and find a few things that I have been meaning to buy, but after a long day of queueing (what they call waiting in line here), I didn’t get very much accomplished. I’m starting to realize that you really have to take a day off to get anything done in this city, because the shops are far too busy on the weekends for errand running. Saturdays in the city center are busier than anything I have ever seen due to the fact that things close at 5 on weekdays, and not many stores are open on Sunday… honestly I’m afraid of what will happen as Christmas approaches… it’s going to be madness! It’s a bit inconvenient to adjust to this difference, but now that I am adjusting and getting used to not being able to browse the stores after work, it does seem a little excessive that malls and stores like Walmart are open until 9:00 or later in North America.

I’ve taken a few pictures of the Saturday queues that I passed during the day, and should hopefully post them soon as we are potentially going to go wireless in my house on Tuesday. (The wireless connection I was picking up has gone away, so we are getting wireless installed for everyone this week).

The queue-system is incredibly orderly here, and difficult to grow accustomed to as an impatient person… it’s not that we don’t line up in Canada, but we certainly don’t do it in the same way. For example, at bus stops there are often straight and orderly lines of up to 30 people or more – where in most of my experiences people sort of randomly crowd around bus stops in Canada, keeping in their head an idea of who was there before them and who came after them. It’s not that important who gets on in what order – because anyone who needs a seat due to old age or ability will inevitably get one or be given one. Also in stores where long line ups would normally arise, we often implement a take a number system so that you aren’t confined to standing behind someone in line and can browse around – I have yet to see such a system here, and so more often than not I find myself standing as person number 27 in line, just starting at the back of the head of the person in front of me, who in turn is starting at the back of the head of the person in front of him, and so on, and so on.

I’m not suggesting that either way is good or bad, I’m definitely developing a stronger level of patience here… I think the difference reflects a very north American desire to have everything as quickly and conveniently as possible. For example in a Canadian Grocery store if the line ups got long they would inevitably open up another cash so that people could move through as quickly as possible… if that happened here, people would just queue up single file and wait out the rush.

After a long day of not getting anything done while running around the busy busy city center, I basically just got frustrated and went home. The saddest part of my day was that when I went back to a clothing store that was having a big sale, the brown pair of cords that I was thinking about buying for work that were perfectly in my size had been bought by someone else. The lesson that I learned is that when life presents you with an £8 pair of Corduroy Pants (only about $16 Canadian dollars), you don’t hesitate and think “I’m not sure if I should spend the money - I’ll come back later” – you just go ahead and buy the darn pants for 8 quid.

On Saturday night my housemate Ben and his friends from work had an extra ticket to a live comedy/pantomime put on by “The League of Gentlemen”… now I was only a bit familiar with these guys after having watched a few episodes of their tv show and having just seen their newly released movie – but since I have pretty much been loving the British comedy I’ve seen on TV - I figure it was worth going, and in the end I was glad I went. Basically The League of Gentlemen is a collection of grotesque characters all portrayed by three men, the show is situated in a small town called Royston Vassey where all these bizarre characters live, and its sort of a sketch-type comedy show.

What was really great about the night is that I got a taste of Pantomime theatre which is a big british tradition, along side a huge dose of crude British humour as the pantomime was very much an overdone parody. It was showing at the Hippodrome, which is a big theater right in the centre of town, so it was also really great to get to go and sit inside such an old theater space…

The Hippodrome (above) and Two Characters from TLoG (below)

It was a hilarious night, and I really enjoyed the humour. I think the show has a bit of a cult following, so it was also really interesting to sit with an audience and hear them shout out funny lines and participate in the pantomime. What was most remarkable was the way that these three guys worked the story so that all the characters they play could be involved in the plot, but organized in a way where they all had time to change in and out of the ridiculous costumes while never leaving the stage empty of at least one character. It was such an amazing show!

If my talk of the show has peaked your interest check out these sites for more details of the hideous characters from Royston Vassey. Here and also here.

Sunday was nice and slow – it started off nice as my housemate stumbled upon a lost little puppy in the streets and brought him in to the house. Much to our disappointment we figured out his home was and so we were able to keep him for more than a few hours (we thought we might keep him a day or two until we found the rightful owner…but that plan didn’t last long)… but it was nice to have the excitement of a puppy in the house for at least a few hours.

We had a full English breakfast on Sunday with eggs, sausage, bacon, waffles (potato waffles not Belgian), and beans… and I made a big lasagna for dinner, the leftovers of which I will enjoy for lunch today. We don’t have a microwave at home, so I’ve taken to planning having leftovers that I can take it to work at lunch and warm in the microwave here.

Well that’s my exciting weekend for you. Its Monday morning and I’m off to work faced again with the usual Monday-realisation that my time in this country is flying by more quickly than ever… and it looks like the next few weeks will be no exception.

- Chris