Saturday, May 05, 2001  

After the exciting escapades in the last update--where our hero (or, as I like to call him, "me") foiled a potential terrorist act, made a dramatic television appearance, dodged MI6 security and played a lot of GBA--it was time for more peaceful sightseeing. And where better to go than Windsor Castle? (Well, I can think of many more places, but let's keep that quiet.)

Once you step out of the tiny train station into Windsor Town, you feel like you've been thrown in a timewarp. Everything's quiet. The shops are all small, local places (like John's Fudge Factory... mmmmmm, fudge...) and everything is dominated by the massive Windsor Castle. Looks like this is really some rural backwater then. So we set out towards the castle, and as we hit the last turn leading into the castle itself, suddenly the beautiful face of capitalism revealed itself. Small mom-and-pop shops and cafes disappeared and made way for a strip of roadway with McDonalds, Haagen-Daz, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, Bella Pasta, Burger King... all the comforting sights of the world in one convenient place. You knew they were hiding somewhere.

Aside from my jaunts to various sightseeing spots in the UK with my mother and boring bits of school and revision, I've been sinking my teeth into my latest game... Gran Turismo 3 for PS2. It's a hyper-realistic driving game with over 160 real-life cars and it's a LOT of fun. It also looks so good that comes close to blurring the lines between the game and real races--indeed, some people here have mistaken the replay mode for TV programmes...

That's all for now, more soon.

Currently in my...
Consoles: Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec (PS2), F-Zero Advance (GBA), Chu Chu Rocket (GBA)
DVD Player: Toy Story
Toilet: EGM, Economist

Posted at 10:21 AM

---

Tuesday, May 01, 2001  

When it rains, it pours. My dad left last week, leaving my mom here with me for another week or so. And being the active sort, she really wants to go out and DO stuff.

Firstly, I watched a couple of movies. First one was Bridget Jones's Diary, which I was rather apprehensive about... but as it turns out it was actually quite good. Obviously, there are some jokes males are just never going to get, but overall it was genuinely funny. Renee Zellweger was very good (if a bit posh), and Hugh Grant was absolutely BRILLIANT as an evil scumbag. Ironically, the next film I saw also had a British actor playing against type--The Tailor of Panama, with Pierce Brosnan as a snivelling, horny, evil worm of a secret agent who really is the antithesis of Bond (in everything apart from their love for women and snappy one-liners... except Bond is witty and sophisticated and Panama's Osnard is just blunt and mean). Another good film with an interesting plot and good performances from Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush (though Jamie Lee Curtis is dull as the film's token American).

Watching movies was just a small part of it all, though. After enduring an hour of school in the morning we set off for the London Eye--a giant ferris wheel on the River Thames that offers magnificent views of Central London (and it better, considering it is the fourth-tallest structure in the city). One amusing note is that while walking from the station to the Eye, we noticed a distinct lack of trash cans... before realising that workers have been ordered to clear away anything that isn't cemented to the floor by tomorrow for fear of it being thrown about during the riots tomorrow. Yes, riots--for some bizarre reason, anyone with any problem against society (from fake furs to plain old anarchists) are going to riot tomorrow. Why tomorrow? I have no idea. Ask the damn anarchists!

Anyway, back to the Eye. You get shut off in a spacious glass capsule with 23 other people and sent 135 metres in to the air. As much as I was looking forward to it on the way there, once we started to go up I suddenly remembered that I'm very, very scared of heights. But my fear grew for a different reason when I noticed the suspicious behaviour of a fellow passenger. Firstly, it was a dark and overcast day, and he had his sunglasses on. Not too bad, I guess... but then he proceeded to snap photos not of the view, but of the drive motors on the wheel. He then nonchalantly poked around the cabin feeling the pressure seals. Hrm. (He was eventually stopped by security and forced to hand over his roll when we got off)

The view was incredible, though. I did gain the confidence to go within half a metre of the glass walls, and despite the poor weather you could see everything--Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Eurostar Terminal, Oxo Tower, MI6, Charing Cross Station, Canary Wharf, Battersea Power Station... even Downing Street. I took a lot of pictures, and I might put up some of the better ones later on...

Incidentally, although I managed to momentarily quell my fear of heights during the ride up, I realised something else. For some odd reason, the first few minutes of going down made me feel even worse than going up. No, it doesn't make sense to me either.

After the ride, we basically walked up and down the South Bank of the Thames for half an hour trying to decide what to do next. After deciding to check out the London Aquarium, we discover it was closed. Why? I don't know, but the lights were off and the doors were locked, so I think it's a safe guess to say it's closed. Cue an hour or so of aimless walking towards MI6 HQ miles down the river. On the way though there were a couple of interesting notes. While walking past the Houses of Parliament, across the street I noticed a couple of camera crews filming next to a massive wooden box. Apparently those anarchists (yes, it's those damn anarchists again) intend to deface famous statues, so they've all been boarded up. My mom remarked "look, TV crews, we might be on the BBC!". I scoffed and pointed out that the far camera crew wasn't even filming yet. Fast forward to 2:21am that night. I'm sitting by the TV and typing away on the laptop when I see a report on the preparations for tomorrow's riots. "Heh, I was there this afternoon", I thought. Then I looked closely. "Wait, that looks vaguely like me... and that woman next to him looks like my mom. And he's pointing at the camera. IT'S ME!!!!". There's my 15 seconds of fame--Guy In Background Pointing At Camera Crew.

MI6 was, naturally, the highlight of the trip, but for unexpected reasons. Upon arrival at the building, I discovered that there was a walkway on the river right in front of the building for the public to use... so I took my time strolling there, checking out security gates (just because it seemed like a cool thing to do, really) and generally getting as close to MI6 as I possibly could. With one photo left on the camera my mom suggests one of me by the front entrance--hell, why not? We take it and see a guard rush towards us. "Please don't take pictures of our staff! I'll have to check that camera!". My mom apologised profusely, and while I tried my best to apologise--I honestly didn't mean any harm as such--I just couldn't stop grinning at the thought of one of my pictures COMPROMISING NATIONAL SECURITY. The guard realised we were no harm and gave us back the camera... but really I don't think we helped the situation by pointing at people leaving the building and exclaiming "LOOK! A REAL SPY!".

That's not all that happened, but that's all I'm saying for now. It's 4:20am and I think I've bored you guys enough already.

Oh, one last thing--LIVERPOOL!!!!!

Currently in my...

Consoles: Chu Chu Rocket (GBA), Winning Eleven 5 (PS2)
DVD Player: Thunderbirds are GO!
Toilet: EGM, Edge

Posted at 11:26 AM

---