Day 106 - London & more fire safety

Today I went to London for several hours. I almost wasn't able to go because of another mandatory fire safety thing. It never stops! Today there was a fire safety video at 5:15 that we had to attend or else be fined (£50 I think). Thankfully, they're letting me go to another one tomorrow instead. That doesn't mean I don't still think all this fire safety stuff is ridiculous. You'd think that two booklets, three letters, two drills, and one hour-long lecture would be enough by now, but apparently not.

Anyway, I did make it to London today. My first destination was the Jewish neighborhood in the Golders Green area of north London. I was particularly interested in visiting the Jewish book stores there. I saw quite a few books that I'd love to have, but they cost a fortune and there's no way I could take them back anyway. It's interesting.. since the religion split ~1900 years ago, one side added a "New Testament" with 27 short books/letters while the other side added a "new testament" that would barely fit on a large bookshelf. But it was neat to see it all and was a good opportunity to brush up on my (Hebrew), which isn't usually very useful around here.



After that I went to Trafalgar Square and walked from there to Parliament (no bombs or gun powder) and along the Thames toward where the Lake Havasu City (London) Bridge used to be. What an awesome walk that was! It wasn't the first time I've been in that area but it's still impressive every time I go there.



After that I went all the way down to Wimbledon. I didn't see the tennis courts though -- i think those are closer to the Southfields station than Wimbledon.

On the walk back home from Reading station I saw even more fireworks. I saw some last night as well. I'm not sure whether they're just leftovers or if they've been celebrating other people's failed attempts to blow up Parliament.

posted by Matt @ 11:59 PM