Getting to sleep, Mar. 1

3/1

So continuing where I left off last time,

It was morning of the next day and I opened the airplane window to see clouds and ocean. (Or glimpses that looked like ocean rather.) After a few hours of chatting we got to London ahead of schedule... which meant we had to fly in circles for 30 minutes waiting for our schedule to catch up with us. =p The benefits of being tied to organization I suppose.

So after this we touched down, filed out and slowly got ready for the day ahead. Customs gave me a small hassle but nothing too unexpected. I made it out of the airport in one peace after paying 20 dollars for a 15 minute train ride to the central station (Paddington Square.) Then I only had to wait 45 minutes after I learned how to read the train board. (mostly pigeon watching and being surprised by there were MPs carrying assault rifles in broad daylight. @_@ Psyop maybe?)

The weather in the daytime was fairly moderate. I was comfy in my usual shirt and pants and ended up lugging a jacket around the whole time for no reason. I boarded the train to Cardiff and knew in 2 1/2 hours I would be able to relax and meet my first international friend.

I spent the first hour trying to take a nap to make up for my rediculous lack of sleep, and after that failed I spent it watching the passing terrain. Mostly ivy or graffitti covered brick walls or areas of farmland growing... grass? I would find out later that the habit of growing grass was for grazing. >> I should have known that already.

I spent the second half making friends with a lovely elderly woman who had just sat down. We introduced ourselves and she asked a few questions about my region of the States, and then she explained a good bit about the local area's and sights of Cardiff. Namely how the train goes through a castle and if it wasn't so foggy at 2 PM I would be able to see the coasts.

Me and the lovely lady, got off at the Cardiff central and she was kind enough to help me find the appropriate train to finish connecting to Cathays. And of course she helped me find it, not once but twice. (I was in Wales now and despite the fact that most people do not speak the language of Welsh, most signs are in English and Welsh or happen to have an English verson and somewhere nearby a Welsh version... of which I misread and thought this was my wrong train. >> I still don't understand how I managed this feat or pure airheaded mindlessness. XD)

I finally got off my final train of the day, exhausted and at 3 PM, I found the house of Daniel was greeted by the cheery blonde otter himself. After a few minutes being shown the house I finally got to sit down and we planned about to meet the puppy sirus. (Most of the people in this house and his friends were furries so this is why I address them by their furry name or fursona on occasion.) The point of going to meet sirus was in part so I would have someone to go pester when Dainel/Goggled went to go visit his grandmother this weekend, and so we could all visit a small grocery to buy supplies for pancakes.

Its 8 PM and we were making pancakes... because one week ago it was national pancake day and apparently they missed celebrating it. I got to try the local recipe and found it delightful. I highly reccomend a bit of lemon juice and sugar on your next pancake. This was a first for me but I am sure someone reading this has had lemon juice on their pancakes before.

Clarification: Pancakes in the UK are not the Flapjacks of America, the large puffy pancakes. Think of these more like crepes as there is no baking powder/soda involved in this recipe.

Around midnight we finished talking and I was introduced to my bed. I got to loving it fairly quick and fell asleep faster than I could keep track of.

=p I need to finish packing for visiting my WWOOF house in a bit. Ill catch up on the next day tomorrow. Only 2 more days till I'm caught up.

Also for the people reading this, would you prefer more or less detail? I only keep up with interesting things so in the chances I start doing more routine things as my stay in the UK deepens I may have a lot less to write per day anyways and will likely consolidate days.

Anyways I will write again later, and if you do not see me on yahoo/any posts on here for a week it means that my WWOOF home does not have internet available and I will likely pre-write them on MS word and just post all the updates when I come back to Dan's place on the weekend.