Up hills. Yes! Hannah and I's dreams, after many walks up this one hill in St. Albans, have been fulfilled. They have hill-scalators. AMAZING! Stairs for down - or up, if you're feeling healthy, but with the 'have I just got out of the shower?' (hot + humid) style of weather here at the moment, even I am using them. There are stops every now and then in case you want to get off and have a chat to someone you've seen on the stairs/one of the hill shops, so every now and then you have to walk a few feet, but those are flat feet, and it's not long before you're effortlessly whirring up again.
The buildings are ridiculously tall - Zoe's friend Tabs' place is on the 12th floor, but that's quite low really. A lack of space so, as Yazz and the Plastic Population said, 'The only way is up!' The trees don't mind all the hillyness - they grab onto the sides of things, with lots of tangling roots holding everywhere they can, so they can't fall off. These roots, plus the vines that hang from them (or are they higher roots? I need to look more closely!) make them beautiful, and, more importantly, distinctive - because trees are almost always beautiful. It's been a quiet day today because we had a few too many 'welcome drinks' last night, but I've wandered around a bit and seen loads. I really want to draw pictures of everything. (I also want to And now for some photos :) Zoe and I are going on holiday. We're going to Hong Kong, Bali, then Hong Kong again.
I thought I'd practise travel writing - possibly experiment in various 'styles'. Although it'll probably just end up being me. It's hard to hide the weird. Just imagine, a serious commentary from me on a tree that looks pretty next to a beach, and a tasty sandwich. Perhaps then a political/historical/sociological analysis bit: e.g. 'the waiter whose name I will obviously find out looks happy with his life, but does he actually want to design furniture, rather than cater to the blight on this island that is TOURISM?'. Hopefully I can manage! We're going on Friday, and we met up this eve to watch a DVD. (Well, a few episodes of Friends.) We're currently on a conversation ban to make sure we have enough to say for the 11hour trip because we're flying Air-China which apparently is super-budget (although I'm sure very good). We're thinking no food, no drink, no mini tvs. Nothing to entertain us except maybe a napkin. Which we'll have to pay for. (Will report back on the accuracy of these predictions.) I pitched my 'Where's Alfonso' idea to Zoe today, and she was Very Much Up For It! So prepare yourselves for lots of photos with a toy alpaca hidden...somewhere :) |
Jax BurgoyneI am a writer. (If I say this enough times...) Archives
September 2013
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