Hi[yas] & [Hel]los

Buckingham Palace

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
"A soldier's life is terrible hard,"
Says Alice.
They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
We saw a guard in a sentry-box.
"One of the sergeants looks after their socks,"
Says Alice.
They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
We looked for the King, but he never came.
"Well, God take care of him, all the same,"
Says Alice.
They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
They've great big parties inside the grounds.
"I wouldn't be King for a hundred pounds,"
Says Alice.
They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
A face looked out, but it wasn't the King's.
"He's much too busy a-signing things,"
Says Alice.
They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
"Do you think the King knows all about me?"
"Sure to, dear, but it's time for tea,"
Says Alice.
-- A. A. Milne

Well I guess it's true what they say about the Highs and Lows of London town... Here's my first encounter and example of this truth.

It had been made 'clear' to Caitlin and I that it was all too much for us to stay at our temporary accommodation- in fact, it was suggested we start looking elsewhere on the second day.*

Anyhoo, we decided to get right on out there and keep on trucking. We woke up really early on the morning of May 5th as Caitlin had an appointment at number 1 Regent street. The place was right near the Oxford Circus tube stop, and I decided to accompany here into the centre of town. Caitlin's meeting was scheduled to last about two hours, and I decided that, rather than take a left hand turn towards all the amazing shops that I simply didn't have any money to spent in, I would turn right, down towards a park I could see below a large statue and at the bottom of a flight of stairs.

I noticed a path that led down around the gardens and a half-empty pond. I sat down briefly to take a call from a girl who messed me around about a meeting she scheduled for me on the previous day (the bank holiday), and I finished my coffee and re-scheduled the meeting for Thursday. I decided to get back up an continue along the path- the gardens were stunning- and I noticed a sign that said 'The Royal Parks', and didn't think much more of it until, a little way down the path, I looked up and saw a signpost that read "Buckingham Palace". I eagerly and excitedly followed the path, which sure enough, led me to the gates of Buckingham Palace! Eeeeee!

At first, I was very taken by the Queen Victoria memorial statue, and the stellar golden angel sitting on the top of it. I guess I was just really taken by finally standing in front of the Palace I have heard and seen of for as long as I can remember- and despite the gloomy clouds overhead, the gold tipped gates and the bright yellow flowers in the surrounding gardens seemed to illuminate the place.

I wandered along the front gates, and found out that the changing of the guard would be taking place at 11:30am, and given that it was just after 10, I decided to hang about. I walked around the Queen Victoria memorial fountain a couple of times, taking snaps from different angles, before I made it over to the gates that stand at the entrance of Green Park. I marvelled as I read the history of the park, and looked at the trees overhead and the lush green grass. From here, I watched 'the King's men' march out of the palace gates with a brass orchestra in tow, off on their city tour before the formalities of the changing took place.

After a while, I headed back towards the palace gates, looking to secure a place to sit and view the daily ceremony. As I went to cross the road, a policeman stopped me, and asked me to wait which I did...and in just a few moments, a black range rover flew in the the gates, driven my Prince Phillip (Mr. Queen Elizabeth to you!)- Right in front of me! I thought it odd that this was the only car that wasn't stopped immediately, searched and verified by the security guards armed with automatic machine guns- I guess he just called ahead!!!

I made my up to the steps on the Queen Victoria memorial, and sat down amongst the many tourists and high school students. A bit after 11am, the guards returned from their merry-march-around-town, and the changing of the guard got underway. It took about an hour to complete, and to be honest, I'm not really sure what was going on, but the orchestra/band/what-have-you was awesome, and those black hats that the guards wear are hilarious- they should seriously be added to the Egan Street dress up cupboard!

When all the Queenie-hoo-ha was finished, I made my way back through the St. James Gardens and along the path back to Regent Street. I needed to meet Caitlin at twelve, to ensure we could make it from Oxford Circus station, back to East Putney, out to Wimbeldon and on to Surbiton for a meeting I scheduled with a teaching agency at 2pm. Caitlin's meeting was running overtime, and so we scrambled madly, made it out to Wimbeldon, alas, no Wombles, and miraculously got to Surbiton on time. The meeting was successful, but by the time it was over with we were exhausted, and made our way back to our temporary accommodation in Putney. We didn't arrive til around about 5pm, and we needed to organise accommodation for the evening. It's fair to say that we didn't feel comfortable about using the Internet where we were staying, so we had to do most of our searching on the phone. Unfortunately, when we called the Globetrotter hostel where we had planned to stay, the phone just keep on ringing out. We ended up booking a place that was advertised in the TNT magazine, a place called 'Abercorn House Hostel' in Hammersmith.

After some crappy pizza and wine, we were driven to the hostel, as it was close to Putney, and arrived there quite late in the evening and it was dark outside. Our first clue about the nature of this place should've hit us when they said on the phone that they only accepted cash payments, but sadly, I over looked that, and I guess it was the combination of the security window, CCTV, the fire alarm sounding and the stench of alcoholics at reception that really got the clue ball rolling...

The man behind the desk gave me the keys to three rooms to go and check out, one on the second floor and two on the fourth.
"I think you'll want the one on the second" he said.
Caitlin decided to stay and 'protect' our belongings in the 'lobby' while I headed up-stairs to check out the rooms. As I walked up the first flight of stairs, past the third-world-standard toilets, and the old men sitting in the halls, drinking and smoking, I started to feel rather scared, and somewhat sick. I was stared down, and even approached by a couple of them, but I just kept my head down and made my way to room 230. I passed a girl who had her head peeped out from the slight crack in her door, who was looking to see what the commotion was (there was a fight happening on the fire escape deck between a couple of blokes), and she gave me a wayward smile- probably just pleased to see another female of the species. I made it to the room and realised that we'd have to take it- there was no way I was walking up two more flights of stairs to see what else was up there.

I went back down to confirm with the guy, to find Caitlin being harrassed by a guy in an orange jumper, and the fire alarm started going off again. I shouted to the guy behind the desk that we would only be interested in staying for two nights, rather than five, as we had first stated. He didn't seem overly impressed, which made be concerned about handing over my passport and details to him. But it was late, and we needed to stay there. By the time we carted all of our luggage up the stairs, all we could do was lock ourselves in the room, and start making plans to get out of there at day break. There was constant noise and craziness in the halls, people banging on others doors, and slamming stuff around. We lay on our beds, hoping no-one would bust through our door, clutching our bags, and decided to try and sleep...and we left the light on.

So there you have it.
From Buckingham Palace to a half-way home in Hammersmith.
Helluva day.


*I'm not going to waste my blog space on explaining this further. Contact me directly if you wanna know the deal.