{"id":3833,"date":"2008-06-15T14:02:42","date_gmt":"2008-06-15T22:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willdoherty.org\/wordpress\/?p=3833"},"modified":"2024-09-23T20:17:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T20:17:02","slug":"race-to-get-new-camera-before-leaving-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/?p=3833","title":{"rendered":"Race to Get New Camera Before Leaving London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written on June 15, 2008, in Tandoori Nights Restaurant, Amesbury, England, United Kingdom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I returned to the hotel last night, then managed to stay awake long enough to go to a gay bar near Kings Cross called Central Station. I ordered a double Bailey’s on the rocks which set me back \u00a33.50 (~US$7). In English bars, one is not expected to tip however. I ended up talking with a fellow who promotes rock bands and stayed long enough to take in a drag show as well. The performer, Lizzie Drip, had elaborate costumes and put on an impressive show. Somehow I managed to sneak in without paying a \u00a32 cover charge. I found a couple of guys quite attractive, but that reminded all the more how much I’m missing Sacrilege. I email him often and even managed to reach him by chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the way out, I asked directions from an Asian guy visiting London from Paris for the weekend. We chatted on the way back to Kings Cross, then went our separate ways. I arrived at the hotel and considered my plight: the camera had broken in the Horniman Library and I had no way to take photos for the rest of my trip. I decided I had to bite the bullet and buy a new camera, even though it would have a European warranty and European plugs for which I’d have to use an adapter. Also, I had to consider the problem of where to buy a good camera on a Sunday with only a couple of hours to spare before catching a bus out of town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these worries, I slept well, well enough to miss the lackluster hotel breakfast. I showered and packed everything up, checked out of the hotel, leaving my large bags in storage. I tried the Gran Sosso again for food with wifi, and it was closed again. So I went back to Friends House. The Sunday service was just starting, but no one seemed to mind me sitting in the lobby using my laptop with the free wifi. I searched for camera shops and found five, then I called them to see if one was open on Sunday. I was prepared to travel all over London, but the only shop that answered the phone was the closest, a short walk away. A nice salesperson patiently helped me decide on a new Canon compact camera with 12.1 megapixels(!) and amazingly good focus, closeup capability, raw file format, fast powerup, and rapid snaps in succession. I had to purchase a memory card as well, and opted for an 8G card. The whole shebang ran me more than US$500, even with a refund on VAT, for which I’ll have to send in a letter once I pass through customs. I wonder if I have to pay customs duty to export the camera?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the nick of time, I caught a bus back to Kings Cross after grabbing a whole wheat crust pasty for brunch along the way. I picked up my bags at the hotel. Luckily, I left enough time because the entire Victoria tube line was down and I had to wait awhile for a ride on the Circle line to Victoria station. From there, I walked my bags to the Victoria coach station. I waited through a long ticket line because all I had as a ticket was a text message on my phone, but apparently that is all the bus driver needs to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waiting for the bus, I met a Hungarian woman named Gyongyi, which means “pearl”. She told me about a book she translated from Hungarian to English, about Hungarian runes that apparently have similarities to Egyptian hieroglyphs. She said she had read also about Hungarian shamen. Throughout the ride, I was eying two cute young men. After she got off at Andover to meet the family for whome she was to be an au pair, I started chatting with Peter, a young Czech longhair fellow who also works as a nanny. I gave him my info as well, just before I got off the bus at Amesbury. After walking a mile in the wrong direction, I called the proprietor of the Catkin Lodge and managed to get on the right track. He helped me plan my visit, the I headed back to town to eat. The hotel with the vegetarian lasagna had stopped serving, so I went for an excellent meal at Tandoori Nights restaurant where I had a good chat with the manager. Now I’m off to bed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written on June 15, 2008, in Tandoori Nights Restaurant, Amesbury, England, United Kingdom I returned to the hotel last night, then managed to stay awake long enough to go to a gay bar near Kings Cross called Central Station. I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,66,109,228,239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egypt","category-england","category-history","category-travel","category-vegetarian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3833"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16434,"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833\/revisions\/16434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stardustdoherty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}