6/1 - And to think that I saw it on...Horse Guards Road?

What I did:

I woke up earlier than normal because I had to check out of the hotel today by 11. I packed everything up and left my bags at the hotel and went out to the heart of the city again. I had contacted Graham, the man who I will be staying with for the next part of my trip, and we were to meet at 5:30. So I had a good 6 hours of free time.



I didn’t really know what to do, so I headed to a park to rest a little and plan out something. I kind of just wanted to be led today, so I only planned on going to one place and before and after that I just went wherever my intentions led me. So, I started in Kensington Park, which I had been to briefly before. I sat there and prayed and read a little and just lay out under a tree. It was a beautiful day (although it did get a little warm later on), so I just enjoyed the day. I started to get hungry, so I walked around for a while looking for lunch. Kensington Park is connected to Hyde Park and I eventually found some food and took it to Hyde Park to eat. After eating, I read some more and laid down some more and then it got really cloudy and looked like it was about to rain. I felt like I should walk around anyway, so I got up and walked around the park in the general direction of an underground station (which is kind of hard not to do, I guess).
I got on the tube eventually and headed to Piccadilly Circus. I did not really expect to see clowns and lions and all that here, but what I did eventually come across was quite surprising. Before that though, I looked around the area. Piccadilly Circus is known for its large digital, neon signs and ads. Not a competitor of Times Square, but in the same line. It also for some reason has a large statue of Eros. Why not? That didn’t take me long to take in so I walked around the block and found a street with a bunch of theaters on it (like Phantom of the Opera, which was one of them). It was neat, but pretty dead at around 3 in the afternoon. So I kept going and saw some more big monuments and statues of past military persons. I did not recognize any of them so I kept going. And then, I thought I heard some music coming from around the corner.

So, I went to check it out. I turned and did not really see anything except the start of another park and a bunch of British flags, so I wondered where I could be and thought it might be good to go ahead and turn back. As I was rounding the block, however, I saw a bunch of people on horses in the street. On looking closer, I noticed that they also had instruments! There were guys with fife, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, some sort of horn, tuba, and even a guy with two small kettle drums mounted on the horse with him. Haha! It was great. So, I went to check it out more. After crossing the street I noticed that they were just standing around. But I figured I would wait and see what happens. And before long I heard more music coming from further down. I was kind of fenced in and more and more people were gathering, so I just stayed where I was, but I eventually saw the source. It was I guess some sort of royal army marching band! They marched down the street and into a big open area on the other side of the street playing. They were all dressed up in the red coats and big furry hats and they marched back and forth (A&M style if that makes sense to you). I don’t really know what all they played, probably some famous marches, and then out of nowhere they started Eleanor Rigby!! I couldn’t believe that I had just stumbled on this really wonderful experience.

Then the cavalry band started trotting (?) out playing. I soon noticed that there had been another group of them around the corner on the other side that I couldn’t see at first. They “marched” back and forth some too, all the while playing. Then they stopped for a little while and made a pathway and suddenly a motorcade came through and out of one of the doors stepped none other than her Highness the Queen herself! Ok, just kidding - I made that last part about the Queen up. But you can seriously believe everything else, and it was impressive and surprising enough without the Queen. I don’t remember ever having seen people play instruments on horseback.

But, before they finished whatever they were doing (who knows, the Queen might have come after all), I had to go back to pick up my bags. I got them and went back to the tube to meet Graham at our rendezvous point. I brought way too much stuff and my bags were ridiculously heavy, but I found out why I needed to meet him – he did not drive a car in today, he had taken the train. So, after we met, we went and got a train to take us out to Fleet, which is just outside of London. His wife came and picked us up from the train station and soon I was looking at my new accommodations. It is a nice three story townhouse and I am both very grateful and very excited to be living here for a while.

Pizza was cooked and eaten before too long, and it just tasted really good (maybe because it was fresh and homemade). I can’t help but notice how much quieter it is out here. Even the parks, as nice as they are, cannot drown out the continual drone of London city life. But here, which apparently is a community only built eight years ago, it is much more peaceful. We relaxed the rest of the evening and watched a tv program about the Celts and early Christianity in Britain. I am now trying to make myself at home here and to relax after a surprisingly tiring day.

What I learned:

1173 people were injured last year on the escalators at the underground. That is more than pi number of people per day (about 3.21 on not a leap year, but last year was, right? So more like 3.205 people per day).

I packed too much, or at least too much heavy stuff. Next time I think I will just bring 10 large pillows.

You can play drums on horses. The guy was playing really loudly too.

'Just follow your nose' is close to good advice. Just follow your ears might be better in some situations. And in others, just follow anything can be interesting.

Some Celtic artists who made a very early illustrated, pictorial depiction of the Gospels used a very toxic yellow coloring made from some sort of arsenic.

Early Christians in Ireland and Britain were definitely believed to possess a very strong type of magic.

There are still a lot of important books I have not read (or even heard of until today) about the emerging church (which actually does not really surprise me that much, not because of my lack of reading, but because of the amount of books being written now).

I realized that there was a specific purpose in the order in which the bands marched out and played. First it was the marchers on foot, then they guys on horses. It simply could not be the other way around. A riddle for you – why must it be this way? (I’ll give you the answer tomorrow).