The Occasional Blog of Jonah Weiland

Wow. This is actually kind of embarassing.

This last June I spent foru days in London on business. Well, two days of business, two days of fun. During the trip I kept a journal of my travels and began posting them in June. I posted my first three write-ups, but never posted my fourth journal entry. I also never posted the photos I took during the trip.

Wow. This is actually embarassing.

So tonight I finally finish what I started months ago by posting the fourth of five journal entries detailing my trip to London, my second most favorite place on earth (right behind Los Angeles, natch). This covers Sunday, June 4th, of my trip which saw me do some shopping and check out some of the fantastic markets in London, then my dinner with a friend. It was a great day.

For those of you who’d like to start at the beginning, here are some direct links to those entries for you:

• Journal Entry #1
• Journal Entry #2
• Journal Entry #3

I’m also currently uploading the photos I took during this trip. I’ll need some time to go through them and add captions, but they should all be online by Friday afternoon.

Here we go.

Sunday morning I woke up around 6:30 AM. I took care of some work, got dressed, had some breakfast and hopped on the tube to the east end once again to check out the aforementioned markets. The street market was filled with everything you could think of. It was filled with a mix of food, clothing and general knick knacks. Some of it was complete junk, other stuff was rather nice. I bought a t-shirt and marveled at the bizarre food being served on the street. There were a number of booths where they fried up shrimp in giant oil vats, right out in the open.

I then made my way to the Old Spitafields Market which is just fantastic. If I were to ever live in London I’m certain this market would be a regular Sunday visit. The quality of the product sold here was far better than found at the street market and the prices weren’t that bad, even with the awful exchange rate. You could find all sorts of amazing home furnishings, a wide variety of clothing and accessories, fresh fruits and vegetables and amazing food stuffs from around the world. It’s too bad I had breakfast that morning as I wasn’t really hungry, but I did get a delicious Apricot Danish from a pastry cart that was the goods. I also bought a pair of “Thai Fisherman Pants,” which are kind of like Yoga pants I guess. Totally perfect for lounging around the house. I got the e-mail address of the lady I bought them off of in case I wanted to get more once I get home.

BTW, I forgot to mention earlier how with the exchange rate being what it is, pretty much everything in London (with a few exceptions) is twice as expensive as it is in America. For instance, if you were to go into a McDonalds to get a Quarter Pounder Value Meal, like I did my first day there, what costs only $5 in the states costs $9.50. It’s not like they lower their prices in England when the dollar is weak. I did find, though, that in some instances things were cheaper, like some of the clothing I bought. More on that in a bit.

So, I finished at the Old Spitafields Market, hopped back on the tube and made my way to Camden Market. I visited Camden last time I was in London and found a store that specializes in Hemp clothing. I bought some pants from them last time and they quickly became my favorite. Soft, extremely comfortable and a great cut. I was just concerned the store wouldn’t be there this time. Lucky for me, they were still there.

I walked around the Old Camden Markets for a while, looking at all the bizarre stuff for sale. Didn’t find anything I had to have. Did see one pocket watch that was very cool, but I didn’t really need it. But in walking around I kept seeing vendors selling “Magic Mushrooms.” Are these the same psychedelic mushrooms that are very much illegal in the United States? I asked about and found out they were. It seems dealers in England discovered a loop hole in the law which allows them to sell mushrooms legally as long as they’re still alive. If they’re dry and you’re caught selling them, well, you’re going to jail fuck-o. So, numerous shops in Camden were selling little pallettes of still alive psychedelic mushrooms. Take ‘em home, dry ‘em out, brew up a pot of mushroom tea and you can begin your eight hour trip with Alice in Wonderland. Totally bizarre. As you would expect, there’s a movement on to change the law.

I walked up the street towards the Camden Locks and found my old Hemp clothing store. At the few places you can find Hemp clothing in the States it’s usually pretty expensive and the selection for guys is pretty weak. At the Braintree Hemp Clothing Store that’s not the case. The prices are actually about the same, if not better, than they are here, despite the weakness of the dollar. I bought one pair of jeans (which I’m currently wearing) and three shirts. Really nicely made stuff. Why Hemp you ask? It has a soft feel, is cooler in warm weather than cotton, is very strong and last longer than most cotton clothing and just feels better. Very comfortable material.

It was time for lunch and I found an area of Camden Locks with 8-10 different food vendors selling all sorts of food. Morocan, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Venezuelan. Incredible smells throughout. I opted for a Venezuelan thing. It was some sort of corn pocket thing filled with chicken, avocado and an amazing sauce. Top that off with a traditional Venezuelan iced tea type thing and wow. Just awesome. I had to hold myself back from having two servings. Damn, I really shouldn’t have had breakfast.

Once I finished walking around there I took the tube back to my hotel. Before getting there I stopped off at the Sainsbury Local (small grocery store) to load up on Jaffa Cakes and Walker’s Crisps. Then I made my way to the hotel to drop off my packages and relax a bit.

Before I made my trip, I had spoken with my friend Rich Johnston about a visit. Rich writes the LYING IN THE GUTTERS column over at Comic Book Resources.. I first met Rich in person back in 2003 during my first visit to London. So, I called up Rich and made arrangements to go over to his house and spend some time with him, his wife Janice and their three month old daughter Eve.

I’ve known Rich for about five years now, but I don’t think we’ve ever spent more than an hour together. We’ve had lunch in Los Angeles once, lunch in London once, met briefly in Chicago and San Diego, but we’ve never had the chance to sit down and really chat. Sure, we talk in e-mail and on IM, but it’s not the same. I was looking forward to getting together with him.

So, another trip on the tube was necessary, which was fine by me. As those of you who know me well, you know I love public transportation. Los Angeles has shit for public transpo, so going to a city that has a proper, working subway system is strangely thrilling for me. I can’t help it, I’m a public transpo geek and London’s like the Olympics of subways. (Funny, they’re also making a bid to be the host city of the 2012 summer olympics. If they get it, I’m going.) [Note: This was written before they were awarded the 2012 Olympics. Looks like I know where I'm going the summer of 2012!]

So, it was time to go to Rich’s. I headed out east a bit on the tube and was met by Rich’s wife at the station. I bought her some flowers for going to the trouble of picking me up. We chatted on our way to the house and arrived about 15 minutes later. I spent the next five or six hours at Rich’s just talking about everything. Comics, of course, were a natural topic, but it wasn’t all comics all the time. Rich and his wife have a lovely little house outside of London. Their daughter is very cute, although babies intimidate me the same way they intimidate all single men– it’s as though they’re some sort of biblical monster and I’m armed only with a small bag of peanuts. We ordered some take out Indian food that was quite good and talked until late. It was really great getting to spend quality time with all three of them. I saw a completely different side of Rich, which was fun. Around 10:30 Janice took me back to the tube station. I was so exhausted I actually fell asleep on the tube back to Paddington for a bit. That’s terribly rare for me because I can’t sleep much of anywhere if there’s the slightest bit of noise.

More Friday morning when I present the story of my travels home and how I traveled like a Prince, but not quite like a King.

Continuing the journal of my recent visit to London, we find ourself on Saturday morning, June 3rd.

Saturday morning I woke up early to switch hotels. At this point I was footing the bill for my stay, so it was switch to the Best Western in Paddington. I picked the hotel for two reasons: it was cheap and had in room high-speed Internet. Having a high-speed connection in your room in England is somewhat rare unless you plan to stay at the $300+ a night hotel’s. And I figured with this being a Best Western it would have to live up to a minimum level of quality. While I wasn’t completely wrong, I also wasn’t right. I’ve read numerous times that hotel rooms in England are ridiculously small. The room at the Best Western was easily the smallest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in. (more…)

Continuing with my London travel journal, we find ourselves in the middle of Day 2, Friday, June 2nd.

Friday afternoon were the interviews with the stars and director of “V for Vendetta.â€? Once again I can’t discuss the content of said interviews yet, but everyone was very generous and gracious. Portman and Weaving as well as Director James McTigue were generous with their time and put up with all us reporters with our stupid questions.

Once the interviews were finished, the business portion of my trip was over. Six of us headed over to a local pub (“No fucking chain pubs, alright? They’re bollocks,â€? said one of the English chaps who joined us.). There’s something rather fantastic about getting your drunk on at 4:00 in the afternoon and having it be perfectly acceptable. In England that’s just what you do. In the States that’s just what you do if you’re an alocholic. Interesting. As you all know, having a pint is just part of English culture. Plus, with pubs closing at 11:00, getting your buzz on early is a neessity. They don’t have the luxury of starting at 9:00 pm with a 1:30 am last call.

After the drinking it was back to the hotel for dinner with Daniel, Paul and Alejandro at the hotel, then Daniel and I headed off to the Gielgud theater to catch a showing of the David Schwimmer starring “Some Girl(s).â€? Daniel and I arrived about five minutes prior to curtain. Now, the last time I was in London I saw Sir Ian McKellan on stage in “Song of Death.â€? Well, just before the curtain went up in walked Sir Ian with a friend and he sat about 10 feet away from us. Apparently I can’t see a play in London without Sir Ian near by.

The play itself was fantastic. It’s about a newly engaged 30 something year old man, played by Schwimmer, who decides to revisit four ex-girlfriends located in disparate locations throughout the United States. Schwimmer plays a succesful, A-Type personality who’s just a mess with his social life. He’s a succesful looser, much like Ross on “Friends.â€? He’s really not a good guy, going around to all these women to “make sure they’re not mad at himâ€? or to “make sure he’s not missing out on something better.â€? It’s an amazing character piece and the women who starred with Schwimmer were all penomenal. It’s a wonderful look into the dark psyche of an overconident and dishonest (with himself at minimum) man.

After the play I walked around Lecster Square a bit. This is the portion of London filled with pubs and clubs and movie theaters and is, in my opinion, a waste of time. It’s a giant tourist trap, really. It’s like Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, but really not as good. What was interesting, though, was being there at 11:00 when all the pubs closed and people stated to file out into the streets. The place was completely packed. At its busiest I skipped inside a Virgin Megastore and picked up a copy of the BBC documentary “State of Playâ€? on DVD. Then it was back to the hotel for some rest. That ended Friday.

Return tomorrow around noonish for part three of my trip to London, this time covering the activities that took place on Saturday.

Finally, after much delay, I’m going to start posting the journal of my recent trip to London. I’ll warn you, the first two days or so worth of entries are rather bland as it’s mostly business, but it does pick up some. I’ll be posting another chapter of this daily for the next week around Noon Pacific time for those who are interested.

Without further delay, let’s begin.

My trip began on the afternoon of Wednesday June 1st, approximately 3:30 in the afternoon. That’s when I arrived at LAX. Check in went fine, as did the security check, but LAX is without a doubt one of the dumber airports when it comes to security. The security staff are wholly unpleasant people, clearly fed up with their lives and looking to take it out on every traveler that comes through. There’s a very unnecessary attitude that they adopt. When compared to security in London or Montreal or any other country I’ve visited outside of the United States, well, US security efforts are just embarrassing.

I should mention the purpose of this trip was to visit the set of “V For Vendettaâ€? in London. (more…)