Greenwich and jumping jacks

Weekend was better than most. Beautiful weather during both days over the weekend and I tried taking advantage of it. Friday was okay, night of drinking as usual. And guess what? Hung out with the coworkers! Went to a couple pubs called “The Gun” and “Dirty Dick’s” You gotta love the names of these pubs. A couple of weeks ago I went to a pub called “Bangers.” With so many pubs here in England, the imagination can run wild with pub names. I’m still trying to think of a pub name if I ever opened a pub here.

On Saturday I realized that I had nothing to do all day, (big surprise) so I decided that I was going to wonder about London. I didn’t have a real destination. My original goal was to hit the parks in the west end of the city. It was a beautiful Saturday so why waste it staying inside? Anyway, on my way to my undetermined destination, which I thought was going to be the west side of town, I decide to take the train south to Greenwich. It was a last minute decision, and I wish I brought my camera!

Anyway, if you are not familiar with Greenwich you should be! As a test, and if you are using a Windows operating system, dbl-click on the time in the corner. Click on Time Zone. See that GMT abbreviation? That’s Greenwich Mean Time. Greenwich is where time begins! Well, relatively. Greenwich is where the prime meridian is defined. Zero degrees Longitude. It basically is the point that defines the Eastern and Western hemisphere.

So there is this observatory in this beautiful park. And when you climb this hill to get there this is this little “touristy” area. I was looking for some kind of tourist attraction where it shows where the prime meridian was defined. From a distance, I see all these people lining up in this jumping jack position. Arms out, legs apart, just like a big “X”. Curiosity has definitely been sparked.

I walk closer and there is this line on the ground where you can stand, leading up to this sculpture of a globe. A HA!! This “virtual” line is where the prime meridian is defined, basically separating Eastern and Western Hemispheres! Now I can imagine why all these people want to take these pictures of themselves on both sides of the hemisphere. Almost each and every person, I kid you not, took a picture of themselves in this jumping-jack position, demonstrating the fact that each side of their body is on both sides of the Hemisphere. It was quite funny to watch what people will do! “Hey look at me; I’m on both sides of the hemisphere!”

Anyway, spend most of the day walking around the park people watching and even sitting down and enjoying a book. If you haven’t read the book Alchemist, its a good read. Thanks to Allison who gave it as a going away present!

British Humour
Sunday went to a comedy club and watch four stand up acts. Pretty funny. Despite the usual local mockery of local culture that I didn’t get at all, most of it was a laugh.

Eating Alone and Food
I think I’ve mastered the art of eating alone in public places. As long as I have my trusty magazine as my security blanket, I’m okay. I’ve seen this practice done with other solitary diners as well. I had bangers and mash on Saturday alone to myself. I even ate outside! If you don’t know bangers and mash its simply long sausages and mash potatoes with some special sauce. This dish also included green peas. Yuck. Not a fan of green peas. Then on Sunday, I went to a good asian restaurant. I chose it because there were 2 other guys eating by themselves. I figure with two other lonely guys eating alone, what’s wrong with a third. Then they left in the middle of my meal. So then I was alone yet again. Luckily another woman showed up alone to eat. I left in the middle of her meal. =)

Congrats
I guess congrats to the Southsiders. Bah!