London

I've arrived in London.

The computer system at the 5-star hotel (which means good service by men in funny hats) is down, so checking in was a bit complex.

Also, Canary Wharf is a giant maze of wacky, made only slightly better by my wandering around in it lost singing "My Boy Builds Coffins," which should give you something of an indicator on what the flight over was like.

Speaking of, I have tales and tales and tales from the flight over (involving a very, very chatty girl who thought we were exactly alike... um, yeah, no), but that's for later.

When the tales were not transpiring though, I watched a random episode of Being Human, which I had never seen before. It was great (and Russell Tovey is scrumptious), but I'm not actually sure I'm going to be able to watch the show. It was the first episode of season 2 ( cut since it apparently hasn't aired in the US yet )

Then I watched the second half of "The End of Time" because that seemed appropriate. Most appropriate? I fell asleep after the seen of Ten gagged and woke up again for the scene with Jack and Alonso, because I am awesome like that. Those were the only two reasons I was watching anyway.

Meanwhile, the stone still hasn't passed.

Also, on a whim, I emailed the most famous tattoo shop in London a couple of days ago to see if they could fit me in to get a tattoo I've been planning for a while, since this trip seemed appropriate to the occasion. It takes months to get an appointment at this place. Months! They just emailed. They can fit me in. So I'm heading over there in a bit to talk to them about it, so maybe maybe.

First, food, beverage and the Imperial War Museum. Tonight, working on resisting going to an outdoor concert with fireworks at Kew Gardens as I absolutely must work on my response paper and eat chicken dopiazza instead.

London misses Patty and so do I.

London: Imperial War Museum and a whole bunch of errands

Today I was ridiculously productive.

I started the day with the Imperial War Museum.

Pro-tip #1: No matter how affecting someone tells you it is, they are understating the case.
Pro-tip #2: Don't try to see more one or two exhibits at a time, because no one has that sort of informational or emotional capacity.

I started with "The Children's War" about WWII seen through the eyes of UK children. This was largely, but not exclusively, about the evacuation of children from London during the war. This is a fact I've known about, in some detail, because it was a central narrative of my own childhood, because my private school boarded UK girls fleeing during that time.

I started crying about 30-seconds into this exhibit and couldn't stop. Whether it was about a girl hero was received multiple medals at age 14 for being a message runner, or a small toy that was the only possession a child was able to save, this was hard. And the letters from children, the penmanship the same method I was taught -- it was suddenly as if my friends could have written those letters.

The exhibit also included a full-scale replica of a house from the era, which was lit, decorated and included sounds from the time -- records playing, radio broadcasts about the war. A half-finished dress on a mannequin in a sitting room; a slip laid out on a bed. I won't lie, this hit me somewhat from a place of fiction, but wasn't any more pleasant for that.

Perhaps most remarkable, however, were people on site who had been part of those children evacuated who were available to talk about their experiences on a one-on-one basis.

I also went to the trenches exhibit, as someone here had suggested. I found this difficult, but less affecting, perhaps because there were other people there, and I was too nauseous from the scent of it to take in the other details, not that that wasn't informative.

I also tried to do the Holocaust exhibit, but only managed to in the most cursory of ways. As with most Holocaust exhibits content on LGBT people was limited to men (women wore the black triangle, and not for having sex with other women, but for not serving the Reich in appropriately feminine ways, such as childbearing). I don't expect to be more than a footnote, but I hate not being one.

I thought the exhibit was impressive for its clarity and clinicalness. It let the events speak for themselves, and made an effort to demystify life under the Nazi's -- not just for Jews, but for those who were not targeted. The museum is very very good overall at letting small details paint large pictures.

I also wandered through a bunch of WWII stuff, but skipped a lot of it because I was far too overwhelmed by that point (having done more crying at the Holocaust exhibit) and was crying at weird crap by then. Also, too many groups of teenagers who couldn't be quiet where quiet was needed.

After that I went to check out the tattoo parlor that I liked very much. So I am tentatively going to do that Monday, but that dependent on a number of factors including my ongoing health. (I passed the stone. Everything is still sore.)

Then I went to the Sainsbury's in Whitechapel and got my gluten-free groceries before heading back to Brick Lane to eat dinner.

Now I am EXHAUSTED (also the tube was all fucked because someone went under a train at Ealing and I must have gone through 20 stations in my running about today), back in the room, and knowing I need to take the notes for my paper response and make them into something coherent, as well as write my WIAD and do a bit of other work. All doable, but I want a nap. A nap, however, is risky, as I might well sleep 'til morning.

I still owe you the airport story. And I still need to plan out tomorrow which is highly sensitive as far as timing goes.

Link round-up later if I can manage it, although other than work I want to wander around here in the evening a little. Also, I owe you all a thing about the construction of masculinity and clothing here as opposed to the US.