Musings of a British Bloke: Feeling Like a New Man

I have neglected to mention that I managed to clean my room officially last weekend. This is something that has been neglected far too long. This is not just some little smearing around of the mess on the desk and the papers on the floor and shoving the dirty socks under the bed, but actually sorting through everything! And I mean everything that has been settling into becoming a permanent carpet of papers and books, I went through it all. Took everyhing off my shelves and desks and DUSTED! Crazy...I know, but lets not stop there. Lets imagine that I got everything off the floor, and kicked kevin's clothes and crap into a pile in his corner and VACUUMED! Wow, this will only happen once folks, and boy does it feel great. I feel like a completely different person living in such a clean environment compared to what I walked into the rest of the year.

What's more, the challenge isn't so much in cleaning a room, but actually keeping it that way, and I can proudly say I made it 6 days. Today, it is starting to have some resemblence to it's tarnished days of old. This should be a quick fix which I will do before bed. It really has been strange living all week making my bed in the morning, being able to find my watch, wallet, rings etc. where they should be on the edge of a clean desk and easy to find, and even stranger coming back in the day and actually hanging up my jacket in the closet or putting clothes away as they are used. I have accomplished the impossible and feel very refreshed and on top of things. I have always said that the cleanliness of my room reflects the state of my life. This past week I have been on top of my homework and even working ahead, working on lines for the play, keeping it clean and finding time for Mary and other friends, and feel at a complete balance. No stress, but a calm yet hard-working week. Right now it is starting to look a little ragged, which is exactly how I feel, haven't been able to read Barchester Towers for our Flat Class with M and C, nor do any other homework and...enter stress and disorganization. If i can only clean my room up and get back on top of things...update in a week.

Yesterday 5 (which means minus 4 from the original 9 for you mathematically challenged) of us clambered into M and C's car to hit the road for an hour to Lincoln. Lincoln is best known for its Cathedral. Coming into town from the north, our first glimpses of it were rather staggering. These massive spires rose in the distance as we glimpsed it through trees and around cute little buildings and storefronts. My first impression was that this was some cute little town just like most of the others built around this monstrous cathedral. We took a tour of both the cathedral and even the roof, complete with a whole new tour guide and an insight into what the internal wood structure looks like of a cathedral behind all that stone and plaster.
We literally were on the roof... and I was sufficently freaked but put on a brave face.

We were so high up. I don't have then number for you, but this was a rare experience to see a cathedral from so high up and to see it's inards and climb amongst the rafters. above the ceiling.

Kevin and I getting a bit of our agression out in the house of the Lord using those handy little butt cushions, or knee padding or whatever they are.

Venturing downhill, deeper into town I found that it is actually quite a large bustling city. The streets get bigger and as you near the bottom of steep street (appropriately named for the steep hill this city is built on with the cathedral at the top. This is no little hill but very, very long and a rather extreme grade)

Starbucks, Pizza Express, Primark, and malls pop up replacing the tea rooms and private little shops on the cobbled hill. We wandered in and out of stores, escaping the rain in an Oxfam (British Goodwill) in which we have pictures floating around somewhere of me trying on a pair of Black velvet pants and a purple shirt to complete the ridiculous outfit. Finally the group of us settled into a nice pub with some real ales as a reward for our arduous trek back up the hill.
Just a couple of side notes and random things. Inside the cathedral there was an exhibit along one whole wall of the Nave of woodcarvings done by a guy named William Faribanks. They represented the different stations of the cross, but in a very modern style as you can see here. He used 139 different woods from around the world to do these and I thought they were absolutely stunning. Very unique and eye catching and some of them capturing a lot of the emotion and power of the scene.

View from the top of the Cathedral over Lincoln. Guess what that massive tower is off in the distance??.... It's a watertower! Who would have guessed. I am always impressed with how they always seem to keep up the appearance of making everything look somewhat themed or whatever. Instead of some gaudy american bulb sticking out of the ground, they give it some appearance though I must say it still looks a bit awkward. This reminded me of the one in Alnwick we saw at the beginning of this year. I saw what looked to be a cute little country tower that looked pretty ancient but was actually a disguised water tower. Very impressive!

Last wednesday, we had our first cast and production team social. Went to a Pub/Bar called the Pit and Pendulum. The whole place is decorated in Gothic style with lots of black, Jagged metal edges, crumbly looking walls etc. Very cool. They have a drink specialty called the 7 Deadly Sins. I think I had the Chocolatey WRATH, and Also the Rum and Coke mixed with Amaretto of ENVY. Really delicious drinks. From here we moved on to a very different atmosphere in a place called Geisha. Very relaxing, cushions everywhere with a bit of that Eastern theme you get from the name. Hung out in a room with a live acoustic performer. Good times getting to know my fellow cast members and a couple of the other people who are working hard to make this a great play.