SHABBAT AND BRIGHTON

On Friday night, after cleaning up the synagogue, I tried to take a train to the second Messianic Congregation that I was going to try out. The train ride ended up taking over an hour, and then the second leg of the journey was to be a bus. When I got to the train depot after this journey, I checked all of the schedules and discovered that I could not actually get back home before the last train left and still make it to Erev Shabbat services, so I had to turn right back around and go home.

So basically, I just sat on trains for four hours for no reason at all. This just may be the second-most pathetic thing ever. (the penultithetic?)

I think that the *real* problem was that in order to get to this Jewish congregation, I had to travel through both West Ham and East Ham, and let's face it, that is just wrong.

Anyway, I eventually got home, and there was a band rehearsal going on, so I at least got to hear some music, and the night was not a complete failure.

The next day, I slept in, went grocery shopping, and then came home to watch football. (FA Cup Final) I discovered that even in England they have obnoxious and interminal pre-game shows. I've never understood this. I have occasionally watched sporting events in my time, but two hours of "People are going to play football today. People have played football in the past. People will play football in the future. People watch football. People have watched football in the past. People will watch football in the future. Let's talk to some of each of these people" is enough to tax the patience of a much better person than me.

*yawn*

I was rooting for Chelsea, and they lost, by the way. Arsenal won. It was sad.

Later that night, I went over to my friend, Sarah's, and we chatted a bit, and then eventually I went to meet Possibly Laurence and see this band.

Possibly Laurence is at least as fantastic as I initially thought. We had a fabulous evening, and the music was not bad, and the pub where we were had Scrabble and Jenga and all kinds of other games, so we played while listening, and really, it was completely marvellous.

Best conversation of the evening, I think:



Friend #1: "She has a PVC nurse's uniform, you know."

Me: "We are not discussing this. Laurence, would you like something to drink?"

Poss. Laur: "Yes. I'd like a PVC nurse's uniform, please."



All right, maybe you had to be there, but trust me, after two alcoholic beverages, it was hilarious.

Somewhere along the lines, plans were made to go to Brighton yesterday, because I had never been before, and because it is, evidently, the ultimate tacky experience, and everyone felt strongly that I needed to go.

It was *so* much fun. There's this big shopping district, and there's this pier that goes out quite far into the English Channel, and this pier is basically a small amusement park. We shot arrows at things, threw balls at targets, got wet on a water ride, and took the "Ghost Train" which is sort of like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland--you know, very tacky scary "ghosts" in a dark tunnel while you're being whipped around a bit. We also did bumper cars which are called something different here, but I can't remember what.

Evidently, a photo of me in a deck chair had to be obtained, and there's this specific kind of candy that is only sold at Brighton which I had to buy. This was insisted upon as part of the whole tacky experience.

At any rate, we ended up eating chips and a basket of food had been brought along, so we had a picnic on the beach, and it was perfectly gorgeous, and I spent pretty much the whole day laughing.

Then we went shopping, which was actually rather sad because I have no money, and there were soooo many shoe stores.

(You've no idea how broke I am at this point. I have just enough money left so that I can buy a drink or two when I'm out with friends, so that it's not obvious that I am completely flat broke. Now I have just to avoid dinner and movie invitations and anything else that requires money, and I am golden.)

Anyway, then we drove back home and stopped at a pub, and it was warm and yummy and just kind of added to the general happy day.

It was the sort of evening that really called for being wrapped up in blankets and watching bad movies, so I called Matthew, but he wasn't home, so I ended up getting videos from a friend, and called it an evening.

I guess that was about the only melancholy I experienced over the past few days. I was out having a really fun time, and had moments when I thought of Matthew and wished that either he was there, or that he was the one telling me that he wanted to show me places I'd never been, or things that he thought would make me happy.

But those moments were few and far between, and I feel really fortunate to have friends over here who are so considerate to me and so fun to be with.

There are also a few weird moments lately, because there's this guy who obviously fancies me a bit, and it makes me a little uncomfortable. I think that will go away once I'm settled, though, and honestly, if that's the only bad thing in my life...