A cup of coffee
10th Oct 2004 (Sunday)
THE PULL OF A MARKET
It started with a simple idea. Christina, Hanako and myself decided to go for coffee in the afternoon today. Hanako asked her flatmate Dimitrios along because he came to Goldsmiths a week later than everyone else and he has not seen much of the neighbourhood. Plus, he’s Greek and Hanako decided Christina would be good company for him. There was supposed to another guy from Peru but he wanted to sleep.
Hanako and I thought we were going to Greenwich which was just 10mins bus ride away. But Christina had other plans. She suggested Portobello market, which is at Notting Hill. I had gone out with Christina before and I know she’s quite a shopper. We just went out to a café, but along the way, we stopped by many shops. Being attracted to beautiful things, there are many things she wanted to buy. And the last time we went out, she mentioned about wanting to go to Portobello. So, I guess she thought it would be a good chance today since she has some company. And why not? It was after all still early, we all agreed. Besides, Christina knew exactly which buses to take. So, off we went. It was about 2.15pm.
BUS NO. 12
We had to change to another bus in Central London and it was no. 12. It came soon enough and we were rather happy it was a double-decker because that meant we could see London from “above”. So, we passed Trafalgar square, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street and so on. The traffic was atrocious and the bus moved really slowly. Despite that, we were happy. I was chatting with Hanako and Christina with Dimitrios.
After about 20-30 mins in bad traffic, we suddenly realized we saw Picadilly Circus again. Hey…déjà . We were seeing the same buildings and the same monuments again. We were heading back to where we came from!
So, Christina went down to ask the driver. We did not know what transpired between her and the driver but she came up and signaled us to alight. I was quite glad because we alighted to cool, fresh (now this is quite debatable but definitely fresher than in the bus) air.
Christina said the bus driver refused to say anything and asked her to get off the bus. I seriously thought there could be some miscommunication.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
It was 3.45pm.
I suggested taking a walk around the area. There was Leicester Sq, Covent Garden and the while stretch of high street shops. I thought, it’s just coffee, right? There is coffee everywhere. I had my own agenda because I felt a headache coming on.
I hinted to Christina that Portobello market might be closed by the time we got there. But no. She did her homework. “No, it closes at 6 o’clock.”. She was determined. At the same time, she was perplexed and confused with the turn of events. It is difficult to describe this. But sometimes movies would depict the Greek or Italian unhappy about something by having them go on and on, rambling in their own native tongue.
Well, I saw the English version.
“But why? Look. Look at the map. It says, we change here. And we take 12. It will take us straight to Notting Hill. I took this bus to Bayswater the other day. It did not make a circle. Why? I don’t understand. I am sorry but I really don’t understand. I think we go the other side?” The actual monologue was longer than this. But she went very fast and she tended to repeat. The above is the gist of it.
We kept assuring her that it was ok and getting lost was part of the deal of being new to a place. She decided we had to find out the bus route and that we were to stick to the plan of going to Portobello. We were rather amused and followed her lead. I was actually quite contented to stay where we were but decided not to be a wet blanket. So, we went searching for the “real” bus 12.
BUS NO. 12 (Part 2)
We finally went up a bus no. 12 after a while. Christina led us and she went straight to the bus driver and just went on about how the previous bus no. 12 went another way and if this one would make a circle. The driver just stared blankly, “I don’t understand”
There was a line of people waiting behind us so I added, “Does this go to Notting Hill?”
The bus driver replied “Yes” and Christina again tried to find out why the previous bus made a circle. Dimitrios kind of pushed her to the wall, next to the stairs so that people could walk past us.
Anyway, so here we were, on this very crowded bus no. 12. Dimitrios, Hanako and I decided to go upstairs since we’ve got it from the horses’s mouth that it will end the trip at Notting Hill. No worries. For me, I was just happy to get away from the crowd at the lower deck.
Christina decided to stay downstairs, just in case.
AND THEN THERE WERE THREE
We were traveling in bad traffic again for about 20mins before Hanako saw a missed call from Christina. We thought she was asking us to alight so we all went down. There was this huge crowd of tourists from France with a whole lot of suitcases. So, the lower deck of the bus was more than sardine-packed. We looked around. Christina was not on the bus!
Dimitrios said very gravely and slowly, “She is not on the bus.”
I was just amused and amazed at Christina. So, I was just grinning at Dimitrios and asking rhetorically, “Where is she?”
Dimitrios repeated, “I dunno. But NOT on the bus”
Hanako very calmly smiled and said “I will-lu call-u hher” Christina did pick up the call and I heard her speaking very loudly. Hanako had no idea what she was saying, so, she said “Hold-u ohn” and she passed the phone to Dimitrios.
Dimitrios spoke to her for 10 secs and hung up.
“She will meet us at Notting Hill”
Hanako and I asked him why. He replied, “I am Greek and she is Greek. But I do not know what she was saying just now. She was talking so loudly, “wah, wah, wah, wah” I don’t know. I just heard, “I will see you at notting hill”
WE COULD BE IN PARIS BY NOW
That’s what Dimitrios said when we arrived at Notting Hill. It was 5.00pm.
We were standing at the bus stop at Notting Hill Gate and Christina appeared.
DETERMINATION EXEMPLIFIED
Christina apparently still wanted to find out why the bus made a turn just now. So, she actually ALIGHTED along the way to look closely at the area! She thought it was only for a second and she could get up the bus again. Unfortunately, the bus left without her! Fortunately, she took another bus (not no. 12) and she arrived earlier than us. Now, if that’s not determination, I don’t know what is.
COFFEE AT LAST
Dimitrios finally could not take the fatigue (having slept at 4am the last night)
“Could we go for a cup of coffee pls?”
My sentiments exactly. Some caffeine would be good for my headache.
So, 3 hours later, we all sat down for a cup of coffee for about 20 minutes.
PORTOBELLO NO MORE
Energised by the coffee and the cold air, we were ready to go. After coffee and a visit to the loo, I felt much better. But after all that, we found out that Portobello market was closed already. An elderly man who was closing his shop advised us to come on a Friday.
Christina said, “I will come next Friday”
All of us kept quiet.
HOME SWEET HOME
We arrived back in New Cross at 7.20pm. It never felt so good to be back here.
Hanako said “Con-gla-tuu-lay-sohn! We made it.” Yes. You speak for me too, Hanako.
THE PULL OF A MARKET
It started with a simple idea. Christina, Hanako and myself decided to go for coffee in the afternoon today. Hanako asked her flatmate Dimitrios along because he came to Goldsmiths a week later than everyone else and he has not seen much of the neighbourhood. Plus, he’s Greek and Hanako decided Christina would be good company for him. There was supposed to another guy from Peru but he wanted to sleep.
Hanako and I thought we were going to Greenwich which was just 10mins bus ride away. But Christina had other plans. She suggested Portobello market, which is at Notting Hill. I had gone out with Christina before and I know she’s quite a shopper. We just went out to a café, but along the way, we stopped by many shops. Being attracted to beautiful things, there are many things she wanted to buy. And the last time we went out, she mentioned about wanting to go to Portobello. So, I guess she thought it would be a good chance today since she has some company. And why not? It was after all still early, we all agreed. Besides, Christina knew exactly which buses to take. So, off we went. It was about 2.15pm.
BUS NO. 12
We had to change to another bus in Central London and it was no. 12. It came soon enough and we were rather happy it was a double-decker because that meant we could see London from “above”. So, we passed Trafalgar square, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street and so on. The traffic was atrocious and the bus moved really slowly. Despite that, we were happy. I was chatting with Hanako and Christina with Dimitrios.
After about 20-30 mins in bad traffic, we suddenly realized we saw Picadilly Circus again. Hey…déjà . We were seeing the same buildings and the same monuments again. We were heading back to where we came from!
So, Christina went down to ask the driver. We did not know what transpired between her and the driver but she came up and signaled us to alight. I was quite glad because we alighted to cool, fresh (now this is quite debatable but definitely fresher than in the bus) air.
Christina said the bus driver refused to say anything and asked her to get off the bus. I seriously thought there could be some miscommunication.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
It was 3.45pm.
I suggested taking a walk around the area. There was Leicester Sq, Covent Garden and the while stretch of high street shops. I thought, it’s just coffee, right? There is coffee everywhere. I had my own agenda because I felt a headache coming on.
I hinted to Christina that Portobello market might be closed by the time we got there. But no. She did her homework. “No, it closes at 6 o’clock.”. She was determined. At the same time, she was perplexed and confused with the turn of events. It is difficult to describe this. But sometimes movies would depict the Greek or Italian unhappy about something by having them go on and on, rambling in their own native tongue.
Well, I saw the English version.
“But why? Look. Look at the map. It says, we change here. And we take 12. It will take us straight to Notting Hill. I took this bus to Bayswater the other day. It did not make a circle. Why? I don’t understand. I am sorry but I really don’t understand. I think we go the other side?” The actual monologue was longer than this. But she went very fast and she tended to repeat. The above is the gist of it.
We kept assuring her that it was ok and getting lost was part of the deal of being new to a place. She decided we had to find out the bus route and that we were to stick to the plan of going to Portobello. We were rather amused and followed her lead. I was actually quite contented to stay where we were but decided not to be a wet blanket. So, we went searching for the “real” bus 12.
BUS NO. 12 (Part 2)
We finally went up a bus no. 12 after a while. Christina led us and she went straight to the bus driver and just went on about how the previous bus no. 12 went another way and if this one would make a circle. The driver just stared blankly, “I don’t understand”
There was a line of people waiting behind us so I added, “Does this go to Notting Hill?”
The bus driver replied “Yes” and Christina again tried to find out why the previous bus made a circle. Dimitrios kind of pushed her to the wall, next to the stairs so that people could walk past us.
Anyway, so here we were, on this very crowded bus no. 12. Dimitrios, Hanako and I decided to go upstairs since we’ve got it from the horses’s mouth that it will end the trip at Notting Hill. No worries. For me, I was just happy to get away from the crowd at the lower deck.
Christina decided to stay downstairs, just in case.
AND THEN THERE WERE THREE
We were traveling in bad traffic again for about 20mins before Hanako saw a missed call from Christina. We thought she was asking us to alight so we all went down. There was this huge crowd of tourists from France with a whole lot of suitcases. So, the lower deck of the bus was more than sardine-packed. We looked around. Christina was not on the bus!
Dimitrios said very gravely and slowly, “She is not on the bus.”
I was just amused and amazed at Christina. So, I was just grinning at Dimitrios and asking rhetorically, “Where is she?”
Dimitrios repeated, “I dunno. But NOT on the bus”
Hanako very calmly smiled and said “I will-lu call-u hher” Christina did pick up the call and I heard her speaking very loudly. Hanako had no idea what she was saying, so, she said “Hold-u ohn” and she passed the phone to Dimitrios.
Dimitrios spoke to her for 10 secs and hung up.
“She will meet us at Notting Hill”
Hanako and I asked him why. He replied, “I am Greek and she is Greek. But I do not know what she was saying just now. She was talking so loudly, “wah, wah, wah, wah” I don’t know. I just heard, “I will see you at notting hill”
WE COULD BE IN PARIS BY NOW
That’s what Dimitrios said when we arrived at Notting Hill. It was 5.00pm.
We were standing at the bus stop at Notting Hill Gate and Christina appeared.
DETERMINATION EXEMPLIFIED
Christina apparently still wanted to find out why the bus made a turn just now. So, she actually ALIGHTED along the way to look closely at the area! She thought it was only for a second and she could get up the bus again. Unfortunately, the bus left without her! Fortunately, she took another bus (not no. 12) and she arrived earlier than us. Now, if that’s not determination, I don’t know what is.
COFFEE AT LAST
Dimitrios finally could not take the fatigue (having slept at 4am the last night)
“Could we go for a cup of coffee pls?”
My sentiments exactly. Some caffeine would be good for my headache.
So, 3 hours later, we all sat down for a cup of coffee for about 20 minutes.
PORTOBELLO NO MORE
Energised by the coffee and the cold air, we were ready to go. After coffee and a visit to the loo, I felt much better. But after all that, we found out that Portobello market was closed already. An elderly man who was closing his shop advised us to come on a Friday.
Christina said, “I will come next Friday”
All of us kept quiet.
HOME SWEET HOME
We arrived back in New Cross at 7.20pm. It never felt so good to be back here.
Hanako said “Con-gla-tuu-lay-sohn! We made it.” Yes. You speak for me too, Hanako.
posted by changzee at
10:10 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home