Jason, I remember you took me to this place in the East End--it was below ground with this old iron railing at the top of the staircase. Can't recall the name of it, but I remember it was a big fave of yours. When we went there it was rather quiet except for dripping sounds.

Also, caution Shanai that the Eurostar is more fun if you're sober.

Yes well, you were dripping down in the toilet, I seem to remember ... and no, I'm never as fond as Paris ... sight of many public displays of midday vomiting.

Golly. Your post made me want to drop out of college and move to London. Fuck Cornell! =)

Toilet? You told me it was a jazz club!

(I guess those weren't saxophones after all. . . .)

Hrmmm...as I recall, the last time I was in London, I stopped round your flat and your flatmate told me that you weren't there but out at the EasyEverything. Does this make you a Eurotrash Whore?

London is boring. England is boring. She's better off going up to the Shetland islands and living in a grass hut and spending all her dark days twisted on whiskey and digging sheeps eyeballs out of her stew...

>Hrmmm...as I recall, the last time I was in London, I stopped round your flat and your flatmate told me that you weren't there but out at the EasyEverything. Does this make you a Eurotrash Whore?

Yes, well, let's just say I learned the hard way -- I'd rather not have to look at some Estonian vomit on his cellphone while his buddy fondles a thirteen year old French girl eating McDonald's french fries while I email my mom.

I knew you'd have some bitch about London! This from the man who, je me souviens, left a message on my answering machine that said "Jason! I will be at so-and-so a place at noon! You can meet me there! It will be the last time I set foot in the city of London! It is done! Farewell!" Quelle dramaqueen!

No, Jason, no, no , no , NO. je me souviens exactement. I did not say that. I'm sure that what I did say is that it would be the last time I'd be setting foot in London for a very long time to come. After all, I've spent a rather significant chunk of my life there, all with being a punk rock youth squatting in a burnt out building in Ealing and the dozens of other times I've descended upon that boring, over priced piles of old, white bones. I'm done with Europe for the time being - there are other, darker continents to explore and none of them are overrun by tacky Eastern Europeans who think they're stylish in their thigh high boots, pink leather mini and fur bomber jacket made up of different types of fur from dozens of different animals. I fear for the EU...

Jason, thanks for the advice. You are amazing. I'm sure you know that as a white-trash gal from the range, I'm a bit wary of the whole 'college summer vacation in Europe' crowd, of which I am now going to be a part. I know that my mother(and any number of other people) would love to slap me for wasting my time/money, which I suppose could be better spent selling hardware for seven dollars an hour at REX. I promise to send you lame postcards, and I will do what I can to get my cock sucked.

The EU is the only hope for the planet.

London Calling! I suppose I'll never understand it till I visit. They've got some alright music, though. And what I see on the BBC intrigues me. I spent my free time in the Austral-Pacific part of the Empire.

The EU is the only hope for the planet? Please explain. Though I appreciate the symbolic importance of the EU, and, to a lesser degree, the harmonizing effects of travelling in a border free Europe with unform cash (having travelled before and after Shengen, I think after is ultimately more enjoyable, if less exciting), I must point out that the European Union is one of the least democratic political entities active today. While I myself am totally opposed to democracy, I doubt that you are. Therefore, how can this undemocratic, unloved, and much maligned nehemoth of a superstructure be the world's only hope? How, Jason, how?

Brian - Australia and the people who live there, are TOTALLY LAME! Yes, every last one of 'em. You cannot truly appreciate the significance of this until you have lived and worked in the UK. Kiwis are OK, though.

Shanai - You will be fine so long as you avoid Australiens and chicks from Jersey (new, not old) and stay off the beaten path. Use Lonely Planet, not Let's Go. Basically, do nothing that Jason told you to do. Well, except for the Greenwhich part and the Heath part and the obvious part. DO NOT eat at pret a manger, it's like a British McDonalds, avoid Edinburgh (Glasgow is far better), drink absinthe (absinto, really) just don't be all lame and goth about it like some retarded left over 80's person, do go to Easy Everything (cheap internet access and everywhere), visit Marx's grave, go to the British Museum, eat at Govinda's (Hare Krishna vegetarian), buy chips anywhere (Coffee too, there's a Starfucks on every corner in London), shop at Tesco, not Safeway or Europa Foods, eat Jaffa cakes and Fox's Buttercrunch Biscuits (Hob Nobs are acceptable),and, under absolutely no circumstances whatsoever should you be talked into going down to the Pink Palace in Corfu. Don't do it.