Street Haunting, Short story

They had to kick me out. So maybe I was being a little crazy, and maybe I was being a little loud, but I was just having fun. And if that’s a crime throw me in jail. My mind switched from defending myself to trying to find my way home. This is much easier when the street signs aren’t spinning. A cool breeze blew by me and I tightened up my jacket. The only thin on my mind was getting home and getting warm. I walked down the street to the intersection and looked at the street sign. I wasn’t far from home, but still this city gives me the creeps at night. I’ve heard people say it’s beautiful at night, but how can a city be beautiful when it housed a notorious murder, which struck only at night. I know these murders took place over 100 years ago and he murdered prostitutes, but c’mon it’s scary stuff.

            I move down the street quickly, with brick houses on either side of me rushing by. I hear a noise come from behind me and turn. Nothing. All right that was a little freaky. I keep moving down the street. I chuckle at myself as I continue. How could I think someone was following me? I’m just being paranoid. As I round a corner I take another glance behind me. I see a figure about 20 meters behind me. Okay where did that guy come from? Whatever I’m sure it’s not that bad. I’ll be fine. Still for safety I might want to walk a little quicker. I turn to look behind me to see the figure behind me getting closer. This is not good. Should I make a run for it? I look back and see the figure even closer. Yes…yes I should. I begin to sprint down the street. I sprint so fast I can barely tell what I’m running past. All I know is I’m on an empty street. Why did I have to pick the emptiest street in London? I keep sprinting until I get to my door. I begin to fumble through my pockets looking for my keys. I keep looking but can’t find them. Shit I might have left them at the bar. I look to my left to see the figure coming towards me. I let out a scream. “Please don’t hurt me,” I yell.

            “I won’t” I look to see the bartender who just kicked me out. “You forgot these.” I look at his outstretched hand, and see my keys in his palm. “Thank you.” I say.

            “Don’t mention it” he replied. “By the way you shouldn’t run home. You’ll miss the city. It is beautiful at night.”

October 24th, Departure

Our last day was a bittersweet day. The bitterness of leaving was overshadowed by the British Library. The treasures exhibit was a very interesting thing. I like how they mixed up the old fashioned such as the Shakespeare Books and a Guttenburg Bible with the new such as original copies of Beatles songs. Seeing the Magna Carta was another aspect of the trip I was not expecting to happen. It was amazing seeing something like that a major document, which I've seen in books and other sources with my own eyes. 

October 23rd, War Museum

This afternoon we went to the War Museum, which I thought was extremely interesting. I really enjoyed the Cecil Beaton exhibit. I thought a lot of his photos were extremely powerful and that his work on films was interesting coming from my background. I agree with what Emily said in her blog when she talked about how he showed the horrors of war, but was still able to show the optimism in war when he took pictures of the recovery. The secret agent exhibit was also something I enjoyed. I thought it was funny how they compared it to the actual secret service in Britain.  After that we went to Daunt books, which was an amazing bookstore. I really loved just walking around, it wasn't like any bookstore I've ever been in. After that we went to the Union Cafe, which was a great restaurant to end the travel with.
I thought the poems we read were very powerful. I find it amazing how some soldiers liked to romanticize the idea of war, when others liked to write about the horrors of war. I can see both points of view here. I agree that film and other media can romanticize war, and it can actually be a very beautiful idea, but also there are many horrors of war the average person does not see. I think these were all powerful but I especially enjoyed. Does it Matter? by Siegfried Sassoon. I thought this one was powerful because he does a good job of painting a soldier who is beaten up, but the public will treat him as a hero for a limited time. After all of the popularity he is lost and when he fought, did it matter?

DOES it matter?--losing your legs?... For people will always be kind, And you need not show that you mind When the others come in after hunting To gobble their muffins and eggs.

October 22nd, Transportation

Today we went to the transportation museum and I thought this was extremely interesting. Since London was the first city to have an underground it was cool to see how that thought process became reality and became the basis for all undergrounds around the world. I thought the way the museum was set up was also cool, and I'm glad we went there because this isn't a place I would have thought of going to. After that it was the scavenger hunt, which my team may have not done well, but it was fun walking through the town with a purpose like that. After we went to Selfridges we went to see a film at a extremely nice movie theatre. Here we saw Looper, which was an amazing film. I'm so happy I got a chance to see it. Looper was much more like a movie I'd be willing to watch many times. It had a simple plot brought to the viewer in an extravagant way and did not disappoint. It is the type of film that regains your faith in the films, which are being produced today.

Why did London start the underground system? I'm surprised no other city ever thought of the idea. It seems so simple yet London was the only city brave enough to try it. I mean in order to get across the city fast, why wouldn't you think to just travel underground. But the technology wasn't there and London took matters into their own hands. They may of had to destroy the streets of their city, but with good reason because they changed history and transportation forever.

October 21st, Free day

Today was my day to get all of the touristy things out of the way. This meant going to Buckingham Palace and of course Big Ben. It's amazing how giant Big Ben is when you stand below it. I could almost see Peter Pan and Wendy landing on the clock. After that we went to the Film Museum right next to the London Eye. This museum was heaven for me. There were so many things there, which were amazing ranging from the Batman costume, Han Solo frozen in carbonate, the Alien from aliens, and Charlie Chaplin's clothes. This was an awesome experience going to this museum. After a full day of touring I was tired and returned home for a long night of sleep.

The most interesting thing I found about this area was walking across the bridge and feeling like you are in a time machine. On one side of the bridge there is Big Ben and Parliament then when you cross the bridge you get to the London Eye and a newer part of the city. I find it interesting they put the Eye right there next to one monument everyone wants to see. I feel as if you would want to keep the Eye away from this area if only to let people look for it when they get to the top.  

October 20th, Oxford

Today we went to Oxford, and enjoyed this area of England. The day started here with us walking around Oxford, and enjoying the beautiful scenery around us. I enjoyed walking through the college stores and looking at the posters and books. It was like no other college town I've ever been to. After that we had a lengthy but delicious lunch at a pub. We then went to the Library at Oxford and enjoyed this beautiful library with its many old books. It was very interesting to see how libraries have developed over the years, and of course seeing where they filmed the forbidden section during the Harry Potter films. After this we enjoyed Oxford a little longer then returned back to London.

October 19th, Immigration

Today for our morning free I was part of a group, which went to see the National Gallery. There were many amazing paintings here, but the one, which stood out to me, was the painting in which you had to look at it from a certain angle to see the skull. If you just looked at it from the front it just looked like a giant blob. After our free time we went to a lecture at the College of London where we talked about immigration. Although the topic had little to do with Bloomsbury but it was extremely interesting learning about the Jewish immigrants in London. That night we had a delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant, which also didn't have much to do with Bloomsbury, but was enjoyable. This day had the least to do with Bloomsbury, but it was an enjoyable day none the less.

The National Gallery was beautiful. Not only because of all of the beautiful paintings on the inside, but the building itself was a work of art. I could definitely see some inspiration from the Romans with the columns, which in front of the building. I know I'm impartial because I'm from there, but I think this gallery looks very similar to the Museum of Art in Philadelphia. The talk on immigration was also very interesting because I never really thought of London being a place Jewish people migrated to. I always knew about the Indian population, and found it interesting that the Indian's to the Jewish spot in London.