Bath

call me a nerd (i know that i would) but i love public transport, mainly because everyone can use it, its not exclusive but also it kind of fascinates me how it all works, like who decides bus routes? why do they go through those destinations? i noticed that in london a lot of buses ran from low socio economic areas into high socio economic areas, was it done that way originally so that servants for the rich could get to work? just a thought. anyway, i saw on the news that bus companies were stopping some less popular services because of the economic crisis it wasn't viable for them to run to run it anymore which has left people in remote areas high and dry. its a real shame i think, esspecially for the elderly that can no longer drive and probably can't afford a taxi either. alot of transport in the UK is privately owned and so a lot of things cost an arm and a leg and i imagine that a lot of there decisions are all profit based, its definately a downfall of privatizing public transport.
i think i may have been ripped off on the train ride, i read that you could catch the train to Bath for under £20, turns out it cost me double and it wasnt worth me catching the tube to the bus station, it probably wouldn't have been much of a saving with all the muddling around. anyway, i tried to see the positive, i got there earlier and i was there in about an hour. someone asked me the other day 'whats it like travelling?' and i replied 'traveling is great except for all the traveling' i enjoy when i get to place, but moving is such a pain in the arse.

Bath is a really old and really beautiful place, but one of the first things i noticed was the accent had changed again and this time they sounded a little bit like pirates, lots of ahhhh's and eyyyy's i expected someone to say 'shiver me timbers!' at any moment. i did a walking tour with an old english gentleman as the tour guide. he was saying that the majority of bath's buildings are built out of limestone from the surrounding hills, its a really nice honey colour too, he pointed out a couple of significant buildings, like where Jane Austen lived and he pointed out a couple areas around the place that apparently appear in her books. i can't say i've ever read a Jane Austen they sound a little bit lovey dovey to me, so i think i'll give them a miss. he also showed me the Royal Cresent which is a really amazing building made up of 30 or so house, one of them is where the Grand Old Duke of York lived, you know they one, who had 10,000 men, he marched them to the top of the hill and marched them back down again... and so on and so on. my guide was impressed i knew the song, even though i have no idea how the hell i knew it. i think the most impressive buildings are The Circus which is, as the name may suggest, a group of building that go around a circle or round about. a Prime Minster lived in two of them for a bit, and supposedly actor Johnny Depp bought one recently, its a very nice end of town.

Bath isn't very big but i noticed that there was a number of parks around the place which was enjoyable for a change. Of course i checked out the roman baths, they were really quite amazing, they were built when the Romans moved in and used the natural springs to create these spas, going through them i was amazed at how ahead of the game the Romans were. they were really into cleanliness and would bath at least once a day, but also use the spa as a way to heal the wounded or sick. at the end they give you a drink of the water, to try out its healing qualities, it tasted a bit funny but at the moment i need all the help i can get.

while i was here i went into a walk-in clinic because i've been having dizzy spells the last couple of weeks and i was a bit worried at what i might be, mainly because my Mum is a diabetic and i wasn't sure if light-headedness was a symptom so i thought i would get it check out. the Walk-in clinic here are quite good, i waited for about an hour (which, i think, is pretty standard) and i didnt have to pay a cent or pound or penny or whatever, you get my drift. I saw the Micheal Moore documentary 'Sicko' which is about screwed the American health system is over there, of course, like most things Mike Moore does, it was pretty bias but it is worth a look if you haven't seen it. anyway, it mentions the British Health system in the Doco and i was impressed, the French system is probably even better with doctors actually driving to your house. i remember talking to an American couple who were studying medicine while i was in Switzerland, about whether or not free health care would ever come into play in the states. the girl was all for it, but guy pretty much said that it would never happen because why would doctors want to be paid less? he had a point, doctors with a private practise would probably earn more, but not much more, i argued that the idea was to benefit everyone not just individuals, but clearly didn't see my point, which i found incredibly frustrating. hopefully President Obama has more sense. by the way, if your wondering, the nurse did all the test and i'm fine, she said that its a bit of wear and tear and that i should just take it easy over the next couple of days.

but my hostel didn't really help when i came to relaxing. it was pretty average when it came to getting sleep. there is a pub underneath it so i heard the throbbing sounds of Justin Timberlake until the wee hours of the morning, though i imagine so girls would love to hear the throbbing sounds of Justin Timberlake as they drift off to sleep, i can't say i really did. and another night some guys got home drunk and woke everyone up trying to get into there beds. actually it was kind of funny in a way because i know that when i'm intoxicated that i think i'm quiet as a mouse when i get home, but i'm sure i'm not. i suppose a positive from staying there was that i got breakfast included.

i did a day trip to Stonehenge while i was here, from Bath its only a stone throw away (see what i did there). the trip there was quite nice, pretty of open country side and occationally you would pass through a little village with cottages that had thatched roofs etc. in the distance i saw the Westbury White Horse which is an area of ground that had been carved out into a shape of a horse, underneath the ground is chalk which made the area white. we went through an area called Cley Hill which is known for is UFO and crop circle sightings which is quite funny, incase your wonering i didnt see any little green men.after about an hour drive we arrived at Stonehenge. my first impression was it was smaller than i expected. don't get me wrong it was still big, i certianly wouldn't have wanted to lug those massive rocks around, but it was just smaller than i imagined. its quite an amazing sight, and the more info you get of it the more amazing it gets. its still quite a mystery as to why it was built out of those stones because they taken from miles away, but also, why did they build it at all? theres a few ideas that run around but i think the likely answer is it was used as a calander. because of the way the stones are situated, when sun rises you can tell what time of year it is and what season we are in. quite clever really. but i like a bit of mystery and i think sometimes were not meant to know some things. things like when you put socks in the wash how come one generally goes missing? or why is the lint in your belly button always blue? i'll leave you those to ponder for a while. the only dampener is there is a huge bloodly highway that runs about 50 metres away from Stonehenge, which kind of ruins the experience a little bit. i heard that they are thinking of putting the road underground, hopefully they do.

i'm going to spain pretty soon, i picked up a cheap flight while i was in london, so i figured i should make the most of being in an place that has a sells a good range of books in english, so got a book called 'e'. my creative director, Nancy, recommended it to me ages ago so i thought i should buy it, its based in an advertising agency that is pitching for the coca-cola account and its all written in the form of emails, which i think sounds like an interesting way to write a book. anyway should be an interesting . anyway, thats all from me for a bit, next stop: Cardiff, Wales.