London/>/> Trip (1)
I landed in
Nitin, the childhood friend of Rocky, greeted us at the
Lessons I learned: you can buy a one day ticket for taking as much train as you can for just 7.5 Pounds.
I took a train to
Big Ben looks very tall and rather old. The office building near the Big Ben looks no younger. Nitin said that is the British Parliament where a lot of important decisions have been made, including the colonization of
We then walked to the ridge on the
We then turned back towards the
There were a few people dressed in the old Night’s uniform in the front gate to the Palace complex. Two Nights were on foot, each with a sword on his right hand. The helmet covers the head and entire nose, making them look very funny. However, they were expressionless and motionless, even without saying “hi” back when I said hi to one of them as I took a photo with him. I also took a photo with one Night who was on the back of black horse. Nights were well respected in British history. Some people take great pride in being knighted by the Queen today. I think Michael Jackson the wired pop star was knighted too, even though he has nothing to compare with the Round Table Nights of King Arthur. Night Lancelot took Arthur’s wife, but
After finishing up with the Nights, we moved into the old Palace complex. A large building is attached to a section of the old wall of a fortress and is said to be the barracks of the 1,000 Guards. Of course we did see any guards coming out.
After walking through a park, we finally arrived at the front avenue of the
The distance from the old barracks to the Palace may be about 1 km, separated by a park. It was the
The grasses were greenish but weak compared to the old tall trees inside. Some trees have swelling bulges to show their experience, endurance and the beating of nature. The lower side of the park has a creek or more likely, a long ditch without much water because I saw the dark mud at the bottom. On the right side of the park is a street leading to the front gate of the palace. The street is wide, with an even wider side road for people to walk. The street was apparently the old royal road, with the color being a mixture of red, yellow, brown and dark gravels doped on the surface of the road. The mixture is a reflection of the colorful life of some royal bananas.
The trees are old, tall, and beautiful. But I neither saw any phoenix nor any other noble birds. No! Not even an eagle. Some British girls are pretty with boots stuck to long legs. But they cannot fly unfortunately. The squirrels are beautiful, with silver like hair tips shining under the sunlight. They look smaller than the American counterparts, just like the subjects here vs their American counterparts.
There is a tall stature rested on a foundation in front of the
Piles of people piled along the fence of the Palace, trying to take photos, watching the guards in the front yard of the Royal place, or day dreaming. Nitin joked that he and Rocky now have a similar dream: to live in the Palace as a king. Rocky said that he turned down a date offer from Diana some 10 years ago and I said he must have had that offer from her Royal ghost. Well, people from poor countries often have big and dramatic dreams.
The guards in the yard before the Palace are the targets for people to watch and comment because the Royals would not venture out for people to see. The hats on the guards have long unauthentic hair, which look funny to me. I don’t know the origin of the long faked hair on the hats. However, I do know that the guards look much taller than they really are. I then remember seeing the bullying looks of a roaster that was ready to fight another roaster; both wore hats with their hair standing up on top of their feature hats.
It was Feb. 22, 2009.
I had a long sleep in an old budget hotel - I was surprised that I had such a good sleep considering the uneven surface of the bed with large bulges like the ones of the Royal trees. After having a small burger, some oatmeal porridge and a coffee in a McDonalds near the Earl’s Court, I then happily boarded the train to
I knew
I entered the park from the Northeastern corner at about 9 a.m., and met a black girl who was to attend a church gathering in the park. It’s too early to see many people. We chatted a short while as we walked along the wide road by the lake (or long pond). She moved to
I walked some distance further along the lake trying to enjoy myself. The air was damp and the sky was a regular
White birds were resting on the poles in the water. More birds were on the trees of the small island and still more in the air. A small black water bird was busying dipping itself into the deep water to get some breakfast. Two Asian women were sitting on the bench by the water, each with a large travelling bag which was a rather odd scene. They were most likely Chinese as I could tell, just as I can tell whether it is authentic Chinese food as long as I have the smell filled in my nose.
I turned back toward the Southeastern corner of the park through the road away from the lake. The grasses were still weak and sparse, leaving the dark and sticky soil exposed everywhere.
I finally arrived at the famous corner. The tall tree is still there, with a small bench in its front. No mass gathering to worship the tree as I expected. How disappointing! A black man was standing on the small bench without saying a word. He didn’t speak out, not even a single word! I was puzzled why he stood on the bench if he was not speaking. He was not like the speakers in the old times: they were so enthusiastic that they just spoke loudly no matter there were people or not. A few minutes later, the man on the bench was approached by two other men who asked what he was doing there if he was not speaking. The black man suddenly opened his mouth, saying that he was doing meditation and deep thinking. “My 2 minutes’ deep thinking overpasses the thinking of 200 years of ordinary people,” he claimed. “Some people live without thinking,” he declared that is what Bertrand the English Philosopher said. “I am the man of thinking!” He added with a touch of pride.
I exchanged a few words with him and asked what he had been thinking deeply. He did not answer my questions directly; instead he handed me a small piece of paper, with a title subject “The Horse” followed by the link of a website http://terminator24.blogspot.com/
I have not got a chance to take a look at his website. However, I did take a close look at his dressing: He wore a grey coat that has about 5% of its remaining time and a small hat with two horns, with the bigger horn in the front close to his forehead and the small one in the peak of his head. He looked a bit like the Vikings in the movies but his horns were much smaller. Or he looked more like an American Indian man.
