LonDon.

Hyde Park

For the first four days of our holiday we were in London. We paid more money than is morally acceptable for meals, and learnt how to use the tube, and never once went to Buckingham Palace. We had breakfast with friends, visited The Globe, walked through Hyde Park, saw The Hobbit while jet-lagged (do not recommend) and resisted the urge to touch actual Ancient Egyptian artefacts in the British Museum.

I don't want to discuss how much this dessert cost me.

British Museum, home to all the stuff the British have stolen.

London is kind of incredible. Probably I need to visit more massive cities to properly compare it. But if you’ve not been there, it’s larger than you can possibly conceive, while still being manageable. You can get to everything easily enough, and almost everywhere has something worth seeing.

At the end of our holiday we came back and spent another four days in Londonia. We stayed in a different area and were blown away by how different everything was. Every restaurant had Shisha pipes, Eastern European men gathered in large groups on the street (doing what, I’ll never know) and the tube station had a garden in it.

Bayswater

That’s the thing about London. While Australians might throw the word ‘multicultural’ around like tomato sauce at a Barbie, we don’t really have any idea what it truly means. In London, you can experience a whole wealth of cultures, accents, foods and influences. And there tends to be pockets of London where people who identify with certain cultures live and play. We went to Brick Lane, where every restaurant is Bangladeshi, and men stand outside and accost you, convincing you to come in, eat, drink, enjoy their discount, don’t listen to that guy, he’s lying to you. The influence of Middle Eastern Islamic culture means that there are late night dessert shops everywhere. Don’t want to drink alcohol? they seem to say, neither do we. Come eat ice-cream! To which I say, um… yes?!

I spent most of our second stint in London feeling sick and awful. I had a cold, but it was also cold and wet outside most of the time, so being outside was a horrible time. But also, nothing was going to stop me from squeezing out the last few drops of our holiday. We did less tourist things in those last few days and more hanging out with people we know who live over there. Just eating and drinking with them, seeing things that they like about London, doing things with them that they would probably be doing anyway.

And it was in those moments that I began to see why they live there.

On the tube back to our hotel after the Brick Lane night, I hung off the pole in the middle of the car(riage) and glowed with quiet energy as I babbled at Boyfriend all of the reasons we should do it, or could make it work.

I’m not saying we’re gonna, but I’m not saying we won’t. It no longer seems impossible.

 

Things you see on the tube dot tumblr dot com

Woah. You guys. I’ve just spent a month in the UK. We’ve been back for less than a week and already it feels like a dream, or something that happened to someone else, or something that happened four years ago.

Basically when I think back to all the things Boyfriend and I did in those thirty days, I feel like we were drunk or something. And now I am living through the holiday hangover. I’m happy to be home (my own bed! My own shower! A fridge! My laptop! Joyous), but I can’t believe how incredibly lucky we are to be able to travel, to see stuff, to do stuff, on the other side of the world and I’m sad it’s over.

But I’m back to talking to you, dear reader, every week if we can both manage it, and that’s awesome. Also you should know I’m probably going to be blogging about our holiday for the next few weeks.

Q and Eh?

What 5 cities would you like to travel to?

Do I have to travel to them all in one day? If so, probably a bunch of the cities in the middle of Europe, I feel like you could get around to 5 cities in one day pretty easily.

Look I'm not saying I'd be able to stay for lunch or anything...

If I have a bit more time, and we’re talking cities I haven’t yet visited, in no particular order: Toronto, Edinburgh, Naples, New York and Dunedin.

If you wrote a book which was being turned into a film, who would you like to direct it?

I don’t know a lot about directors, but the guy who did The Hunger Games did a really good job of adapting that, so him. His name, according to IMDB, is Gary Ross.

If you wrote a book and it was being turned into a film, who would you want to star in it?

You guys are pretty keen on me writing a book, huh? It's nice to know you think I actually have it in me but this is hard to answer because 1. How do write books? And 2. I haven’t written one so I don’t have a character in mind to cast. On the other hand, Jennifer Lawrence.

What books/coimcs/tv shows/short stories would you like seen turned into a film/TV series]?

 You’ve thrown me off with that ] there, woah.

But to answer your question, I think that the The Fault in our Stars film can’t come soon enough, and also that in 15 years’ time, someone needs to remake Harry Potter properly, and I would be very keen on working on it somehow, and Tom Felton could play Lucius Malfoy, is all I’m saying.

How amazing am I?

Look, you are pretty amazing, and I’m a big fan.

what is it like to be pretty? Haha

Haha? Hahahahaa. Ha. People used to tell me I was pretty, people still do occasionally, which is nice I suppose. I think it gave me a warped sense of myself as a teenager, but it certainly didn’t make me any less self-conscious than anybody else. I think you are pretty.

Oh no wait are you asking me what it’s like to be ‘pretty haha’? Like… kinda funny? It’s great! I never thought I was funny and I always got upset when people made jokes and riffed off each other because I felt inadequate, and then one day I realised that being funny can be practiced and so I started practicing. Making people laugh is one of my favourite things to do, not least of all because it’s a skill I worked at.

Meanwhile, back on the attractiveness thing, I don’t shave my armpits anymore, so I hope that takes off a few pretty points for you.

Would you rather swim through a lake of vomit or a lake of diarrhea?

WHAT COUNTRY IS THIS? WHERE ARE THESE LAKES? THIS IS AWFUL. WORST. COUNTRY. EVER.

...Vomit.

If you were stuck on the proverbial desert island, what would be your: one album, one book, one film, one tv show, one food, one drink, one friend to hang with and one friend to eat?.....yeah. Cannibalism.

Album: Mozart’s requiem (I’m assuming I have something to play it on, right?)

Book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (God, that was like choosing between children… or internal organs)

Film: The Emperor’s New Groove

TV: Doctor Who (I’m taking as many seasons as physically possible)

Food: Something really boring and sensible, like a fruit, that I can plant the seeds of so that I always have food.

Drink: cider, for the tough times

Friend to hang with: you dear, of course

Friend to eat: I can’t decide, I’ll do a lottery or something. I can only imagine the conversation:

SURPRISE YOU GET TO COME ON A HOLIDAY WITH ME!

Yay, where are we going?

EXCITING TIMES, IT’S A DESERT ISLAND.

What? That’s the worst, why can’t we go to Melbourne or something?

DON’T ASK QUESTIONS, GET IN THE BAG.

What?

IF YOU SEE SOME SEASONING IN THERE, BE A DEAR AND JUST START RUBBING IT INTO YOUR SKIN.

What is your spirit animal? Or patronus? YEAH!

Some kind of big cat, like a tiger or a lion would be cool, but let’s be real here, it’s probably a koala or something.

What do you want for dinner?

I think we should probably use some of the chicken in the fridge, are you cooking?

Will you do this marking for me?

No. Get back to work, boyfriend, you have dinner to make.

Who would win in a fight between Josh Martin and ex-Pope Benedict?

I don’t know, does Benedict also have multiple martial art skills? Seems unlikely, in which case this is an awful match up, who did this draw? Didn't I tell you to get back to work?

Shoes

So…. This isn’t a question, but I like your style; simple, direct, to the point. Do I like them? I have very few and absolutely hate shopping for them, but I like them as much as anybody who doesn’t like rocks in their feet, I guess.

Which Harry Potter character would you like to act? Which would you like to be?

I am not a very good actor, so I’d like a bit part as like, Ravenclaw number 4 or something, but if I could *be* a character, I would like to be Harry. Or maybe Luna. Or Neville. 

Want to be involved in the next Q and Eh? Like Hum Drum Plum on Facebook, follow me on twitter, or become my boyfriend. 

Lizzy King, Human - A Study. Tour!

Europe Tour

Life Advice

I think by now it has been pretty well documented that I like to hoard. So it should come as no surprise to you that I have kept one box for each of the two overseas trips I have undertaken in my life. So these are extra boxes, boxes in excess of the annual boxes. Today’s blog comes to you care of a box marked “Tour. Dec 2004 – Jan 2005”. It contains travel documents and tourist brochures, mementos and weird shit I picked up along the way.

I was very privileged to be a member of the St Peters Chorale. Much more than a school choir, the chorale has recorded and performed music all over the world, and in late 2004 it was our turn. I got a casual job more than a year beforehand and saved up the majority of the cost of the trip, something I was and am very proud of. We spent 4 weeks travelling through England, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Switzerland. We performed to 10 people in some places, 100s in others and notably, to about 1500 in Poland where we were also broadcast on TV. It was an amazing trip, and this box provides a small glimpse into what 16-year-old Lizzy thought about it all. (Actually this is a really weird snapshot and doesn't even really begin to cover half of what we did, a fraction of what I felt or a smidgeon of how important this trip was but anyway, it's good).

Items – Fanta bottles – 2005

It’s always exciting, I think, when you go to a new place and things are the same but different. Here we have a mango flavoured Fanta with not-so-mango colours and a “Vadmalna” flavoured Fanta. I’ve googled it but I can’t find a translation that tells me what flavour that is. I’d love to assume “grape” going by the colours, but with the mango colours as an example, we may never know. The best/grossest part? They still kinda smell like Fanta.

Item – City Info Guide to Wien – 2005

We know Wien as Vienna. There’s a lot of great stuff to see and do in Vienna, and I have a distinct memory of the snow being kind of like little perfectly round balls, like tiny beanbag beans. Please note the sticker advertising the Toilet of Modern Art - that was a cool place. And the art was good too.

Item – Brochure and Ticket to the Salt Mine – 2005

Oh my god, if you EVER go to Europe, promise me you’ll go to the Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland. It’s a bit scary if like me you are claustrophobic, but ultimately the awe and wonderment you feel vastly outweighs any fear. It’s a giant, underground museum, and the walls are made of salt. The tour guides carry lemons with them in case anyone brings their own tequila, true fact. There’s a massive cathedral carved out of the salt down there, and the salt has been so beautifully polished, it looks like marble. Just fucking go, alright?

Item – Terrifying Kinder child – 2005

The Aryan ideals live on in this child.

If "Kinder" means child, is Kinder Chocolate made from Children?

Item – Post-it Notes from my Mum – 2004

She left these in my luggage everywhere. She’s the best.

She even wrote a love note in the waistband of my jeans

Letters – from my ex-boyfriend – 2005

Ah, I won’t go into too much detail here because I haven’t gotten permission from all parties involved but basically, I was in one relationship when I left for Europe and another when I returned. It was one of those unfortunate situations where I didn’t really want to be in relationship 1 when we left, but I couldn’t very well break up with him at Christmas time and right before we went away together, and I didn’t think that relationship 2 would ever happen. And then relationship 2 looked quite feasible and relationship 1 was really quite unhappy, so I just casually thought it would be a good idea to pull a switcheroo while we were as far from home as it was possible to be, surrounded by other teenagers and on strict behavioural instructions. It’s got to be right up there with one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done*. The letters range from being exceedingly angry to fairly forgiving, epitomising, I think, how strange it was to play out big emotional changes while in a sort of suspended reality – a reality where we could be arguing in the snow, then singing in a concert 20 minutes later and laughing on the bus an hour after that.

* Though in saying that, relationship 2 went quite well for quite a long time afterwards and the boy from relationship 1 did some pretty fucked up shit later on so… I don’t know what I’m trying to say here, I should stop trying to find absolution for shit 16-year-old Lizzy did.

Item – Fudge Kitchen Wrapper – 2004

Yes! Jim’s fudge kitchen! This was a place in England that made some of the best damn fudge I have ever tasted. And they made it all right there in the shop. 

A bunch of people from the tour asked to see Jim (presumably to thank him for his delicious fudge) and the guy behind the counter said, “ah… Jim’s kinda like Yoda” ... “in that he doesn’t exist”.

Item – Crystal Worlds Brochure – 2005

Is this not the most terrifying face you’ve ever seen? Even more terrifying than Kinder child? I saw this face in real life. Nothing can really prepare you for how weird the Swarovski Crystal World is.

And extensive counselling can't make you forget

Item – Arty sugar packets containing what is now almost 8 year old sugar – 2005

Gross.

Totes put them back in the box

Fresh Start

Leaf it alone, man.

This weekend one of my bestest friends told me she’s moving to the UK. In a month. She’s decided to up and leave and try something new in the Greatest of the Britains. And while of course I am sad about how much I will miss her, I’m pretty stoked for her. Because she’s made a big decision - she’s turning a new leaf, taking the plunge and other such metaphors.

Her news got me thinking about fresh starts.

I think it’s easy to say that people need a fresh start to erase their history. They need to get away from some of their more foolish mistakes, or from people who know them too well, or maybe they just “can’t cope” with “real life” and need to “run away”. And I don’t know, maybe that’s true of some people. Criminals, mostly, and people who voted for Campbell Newman. But I think trying for a fresh start is one of the bravest things you can do.

Given the chance, I think most people will not actually do that much reinventing in a new place. They won’t go by a new name, or affect an accent or suddenly pretend to be really into jazz music. In my experience, starting fresh in actually gives you the opportunity to be the youest you possible. People might not know your history, but they’ll still get to know the real you, because in a new place you’re suddenly in a position to set the record straight. There are no rumours, no preconceived notions, no vague memories of something you might have said once. You’re able to present the reality of yourself, unhindered by any other baggage you might have collected while you were trying to work out what that reality was.

Change is good. Adaptability is good. But sometimes it’s hard to change when you’re surrounded by people who’ve known you a while. You might even feel hypocritical, if you’ve changed a lot recently. But it’s all about learning. You learn about the world, you learn about yourself, and unfortunately sometimes, you learn through mistakes. A fresh start gives you that wonderful chance to take everything you’ve learnt, and make it a part of you without anyone wondering why you’ve suddenly changed your mind about fashionable clothes or politics.

And it’s not just big changes to England (or even to little old Dalby). You can make a fresh start in a new job, a new uni course, a new friendship. In fact I would argue that every day you have an opportunity, small as it might be, to start afresh in some aspect of your life. It’s the ultimate form of self-betterment. In fact, “self-betterment” is kind of a stupid phrase, and hard to say. It’s not about becoming better; it’s about becoming you. The you that you want to be. The you you’ve always been able to be. The real you. You you.

Safe travels, you.