So, The Great Pontificator(?), Orator, Ego-Aggrandizer Returns

But, was what he’s got say worth the wait? Hardly. To what do I attribute my absence from the blog-o-sphere? Afterall, I have been peppered, reproached, and aye even stung by criticism for taking such a long hiatus (sounds so much more important that way, doesn’t it?) between missives. Folks were reading my feeble prose-droppings. For that I both apologize and thank you. While it was more than simple laziness on my part as I will explain in a moment, the truth-be-told, I let it go for too long.

In the past I have attributed this to my work here in England, and that still holds. However, I have had a lingering, now festering (figuratively, not literally) medical issue that has, for lack of a better word, depressed me. I usually find my own depression weak (although I am understanding of it in others) since, “it just isn’t Tom(B), you know?” It is nearly not possible in my own coding to be down for too long. Viki gets to see this (bless her) but not too many others.

But, a bit down I’ve been. Subsequent to this, I find the time that I might have spent writing my dribs & drabs with the vain hope of my own and others’ amusement--is instead spent throwing myself on the sofa (read: TV) or even to bed a bit earlier than normal to just read a book or listen to the baseball game. (A technological miracle allows me to listen the Chicago Radio Broadcast of the White Sox on AM 670 The Score via the internet. Of course due to the Sox games being played mostly at night [i.e. 1 AM or so for me in the UK] I must listen to the previous day’s game and make a heroic attempt to not look at the final score. I’ve done it, it works.)

It’s not the sort of “being down” that anyone need concern themselves with. It’s not that kind of depressed. The fact is, I have a joint/muscle problem in my legs/hips, and I am just exhausted at the end of the day. It’s the being tired and sore bit that frustrates me. So, no bloggy-tommy, for the last few (8) months.

Honestly, whenever I got the time to sit and think about it, something else would happen—then I’d end up going to sleep or something ridiculous like that.

But now, I'm gettin' all that "fixed" and find myself feeling...anticipatory.

Anyway…my blog is back up and to help the process out, I have new entry which you can see below.

Thanks for everyone who has been asking about it. It does one’s heart good.
--tomb

Be less like the Morlocks. Come up above ground!

(MORLOCKS, For those not in the know.)

Today, I realized that I did not have a map. I did not have a guide. I did not have any reference material whatsoever, beside that which was either in my head or quickly read on the wall as I passed by.

I had the London Underground memorized! The Tube network lay before me like vast plain of opportunities. No longer need I squint at little bit of folded paper, or stand at a poster for minute upon minute tracing my route. At the very least, I have developed enough confidence in the system to know that it will pretty much get me anywhere I need to go. I hop from station to station, line to line, and pop up of out the ground like an eager little mole (did you want me to say 'beaver?'). I even have the national rail system licked. Wanna go to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow? Get to London Euston Station, take a Virgin Train. Wanna go to Nottingham, Newcastle, Yorkshire, etc.? Go to St. Pancras Station, take an East Anglia Train. (OK, I know there are “train-geeks” out there that will point out there are many, many other options for doing the above, and there are also many other stations to use, destinations, etc. I am just making point. Geezo!)

Recently, (let's say today…) I had to take a train up to Birmingham for business-stuff. It was on this trip that I made my realization. I simply bought a ticket and pretty much blindly (unconsciously) worked my way into London, got to Euston Station, and waited for my departure. I then woke up to the fact of how I actually got there. Basking in my new found euphoria at my London Underground skill and having spare time before departure, I stepped outside the station to get a coffee. (Yes, I could’ve had coffee inside the station but I knew there was better coffee outside. Nyah.) In my confidence-inspired bliss, I wandered outside to my coffee shop.

Then I looked around.

Then it all came crashing down upon me, like so much air explosively departing a popped balloon (read: my ego).

IS THIS ALL I REALLY KNOW?

I realized, much to my disappointment that I had no idea where anything really was ABOVE GROUND! I have no true understanding of where any of the tube stops or train stations really are—physically. I couldn’t walk from one to the other. I couldn’t wander two blocks from my coffee place and figure out where I was. (yes, I could walk backwards, duh.) Even as I travel in/out of the National rail stations on main line trains, I only see tracks. I don’t really know where Euston Station is in London, other than: “It’s a stop on the Northern Line. I can get there from Liverpool Street station, by taking the Circle or Hammersmith & City line west Moorgate, or just get of at Euston Square and walk down the street one block.” I only know that Kings Cross-St. Pancras Station is a bit south from Euston because I have to pass it on the Northern Line Underground.

I do not “know” London afterall. Oh sure, I have a few favourite haunts. The area immediately around London Bridge Tube Stop is home to approx. 6 of my 'best-pubs' (and one really good kebab-shop). Of course, I also am very familiar with the area around Liverpool Street Station as I take visitors on my “there-were-other-serial-murderers-besides-jack-the-ripper-walking-tour”. AND who isn’t familiar with the whole area around the Westminster Tube Stop? You’ve got Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the bridge, the Eye, etc. But that’s all I know, really. Everywhere else I go, I just crawl out of the ground at the Tube Station, emerge blinking into the light of the world of London-Above-Ground and look for the address of my intended destination. Usually, it’s pretty near whatever Tube Line I took. Convenient, yes, but not good for actually seeing the city around me.

I think need to spend more time above ground. I have got to walk around the city a bit more outside of the touristy areas and my favourite pub-crawls. London is a big city.

I am sure it is a wonderful place.

--tomb