Sunday, March 22 2009
The Underground tube system never fails!
Any destination is easily accessible, making the possibilities practically endless. Today, Mike Anderson, Ya-an Chan and myself trekked around Hyde Park all morning looking for sources for some stories. It was a beautiful Sunday morning in London. The sun shining with a nice breeze and people were out in bunches, but with little commotion in Speaker’s Corner. To say the least the park is huge and it’s easy to get a little lost.
It took me the better part of an hour to cruise one quarter of the park on my skateboard looking for a story while Mike and Ya-an scouted for people willing to talk about the nationalized health care system. They were more successful than I but it’s hard to say the morning was wasted because I was having so much fun.
I came across two inline skaters doing their thing in what, at first glance, looked like freestyle dancing. One cat, Samer Alhabash, 32, was a dreaded hair, semi hard-body with his shirt off who seemed like the rowdy type. He set up about 12 three-inch plastic cones and speedily criss-crossed in between them with backward spins, one-footed turns and ballerina-like pliers.
I took some pics and chatted with them long enough to find out that they were “freestyle slalom in-line skaters.” Apparently, according to Mr. tough guy, it’s been the craze the last five years or so but has yet to catch on in the states, aside from a small New York fetish. Sure enough, about a hundred yards away, there were another four or five sets of cones with another fifteen or so skaters. Samer (I love the name for some reason) took the cake, though.
After I met back up with Ya-an and Mike we made the journey to Big Ben, the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, to take a group photo with the rest of the students on the trip. We also checked out a couple of hospitals for Ya-an’s story and a park to try and find some homeless folks for mine.
On a side note, Mike and I talked to a receptionist at one of the hospitals about health care. We asked about services for the homeless and she told us that everyone gets the same treatment regardless of their situation. She seemed surprised to hear that the homeless in the United States usually only get treatment when they are super ill. Mike and I pondered that for a little while we waited for Ya-an to do her thing. It is kind of crazy if you think about it. What a world, huh?
London is fantastic. I could easily live here.
John Ellis
Print Journalist
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