Seeing Angel on the weekend at night was quite interesting. Everyone was dressed up, the girls weren't wearing coats half the time and were in tiny dresses, which seemed crazy for how cold it gets at night and how impractical it is... but yeah, I guess that's just me. I was told that I looked American by this chatty fellow who was clearly drunk. In talking to him I found out that he had only been to the great state of Ohio aside from watching American television, so I don't know quite what he meant by my "look" though he accounted for my attire: wayfarer style glasses, pea coat, asics, and cropped hair. I didn't quite know what to say, except "thanks" as we went our separate ways and Nichi and I looked for our bus stop. Loud bunches of young people swarmed the streets, and by the time it was 2am everyone was searching for a way home. Nichi and I went to several bus stops before we found one that got us closer to the house. It was a fun ride sitting on the top of a double decker, and feeling like a mechanical elephant of sorts, making wide swimming turns on the narrow streets. A really wonderful way to see the city infact because from up high you get a nice view. It was a nice treat to feel like you could venture the streets with ease and not worry about other cars running you over like you would if you were walking.
We got to Clapham Common and then had to take a cab. Unfortunately for us and due to our kindness, we let two young drunk guys share the cab with us. They proceeded to be incredibly loud and theatrical acting out some ridiculously dumb skit that Id never seen though thought was somewhat racist. The one sitting next to me fell down to the floor of the cab twice, and then nearly sat on me getting up.
Black cabs here are the traditional/norm, and apparently it takes them 3 years to learn the streets and practice before they can get licensed. They have to study every street in London, its remarkable, and only get the opportunity to run errands and pick up associates before they work with the public. I could tell our cab driver had been doing this awhile as he stayed calm and collective and only replied in a smart tone when the one guy asked if he knew where Balham was. They were so obnoxious Nichi and I got out of the cab and they ran after us, telling us we were to pay for the ride. Nichi cursed at them, we paid half, and went on our way, kind of fuming over the incident. Then Nichi and I played out violent "kill bill" like scenarios as to how we should have really handled things, which was amusing and lightened the aggressive mood some.
The following morning, Saturday, we went to go meet up with some of Nichi's Queer or self identifying: "Outside of the Spectrum of Sexuality" friends. The first to arrive was Juliette. Juliette is a well known MTF (male to female) Transwoman in the UK, who works on a column and writes film and literature reviews. She is currently touring to provide awareness around trans rights and is planning a project after her surgery in June. She was very warm and witty, as she talked about being an outsider. "I grew up that way as a kid" she said, and blamed it on her listening to Morrisey and the Smiths, kind of awkwardly giggled, and changed the subject.
We met up at an iconic restaurant called E.Pellicci (http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/Pelliccifeature.htm) which has been listed a public icon at 105 yrs old, in the neighborhood of Bethel Green. This area of town is at the east end of London which is known for being a slummier hood where lots of immigrants and hipster folk live and where the riots several months ago went down. Apparently back in the day there were bombings in that area, and in Bethel Green there is a line where the police set up where they wouldn't go because it was too violent. I found all of this amusing as now it is considered a hip place to live and has been especially cleaned up due to the Olympics in August. Full of colorful shops selling Kaftans and Sarees, and eastern handicrafts, in addition there are many boutiques, micro brew pubs and quaint parks. I saw a lot of women in Burkas there which was very noticeable as well as musicians in funky antique get ups eating homemade sweets.
When the rest of the people arrived, Alex and Paul, we ordered from the menu. I got a veggie breakfast which was a traditional baked beans, egg over easy, stewed tomatoes, a veggie sausage, bubble and squeak.
Bubble and squeak refers to vegetables generally a potato mash being the bubble and the squeak being onions. Overall the dish was rather bland and unappealing though it felt somewhat nurturing going down. I was told this although typical for breakfast, is more diner style greasy spoon fare and that it wasn't an exceptional breakfast due to London standards despite being at this iconic restaurant. What was pretty cool about the place was the traditional wood paneling, the small corridors with the cook being central in this one room, and the line out the door. As we sat and ate, two well known actors in the area sat behind us and a famous fighter with his kids came in. The east end is known for being a place where a lot of fighters live as well. There were a couple we saw on the tube when we arrived all tattooed up with bad ink, and cheesy symbols like a cheap mans version of ed hardy. The one who sat next to me had a family cress with the word wales cursived on the banner. And the one across the way had something tribal amidst cartoon like caricatures. I would have never known they were all famous but it was surely loud in that place, and hard to hear all the conversation that was going on at the table. I found myself kind of staring off at the crowd and absorbing the atmosphere which felt lively and family like. When we were rung up they had to ask us what we ordered because they didn't write it down, which I am told is a very old country way to do things. They probably wouldn't have even noticed if we didn't pay.
other items on the menu
a grilled slice: toast
chips: fries
rasher of back bacon: refers to where the pork is from (the back of the pig) and a rasher is a thin slice, this is usually prepared boiled or fried
black pudding: pig intestine encasing gelatinous pigs blood, yuck!
not to be confused with other puddings which are a general term for sweets, baked goods etc.
a bun in the north is referred to as a tea cake
in the south its called a bap
biscuits refer to a cookie unless they are listed as biscuits and cheese which mean they are crackers
though people know what you mean when you say cracker
biscuits like biscuits and gravy which would never be served this way and are commonly served in stews are called a cobbler
zucchini are called:courgettes
eggplant= aubergine
cilantro= coriander
for more common English food: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/food/dishes.htm
more language tidbits :
accents are by region and also change based on class so one region will have to accents: one that is posh and one that is lower class. The posh folk tend to say their a's like ah's except for in the south where most people pronounce their a's this way.
phrases that you hear commonly are:
sort yourself out (or) get it sorted
bits and bobs: like this and that, or stuff/things/ aka: odds n sods
pootle = to roam or wander, to move leisurely or without purpose.
bless him, her, it dependant on the subject
if you say sick this implies that you are throwing up,
so when you aren't feeling well you say that you are ill
pants mean underwear and trousers mean pants
tennis shoes/sneakers are called trainers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
this weekends hype:
crufts: a doggy best in show tradition one weekend a year that people get really into http://www.crufts.org.uk/
No comments:
Post a Comment