In London for the Language Show
It seems there has been a distinct lack of blogging yet again 
My WordPress is actually full of draft posts which I have started, then lacked the time or motivation to continue with. I don’t understand why, but for some reason work is ridiculously busy at the moment and that means blogging time is restricted 
I did, however, have a rather exciting weekend at the London Language Show. I was about to say ‘enjoyable’, but I wasn’t sure that was the best word; firstly because it was so utterly exhausting I haven’t recovered from it yet, and secondly because I spent the entire time being scared stiff. Nah, it was enjoyable over all – just not quite as relaxing as the previous weekend in Barlaston.
It all started at 5.30am on Saturday morning, which was the time at which my alarm went off. For me this was an interesting experiment, because I had previously been unaware that 5.30am on a Saturday actually existed, it not being a time I have ever seen 
Here’s hoping that I don’t have to see it again in a hurry! 5.30am on a Saturday is cold, dark, and more depressing than 5.30am on a Monday, because you *know* you should be having a lie in Sadly it was absolutely necessary to get up at this ungodly hour, because I was aiming to get to the London Olympia for 10.
Whilst I was going to the Language Show to help out on the EAB stall, my sister was interested in researching jobs and was coming along for the ride. That was nice, because it meant I didn’t have to sit on the train on my own 
We caught the 7.30 from Euston which was actually very pleasant, there being a far better choice of seats than normally when I catch it on a Monday! I think my poor sister was just relieved to get on the train at all, because she asked me when leaving the house if I had actually checked whether buses run that early on Saturday mornings. Slightly embarrassingly I hadn’t – just assumed they would – so I was rather pleased when the required transport arrived within 15 minutes and we managed to get to the city centre on time.
In fact we got there with time to spare, and so it was that we decided to buy ourselves a cup of coffee from Costas. No I must confess to not being a big fan of take-away coffee. I don’t like the taste of drinking out of those nasty paper cups, and if I do anything other than sit completely still whilst drinking something hot, there is always the risk that I’m going to pour it over myself or someone sitting next to me. But there are some situations where any coffee is better than no coffee and this appeared to be one of them, so I resolved to make the best of it. I would, in fact, have been quite content were it not for the fact that my cup had a hole in it It was a strange sort of hole, invisible to the naked eye and yet capable of dripping milky coffee all over me every time I took a mouthful. Twas very bad luck, because there wasn’t a hole in my sister’s at all!
We arrived at Euston just after nine and made our way to Earl’s Court via Saint Pancras. Earls Court is a thoroughly confusing tube station, and I was very grateful for the advice of Thomas, who had explained to me in advance that I needed to look at the signs to work out where the trains were going Otherwise I would probably have got on the first train that came and ended up getting terribly lost. The journey across London was actually much longer than I had anticipated, and it was around 10.15 when we finally arrived at the Olympia. To my surprise I found it was an attractive old building, and having expected something more along the lines of the NEC I was favourably impressed Babel had instructed me to text him when I arrived and he would come out with my exhibitors’ pass. Text him I did, and called him too actually, but after twenty five minutes I had got bored of waiting for him and my sister had departed to listen to a lecture, so I decided to be proactive and find him myself.
The EAB stall, when I finally located it, was much more impressive than I had expected, if I can say that without implying a slur on the people who were in charge of it The leaflets and newsletters all looked very colourful and professional, there was an exciting array of books on the shelves behind, and all the posters and other bits and pieces pinned to the wall were well calculated to catch people’s attention. The promotional video ‘Esperanto estas’ was playing on a constant loop in the background, and although by Sunday evening I would be getting heartily sick of it, it is nevertheless and excellent piece of work and was well suited to our purpose
My purpose for being in London was of course to help out on the stall, and although I was turned up appropriately dressed for the occasion in my best suit, I potentially wasn’t the best person for the job. Whenever I have historically attended events similiar to this, careers fairs for example, my main aim for the day has been to run around as many stalls as possible, grabbing leaflets without speaking a word to anyone. Speaking to people in such circumstances has always been my idea of hell, but for some reason it didn’t dawn on me until I was practically in London that being on the other side of the stall was likely to be doubly as excruciating.
And indeed it was The stall was incredibly open, there wasn’t so much as a table to hide behind, and it felt horribly unprotected. I think I now have some idea what it must feel like to be an animal in the zoo. For someone whose worst nightmare is having people looking at them, standing so publically on display is a very nervewracking experience. There was admittedly a conveniently designed corner to loiter in, but someone had sneakily arranged the spotlight to point directly at it, negating its value as a hiding place at the same time as making it unbearably hot over a long period of time. I know, of course, because I endeavoured to stand in it for long periods of time
As the hours ticked by I got a little more used to it, and I did indeed talk to quite a lot of people. Most of them were very nice, although one of them smelled and freaked me out. I’m not sure any of them are likely to go away and learn Esperanto, but at least some of them now know what it is.
The Language Show itself was fairly interesting, although there was a pretty poor turnout by recruiters so my sister didn’t really find what she was looking for. I collected some interesting leaflets in German though, and overall the place just had a nice buzz to it
Fortunately it wasn’t all hard work, and there were enough people helping for us all to have generous breaks. Lunch time on Saturday brought the biggest excitement of the weekend, as I finally came face to face with Orry – a person I had heard so much about but never actually met. I wasn’t disappointed – he was pretty much just as I imagined
I was certainly grateful for the chance to sit down and have some food. Having eaten breakfast so early, I was absolutely starving and could’ve eaten my dinner before 11 I also hadn’t appreciated quite how exhausting it would be standing still in one place all day, and as the hours ticked by I was desperately craving the chance to sit down and drink vast quantities of water!
After a delicious pizza in the evening, we headed back to the place where we were staying in Tooting Bec. This wasn’t a straightforward proceeding, as at the start of the day I had had absolutely no idea where I was going, so had purchased a travel card for zones one and two, which is what I automatically do when I arrive in London. Unfortunately for me, Tooting Bec is in Zone Three and so my ticket wasn’t sufficient. Gavan tried to explain to me the intricacies of the pricing system and how the most sensible thing for me to do was to go to Victoria and buy an Oyster card. This all went somewhat over my head, as I only have a hazy idea of what an Oyster card is in the first place, and ultimately I got very, very confused. Things weren’t helped at Victoria by the fact that no one else could cross the ticket barrier to assist me, nor the fact that once I had made my purchase I was unable to take the same route back to the platform, but in the end everything was resolved, and I am now the proud owner of an Oyster card, even if I still haven’t quite figured out what that means.
We were staying in the house of a lovely elderly lady, and for hardly any money at all thanks to Pasporta Servo When we finally got there, I was so mentally exhausted that I would happily have gone to sleep, but a combination of circumstances meant that Babel and I ended up going for a walk round the suburb for an hour or so. It was rather dark and cold, because like an idiot I had left my coat behind, but at least the terrible rain from earlier in the day had stopped. I found it quite exciting to be walking around London, though I am admittedly easily pleased and bits of it didn’t look too dissimilar to Birmingham.
What we did when we got back would have to be my favourite part of the weekend, but perhaps it would be more discreet not to blog it Suffice it to say that I enjoyed it so much that I keep accidentally thinking about it when my mind wanders during the exceptionally boring software course I am participating in this week, and then I keep smiling to myself in a way which the sane do not smile about audit software.
Having got up so early, it would be an understatement to say I was now sleepy, but unfortunately the sleeping arrangements were not terribly conducive to sleeping. That is to say, we had a single bed – which is totally fine, I actually quite like sharing single beds – but somehow it seemed significantly narrower than normal single beds. Babel kindly let me sleep on the side nearest the wall, so I didn’t have to worry about falling out But there was so little space, I spent the whole night getting trapped in various positions and being unable to free myself from them without damaging either the bookshelf on one side of me or Babel on the other. First my side went peculiarly numb, and in a bungled attempt to turn over I knocked some of Babel’s money off the bookshelf on my side of the bed. Later in the night my leg got a horrible cramp in it which I think could probably have been relieved by bending it, but there wasn’t space in the bed to perform such a manoeuvre. As is fairly typical in these situations, I’d just about managed to get comfortable by the early hours of the morning… at which point Babel decided it was time to get up
Nah, I must say we had rather a nice start to the day I think I probably say this every time we go away for the weekend, but it’s so lovely to spend some time with Babel. It refreshes my memory as to how much I love him, and makes me wish so much that we already had our own place sorted. A lot of problems seem nowhere near as daunting when Babel is around 
Sunday was a much quieter day at the show in any case, which was good in a way but also a bit boring. The morning seemed to go on forever but the afternoon was a lot quicker – perhaps the glass of wine helped – and remarkably soon it was time to pack away. I fear I wasn’t a great help in this respect either, as I don’t excel at tasks which require good coordination or carrying heavy objects, but I made a contribution of sorts and at least succeeded not to damage anyone in the process
Babel and I had a long journey ahead of us. First there was the small matter of four tubes back to Tooting Bec to collect our stuff. From there the rest of the travelling was in Babel’s car, so it was fairly restful for me, but sadly rather stressful for him as he attempted to find his way out of London without a map. He actually did exceptionally well – I don’t think he took a single wrong turning – but the longer the journey went on for the increasingly guilty I began to feel, firstly about the fact that I couldn’t drive to help out, and secondly about the fact that he was going out of his way to give me a lift I finally got home around ten thirty, whilst poor Babel had another hour on top of that. Still, we all got home safely in the end, and it was definitely an interesting experience. If I get time this week I shall write a more profound version for the JEBsite!
Tags: Esperanto, language show, London