Tasty Pasty

I could feel a sore throat coming on last night. Why has this been happening so much over that last month or so? Not fun. It's feeling a bit better, now, but I think it's just because I slept until noon, drank a pot of tea, and listened to Brahms. I had no intentions of doing anything today- just sleeping off my new illness before it could get any worse. Instead, I did quite a bit of something. The adventure began around 1 when I trekked across town to the only music store I could find online that said they had trumpet practice mutes in stock. I really didn't want to go to Oxford Street AGAIN, but I had no choice.

To reward myself for a successful hunt, I bought my first Cornish pasty. It wasn't too bad. Steak, potatoes, onions, and grease encased in a flaky tastiness. I had to get on the Central Line to go back to King's Cross, so I decided to go a bit out of my way and reward myself a bit more. I headed to Tea, the tea shop I <3 behind St. Paul's (Amici, this is where your mug will be coming from!). Since it's a beautiful day, the shop was empty and all of the customers were sitting outside. I sat inside, pulled out my iPod, and listened to/followed along with the Brahms piano concerto the LSO will be playing in a few weeks. I happily realized that the recording I have is of the soloist I will be hearing with them (thanks, Chris!).

On the journey back to the hostel, many interesting things went through my head. Bear with me as I reveal my stream of conciousness: On tube out today, I noticed a girl wearing an outfit many girls wear that I find to be hideous- leggings and a baggy tshirt. She was sitting in a car with me. After tea-ing and hopping back on the tube to return to the hostel, she got into the same car as me, again! How strange is it, that in a city of so many millions of people, you see the same random person twice in one day? This led me to think about another odd thing: I have the habit of taking pictures of things and accidentally taking an awesome candid shot of a random person who happened to get into the frame as I pressed the button. One of my favorite pictures from my January trip was a result of this incident (below left). I took a picture of a student in Oxford last week only because I thought it cool that he was wearing a robe. It has become one of my favorite shots from my trip, thus far (partially because he resembles Prince Harry-below right). I also think it's interesting that both of them happen to be of "gingers." Is it because I am a ginger, as well?

Immediately upon leaving Tea, I looked up at the sky and realized that today was my favorite sort of London day: the sky gets dark and cloudy, but then the sun comes out and illuminates the North Bank....It's the most beautiful thing. Perhaps that's because it reminds me of my first day in the city back in 2007. No, I think it's just because it's absolutely stunning. See just how stunning in a picture I took on that first day:

I'm going to do some more sleeping, as I'm still not feeling quite up to par. If it's still daylight when I wake up, I'll practice in the park around the corner.