A Hobbit London Weekend

Last Friday saw me heading to London to meet up with friends for a weekend of retail pleasure and generally getting away for a couple of days for a change of scenery. As I boarded the train in my sleepy town I noticed the carriage was almost empty, this made for a peaceful journey. The train sped through the English countryside only stopping at a couple of towns and in no time we were pulling into Kings Cross.

Heaving throngs deftly sidestepped I ducked into the underground and headed for Waterloo, the 1990's football anthem of 'Vindaloo' stuck in my head and a nostalgic smile on my face.

On arriving at the huge Waterloo station I munched on a pretty tasteless chicken burger from Burger King and chided myself after for not noticing a decent cheap sandwich stall selling French stick sandwiches for a mere £2.

There was some confusion on meeting my friend at the station as Waterloo has many exits and we basically had to head indoors to find one another under the central large hanging clock. Then there was yet more confusion after we exited onto an overpass and got slightly lost. We soon sorted things and found the nearby Travelodge hotel we were staying at which was near the Old Vic theatre. There's not much to say about the hotel, all Travelodge's seem the alike though this one seemed to have more facilities than most, having a bar, internet cafe and restaurant of sorts. After a bit of rest that was rudely interrupted by a foreign maid who pointed out there was no quilt cover and then never came back it was soon evening and time to head out.

Off to Camden we headed via the northern tube line and then hit the bars in a very busy Camden. The Worlds End pub is one of the busiest I know yet it was rammed with people. Drinking in London isn't cheap, not that anywhere is these days but the first round came to £7.50 for a pint and a half of lager, ouch! We left after the first drinks and header deeper into Camden proper but in doing so was accosted by a Big Issue vendor plying his wares. As I'm involved with Big Issue I noticed they were indeed old wares, a 2 week old magazine for starters plus he didn't have any identification number. This was pointed out to him and he scuttled off into the night, which was amusing as I couldn't have done anything anyway and had no intention to either, being on a weekend break.

Next up was the Elephants Head which is a great little pub on the main road through Camden. At this point I was on pints with whiskey chasers and really getting into the eclectic music being played within. After a few drinks in the Elephant we headed to the Good Mixer on Inverness Street which again is another no frills street corner pub with a good atmosphere and earthy crowd.

The night quickly flashed by and I was very impressed by Camden at night, we then headed back to Waterloo on a late tube and got off at Embankment before crossing a very cold Waterloo bridge and trying to find our way back, by this time I was quite merry and carefree and after a brief escapade in a very expensive London taxi which cost £10 for what seemed like 300-400 meters in the congested traffic we noticed a landmark near our hotel and jumped out to try and find something to eat. Not being aware of the local places we stumbled upon an Italian restaurant. Without going into detail the food wasn't fantastic or in large amounts and it was quite pricey. With a half full stomachs we headed for the hotel to sleep off the first night.

Sleeping in central London isn't easy unless you sleep heavy, I awoke after an initial deep alcohol induced slumber to sounds of planes going over, police sirens and random shouts in the night. Until the morning it was a very patchy sleep but enough to get by on.

Day two promised to be action packed but early on we became aware the northern tube line was disrupted (among others) because of works being done. This seems to happen every time I am in the capital, only the night before a line had gone down after it was announced someone had jumped in front of a tube train, living in London I can possibly see reasons why they might do such a thing.

The day began with a brisk stroll across the Thames, then along the embankment to Big Ben and Westminster before catching the tube again.

We took a different line to Oxford street before indulging in some browsing of shops before heading into a quieter Soho and catching our breath in Soho Square. I'd called my friend Drew at this point and sought advice on buses to Camden as we wanted to shop there later. After a brief rest and coffee at Starbucks we headed deeper into Soho as I'm quite familiar with it and first went to the Vintage Magazine shop on Brewer street. As we headed there cutting through the lovely little Meard Street I noticed that the little Newsagents called 'The Hobbit' around the corner from it had sadly closed.

Seeking solace in Vintage Magazines we soaked up all the retro film goodness and memorabilia, they really do have some great stuff in there, from posters, masks, key rings, coasters, postcards and badges. I purchased a rather spiffy Groucho Marx tea mug and coaster so was a very happy little hobbit. After that we headed up Berwick Street and popped into Sister Ray which is an independent music store, very akin to what Selectadisc was in Nottingham before it closed, it may even be the same company/people running it. I purchased the excellent 'A Universe Between Us' compact disc by Nick Marsh and withdrew after that before I was tempted to buy any more.

I paused on what to do next, we skirted the bottom of Soho and could smell the aroma's coming from Leicester Square and China town but we resolved to head to Tottenham Court road and try and get a bus to Camden. After chatting to a couple of locals, the latter being disenfranchised with the local buses and ticket machines we boarded a packed bus to Camden and I soon recognised the local surroundings though couldn't help feeling sad when a young mother get off the bus and headed to some very dour looking flats with her two kids, I really can't imagine bringing kids up in such a busy built up area. When you become more familiar with London you realise it really isn't as massive as you first think and Camden isn't really too far up Tottenham court road with a couple of slight twists and turns, en route I notice Warren Street tube station where we may be meeting more friends later. And so to Camden, we disembarked the bus and headed into the bohemian crowds in search of avant garde retail goodness.

Several market areas followed in Camden and money started to empty out my pockets at an alarming rate, such is the Camden effect and great range of clothes and accessory stuff, its all in one place. Some may call Camden cliché but they aren't really delving deep in what it has to offer, yes there's some cheap tat rubbish to be sure but there's also some very good clothing to be had that is unusual or hand crafted that goes for other items or artwork too.

We then headed over the road to the Chalk farm stables market and headed on inside through the partially covered Blade runner-esque style myriad of stalls and units. It was there I saw a lovely jacket but held back as I was yet to enter my beloved Cyberdog at the bottom end of the market. Suddenly I was stunned, they were actually queuing to get inside! The coat playing on my mind, and not wanting to queue up we decided to head out the bottom exit and across the road to a rather nice pub called the Monarch and lick our financial wounds and ponder what to do next, in my case ponder if I was going to buy the jacket I'd seen. Being reflective here I suspect not being able to get into Cyberdog was a blessing in disguise as I'd been in there earlier this year and spent loads but on the positive side they do have a website to order from.

Deliberations over the coat complete we headed back to haggle and the woman at the shop in Stables market called Psylo wouldn't budge after offering me £10 off the asking price, I tried to get her to lower it but my efforts were in vain. I caved in, it was a nice coat to be fair and I did fall in love with it at first site, the fit was excellent too. There were a few other bits and bobs purchased by my friend and I before we grabbed a quick pizza slice and headed to Warren street tube station to meet friends Drew and Sophie then retiring to a nearby pub called The Prince of Wales Feathers. It was indeed a cozy traditional pub with friendly staff and a good selection of drinks. Time soon passed and much Geeky talk between myself and Drew was to be had but we all chatted along merrily before noticing it was getting late, by this time I was indeed feeling the exertions of the day and feeling quite tired.

A swift tube journey back to Waterloo via a zig-zag route and with more awareness of our surroundings we noticed a rather good Greek style chip shop near the Old Vic. We bagged hefty portions of fish and chips before heading back to the hotel and collapsing wearily and eating our food and examining our days booty.

Another night of not so great sleep followed (my friend snored!) and it was morning and time to pack our bags and head home, it had all gone so quick. The journey home at lunchtime was uneventful and the tube works going on didn't affect my journey to a very busy Kings Cross. Yet again I succumbed to a quick and tasteless Burger King before boarding the train home, the designated quiet carriage wasn't so quiet as babies where shrieking but I blotted it out with music and dozed in and out of sleep until I arrived home, one hour and 20 minutes later, the contrast between town and city is amazing, and quite reassuring when you get home as the madness of London is left behind.

I think some of my perceptions of London have changed really over the years and many visits. Once upon a time I quite fancied living there but now I'd not even consider it unless I was rich. London is a city of contrasts, some being quite stark but then most cities are. The transport system in London isn't cheap, both for its inhabitants and visitors alike. For example a single journey on the tube from Waterloo to Kings Cross is £5 for a relatively short journey yet an all day travel card for zones 1-2 is £6.80p and you can travel freely all day in those zones after 9am on the tube or bus. A woman that helped me regarding the buses moaned about ticket machines not working and bus prices, as I used my all day travel card I wasn't sure of bus tariff's but they seemed to be £2 upwards, though I may be wrong, not being a native of the city. Buses are indeed a packed soulless affair but good for people watching, there's no interaction with the driver, you show your ticket, board them get off and it does seem open to exploitation really. London transport be it tube or bus is a hap-hazard expensive affair and the tube system compared to other cities is positive antiquated but I guess unalterable in some respects or at least practical ones. It does make me think that the sheer volume of people in London would make the transport systems cheaper though I guess such a massive transport system is very costly to run - if only it was better, and better value for money.

Do I still like London? Yes, because I've not really scratched it's massive surface but in truth there's only odd areas I'm really interested in to be honest. London does have character yet other areas of it seem grey and bland but such is the nature of cities the world over, London in summertime is a much nicer experience. Come the 2012 Olympics next year it'll be a very crowded expensive place and even more multicultural than it already is. I'll always be happy to make flying visits but unless I win the lottery and could buy something secluded with in some nice inner area of it then I'd never live there, it'd be too depressing and even if I did have millions in order to buy such a place then there are much nicer places around the world.

London is a love/hate place for me. Some of the marvellous buildings and structures appeal to my sense of national identity but other aspects of it repel me to some degree. It'll always intrigue me but I'll always want to keep it at arms length, it's great to visit but even better knowing you can leave and come home.

Déjà Vu

It's been a quiet month blog wise, I know you all want more but I've been in video game heaven and doing other stuff, and there's no point in blogging unless I have something worth saying really. So get a cup of tea, settle down and get ready for a humanistic rant. I'm actually in the process of setting up another blog based on my atheist/humanistic ideals but haven't got around to the finer details yet, so until then I have to use my trusty old hobbit blog to get things of my chest and rant with my usual vitriol against all things organised religion orientated.

It almost seemed like a Déjà vu instance as I perused my local paper the Newark Advertiser today. As usual I read the 'Credo' column to see what my religious local friends are up to and who should be featured but the person from my last rant, none other than Lesley Marshall from the church of promise (see the earlier 'You're In Control' blog).

So what proverbial and intellectual gems does Lesley have to offer this time around? Well she's been to the cinema to see Tin Tin and she mentions the senses being bombarded by technology on a daily basis, and at this point I am indeed nodding and concurring. Then we move on to meaningful silence and having studied psychotherapy in the past I am aware how much meaningful silence can be important in some circumstances and situations be it counselling or within a relationship.

Then like the last entry Lesley made we move swiftly into God territory with wildly delusional claims of 'God is the Lord of eternity. He is the creator of time. His timing is perfect and he is never late or rushed.' I lean into my cup of coffee and breathe in, the pungent aroma filling my nostrils and I ponder 'Will Lesley wake up and smell the coffee one day?'

These certainly are fantastical claims Lesley makes and I muse if the so called god of eternity is so pre-occupied with time as to look earthwards and see women being gang raped in the Congo, people being slain by a dictator in Syria or children foraging for scraps of food in the ghetto's of Buenos Aires?

Lesley then goes on to ironically mention how much attention god makes to the smallest details by saying 'It's not just the big crises that god wants to be involved in, but he is concerned with all the small details too.' Well evidently not Lesley because just take a casual look at the news on a daily basis, it's not good is it?

She goes on to add 'Already I can hear some of you hyperventilating in thinking how far behind you'd get in your day if you just sat down in silence and did nothing but chat with god.'

Well firstly I'd tell god what an awful mess things are down here and to come and live as a mortal for a day, feel pain and suffering, feel sadness and despair and get a dose of reality. Unfortunately I can't do this because the phone is swinging aimlessly off the hook because god isn't there, he doesn't exist.

I pity people like Lesley, in their comfy little alternate reality bubble, their twee little world of godly goodness, their world of 'it's gods will' when you point out the calamities of today.

She goes on to suggest that we should try and talk to god and see a quality of life beyond our wildest imagination. Grand and deluded claims indeed, you only have to read the bible to see what a celestial dictator/gangster character god really was. I have to hand it to Lesley she is the queen of wild boasts and extremely knowledgeable when it comes to making sweeping assumptions.

There's a great little book called 'Being Good' by Simon Blackburn which is basically about ethics and in it he quotes;

'All in all, then, the bible can be read as giving us carte blanche for harsh attitudes to children, the mentally handicapped, animals, the environment, the divorced, unbelievers, people with various sexual habits and elderly women. It encourages harsh attitudes to ourselves as fallen creatures endlessly polluted by sin, and hatred of ourselves inevitably brings hatred of others.'

That kind of puts it better than I could really and sums things up perfectly, I could add to the statement with passages from the bible but why bore you with that rubbish. As the philosopher Nietzsche puts it;

'Christianity is the hatred of the intellect, of pride, of courage and intellectual libertinage'

These are tough times the world is in, we need level heads and pragmatism to see us through, not some flights of celestial fantasy from such as Lesley Marshall and other christians. The reality is we have to sort our own problems out using common sense and often personal courage and determination. Mankind needs to put faith in itself and not sit around pathetically thinking some higher conscience is running it all. We're the real architects of this planet, we built everything from bridges to hospitals of our own volition and because of our own needs and ultimately we are the architects of our own destiny be it good or bad. If we sat around praying for new hospitals or bridges would they appear?

Religion in my view is very much like a cigarette, if you've never had one then you don't need it. Should you try one and get past the uncertain coughing stage you become addicted, you come to rely on it at all costs and when problems surface you reach for the packet in order to cope just like christians reach for a god as their coping mechanism. Christianity to some is just like a drug, the opium of the masses as Marx once said, thankfully more people these days aren't as reliant on religion.

Personally if religion didn't exist or wasn't created and human kind had no knowledge of it then the world wouldn't need it. Just like if tobacco hadn't been found we wouldn't be smoking. I don't have religion but then I don't need it because I still have the capacity to love my fellow human beings, to smile, to extend my arms and hug someone and to marvel at how beautiful the world can be. I don't need the invisible and pointless crutches that is religion.

Hopefully in the upcoming weeks I'll be launching my humanist blog and hopefully I can use it as a common sense platform and maybe even start up a local humanist discussion group. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading.

Skyrim

So 11.11.11 saw this little hobbit make a dash with reckless abandon to Nottingham this morning to buy the legendary new game from Bethesda that is Elder Scrolls - Skyrim. I've loved their past games starting with Daggerfall in the early 90s, then onto Morrowind, then prior to today's release I enjoyed Oblivion.

The reason I went to Nottingham to bag it was that my local Gamestation store couldn't confirm if they were stocking it on the Pc format. On a very crowded train I sped towards Nottingham early this morning, I pondered if there'd be release problems, as when I bought Oblivion on the Xbox 360 some years back there were some initial teething problems with it.

I was fortunate today, Game in Nottingham were open at 8:45am when I arrived there and after a swift purchase and some fending the assistants efforts off at trying to make me buy a strategy guide for it I headed home. He was persistent for sure, but I explained should I need help and advice there's the whole of the internet to look on for free, his retort was the guide 'looked good'.

Grabbing a quick coffee at the train station I was catching the train back earlier than expected with a smile but also fearing the game I've lusted after so long for would have some kind of problem.

It didn't. Loading took about 6 minutes under the 'Steam' platform and about a minute for a small update then after the program detected my settings and set them automatically to a favourable 'high' the game began and my jaw hit the deck.

For a short while I thought the intro sequence was just for show, characters sat trussed up on a cart, obviously criminals of some sort being led to an execution but then I moved the mouse pointer and realised I could look around, it wasn't an intro, I was actually part of it!

After a cracking opening and a character designing sequence I was on the run from a marauding dragon and escaping through dungeons before emerging onto a mountain path surrounded by trees, it looked so real I almost felt I could reach out and touch them. Within no time my character guided by the one she had escaped with was introduced to the first small town of Riverwood and then the adventures really begin.

All I can say is thank you Bethesda for delivering such an awesome game, I am genuinely lost for words how amazing it is and the fantastic attention to detail. In some ways Bethesda has kept neat little touches from past games yet vastly improved other areas and the graphics and gritty realism is to die for! On first impressions I am literally blown away and believe me, I've seen some games over the years.

Below is the first screen shot I took on escaping the first opening scenes and salvaging some equipment.

And here is the game trailer.

You're In Control

Most Fridays I pop into my local and grab a coffee, it's cheap, decent coffee and I either chat to another customer (most of us know each other) or read the local paper. My local paper the Newark Advertiser has more than its fair share of articles about faith, along the lines of 'new vicar installed at church' etc. Every week it has a regular small column called 'Credo' in which a local narrow minded vicar or pastor does their bit to promote the alleged big guy upstairs. The articles range different subjects, some are light on the religion aspect of things whilst others are plain stupid, the latest Credo being no exception. This weeks literary gem is called 'Let God be in control', yep it's scary just from the headline. The article writer this week, a very deluded Lesley Marshall opens with the subject of school holidays and wholesome family stuff, all good so far until we delve several paragraphs in and she hits us with the god smackdown. She writes (I assume the writer is female);

'We need to be ready for gods touch, wherever we are and whatever we are doing. God wants us to have good quality holiday times.' Hhhmm didn't god just want us to have the sabbath off and how does she specifically know the above fact, has he told her this?

She goes on to say 'He loves us to have relaxation and be unburdened. But he especially loves us to be in a relationship and communication with him everyday so that he can guide us and help us in our busy stressful lifestyles.' Now the article is leaning into an Orwellian slant, you can relax my loyal subjects but don't forget, I'm watching and judging and need constant worship and contact.

The article gets unnerving still, totally moving from the school holidays and family bit to saying 'What's the catch, you may be asking? You need to commit your life to god, talking to him in prayer and listening for his answers, reading his word, the bible, and accepting that god is in control and not you.' I beg to differ, last time I looked I wasn't attached to strings.

Now that's pretty deluded if you ask me, and grossly stupid, I myself am in control of my daily life, not any god, I make the decisions, I have my own moral code and ethics, I influence the days events by my actions and it is also influenced by those around me, god doesn't have a look in. I don't have to tell a god how good he is and I don't have to cower in praise and wish for a life after this in what would be if it existed a kind of celestial North Korea. Yep, to quote Christopher Hitchens here, imagine that every day of your life from the first day you were born until the day you die is scrutinised and judged by some omnipotent being above. Then when you die and if you've passed all the stupid tests he's set (forget being a fallible human!) and ascend to heaven you actually pass into a celestial dictatorship where the big brother scrutiny continues - would you really want that? I imagine if heaven existed it suspect it would be some kind of dour holiday camp with rows of identical wooden huts where you have to live with family, some of which you never liked in the first place for eternity and then daily like a sycophant turn up to a church to tell god how amazing he is, erm... no thanks.

It's really simple folks, you can be a perfectly decent human being without religion, being intelligent creatures we all know between right and wrong and yes we all make mistakes, it's called being human. Catholics of course use confession as a get out of hell free card but seemingly with the amount of child abuse constantly being revealed about the catholic church confession isn't really working very well from either side of the wooden partition.

So back to the 'let god be in control' bit, lets take Lesley's words as the possible truth for a second and ponder the fact that god is in actual total control? All I can say is if that is the case then what an awful mess he is making of it all. Starvation, disasters, cruelty, fear and a list of endless bad stuff, oh yes, as a religious person would respond 'it's gods will'. They'll always play that card over a rational sensible explanation as its a christian universal side step without thinking too much.

It's people like Lesley that actually make the world a blinkered place, the classic christian approach in which they believe praying is the be all and end all about everything, it's a laissez-faire look at life, in the fact I'm a christian, I pray therefore I don't have to worry, and if I slip up I just have to say sorry to some invisible deity and its all good again. All I have to do is subscribe to the bible, a book written and constantly edited by ignorant old men long ago that contains very little historical fact. A book written by individuals that sought control and thought the earth was in fact flat as they lived within their small sphere of influence on the earth.

If I told you that your partner was having an affair or that green paint made you invisible readers, then you'd want proof wouldn't you? Yet christians take the bible as proof without any tangible evidence because its far more easier to be ignorant, christian ignorance after all - is bliss.

Christianity today is a folly on a massive scale where people cling to relics and fables of the past and use it to control and deceive the weak minded or vulnerable, it's a comfort cushion in which we delude ourselves some heavenly big brother or uncle is looking out for us when in fact we are alone in a universe that doesn't give a damn what we do, it's not worried about us so why should we worry about it? As for death, well its simple in my mind, I can't change the fact I'm going to die, I have no control over it so why should I again worry about it? I imagine death to be like a hospital anaesthetic, a void, a blackness where you feel nothing and think nothing but are in no discomfort either. When I had my hip replacement and woke to reality and pain I wished I was back there to avoid the agony I was in so in that respect I didn't find it scary at all. When you talk to most old people these days many seem to crave that eternal not knowing and pain free bliss, they feel they've lived their life best they can and now its time for an eternal slumber of sorts. Yep it may be disconcerting to you reading this, that I think that's what happens but having the option of that or debasing myself in front of a god whose alleged book is filled with cruelty, war and hatred everyday then I know which option I'd prefer. (Yep the bad bits of the bible, of which there are countless many get excluded by christians, we just get the so called nice stuff)

So to close, you're in control of your own life and destiny, things may happen beyond your control to change that but the universe has been nothing if random throughout known time. So forget all the christian control stuff, be true to yourself and others, live life as you see fit, be good to one another and realise you don't need the fetters of religion to live a good, moral and decent life - you, not a god (or any of the over 10,000 listed gods) are in control so enjoy life !

'Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.' Anon.