The Amazing Adventures of the Slack and the Pook. Part I & II

So our amazing adventure... Part 1 - the return from carvin.

key
- black text - meg (aka The Pook)
- red text - laura (aka The Slack)
- blue text - martin (aka The Angel)

So we left the EJC without a Psi due to sleeping bag forgetfulness, made our way to Lille (successfully!) and checked the train times for calais - 6:20 was the next one. (well laura asked, my french is ) So off to the park, spinning wibbling and admiring poipoipois beautiful devilsticks. After a snack on weird french goo things we went to get our train.

The train wasn't there. Odd we thought. Well turns out the train was at 16:20. Thanks laura.

In my defence, seize sounds an awful lot like six, and I refuse to speak English if at all possible.

So having missed TWO trains to calais. We wait around for the eight o'clock one, watching such sights as: french military with guns, and bizarre fountain architecture.

In calais we met an angel in the form of a big hairy man named martin (or uber seal) He showed us the way... to the dock, helping enormously with heavy bags. (he had a cool trailer attachment to his bike.)

P&O ferries - Hmmmmm. Go in ask for a footpassenger ticket (for the last ferry!) for the 11:45. 'No footpassengers allowed on the 11:45 get the 7am one tomorrow.'
How much to take bikes?
'Oh it's free.'
Oh I forgot to mention, we have bikes

...

So we get bike tickets. (we attach them to the handle bars of our staffs... ) Then walk down to lane 16. Walking past a scary man with a guard dog and a man with a radio we get challenged as to why we are walking.
'are you foot passengers?'
but no! we all ride on this bike and trailer
we take turns to cycle
'Well you shouldn't walk down here, it's dangerous, you have to ride.'

We shirked out of riding, but walked on a raised island. We had a lot more funny looks but managed to board the ferry successfully. Tiredness overcame us on the ferry and we fell asleep watching Martin contact juggling.

Then I realised - I wouldn't be able to a) reach my flat in london or B) get into to it.

We arrived at Dover.

solution: sleep by the sea.

Trekking around the coastal wall we noticed a great lack of beaches in Dover, lots of cliff - no beaches. definately no beaches Things were looking bad for the slack and the pook. As chance would have it we happened across an abandoned warehouse. Tiredness sprung out of our limbs and we vaulted over the brick wall ready to camp in the undergrowth.

It was this night that I realised that Meghan's hair actually does attract thousands of insects into the tent (those of you who knew the stories of the army of spiders and bettles from the EJC) and we camped amoungst an array of luminous spiders and weird-looking snails (one of which was still attached to my left boob the following evening.

Though expecting to be awoken by the police the next day, all went well. (apart from the stifling tent temperatures) We had a greasy 0hmmm greasy, breakfast, a wee spin in dover and an uneventfull 5-based bus trip back to london. Yay! A full day after setting off we had made it to london!

Part 2 to come... (it has yet to be completed...)

come on...quicker! I wanna read the second bit. TYPE FASTER!!

Sounds like you've been having lots of adventures!

wow...you're still alive...*clapclapclap*

ah, you wicked, wicked ladies
you made me laugh so much I fell off my chair and then the power cut out


see what powers you wield!

but I'm with Custom Bug in being impatient for the next installment.
surely getting from Dover to London couldn't have been that exciting, no?

and however will you get back across the border to Edinburgh?

will our heroines return unscathed? (er, no, they are already quite scathed...)
will there be cake?

look forward to your triumphant return and the future telling of it
xx

wow, what an amazing adventure! (feigns surprise pretending he didn't hear the whole thing already last night)
the only thing that could make it better would be cake. i wonder what kind it'll be...

Part II back to reality, missions in London.

I think Part II has only really gained status as a mission, because it once again involved sleeping in places we didn't expect... and once again because of slackness and idiocy!

From where we left off - the trip back to London was a fairly uneventful continuation of the 5-question game that had been keeping us sane for the last 24 hours - e.g. things you wouldn't tell your parents, or 5 ways to skin a cat etc. (see the social chat thread - I dont know how to make a link ) but there's a lot you can find out about a person from playing this game!

So at Victoria, we went our separate ways ... but the slack and the pook couldn't be kept apart for the sake of a shower and comfy bed, so were soon reunited, spinning on the lush greens of Clapham common, with a ben-ja-men to boot, and the intention to see Spiderman II - oh yes.

This was the start of the mission part II. The attempt to find the "oh you can't miss it" picture house in Clapham and return to our comfy homes at a decent hour. Ahem.
Of course losing track of time whilst spinning meant we started out later than intended, followed by engrossed conversations about Beltane instead of following directions we were given... this resulted in wondering off the beaten track of Clapham high street to follow yet more "cut through that back street" and "cross over there" instructions, until we manage to find the place just in time for the last showing.

Never in my life have I enjoyed such a $h*t film, but there's no way you could dislike a film with someone swinging along on web produced by his wrists and a big man with 8 limbs!
OK skip to the end...

So we get to a tube station after the film, I discover I have cunningly lost my railcard and its too late for Meg to get back to her flat lest she face an angry father so it is down to the angel in the form of an sweet australian staffer to look after us tonight . And after sampling the joys of 24hour tescos - you know it makes sense - we got to the beautifully maintained and not at all dank and dodgy block of flats that Ben currently calls home... on the way making use of my feminine wiles on the bus conductor so I didn't have to pay the fare hoorah!

Of course upon arrival in the flat we discovered the electricity was out, so the feast we'd planned from tescos was not to be... cornflakes and warm milk would have to suffice. So we saw in the evening on the balcony with a beautiful view over Hackney's finest tenant blocks before Meg and I settled down on the interestigly balanced double matress on single couchey-type thing, covered with a silky throw, and we slept soundly... ah

and a happy ending the following day at Spitz.

not so comical this time

but you haven't dissuaged my longing for part III

more slack pooks please!
xxx

where's the cake then? was that what you bought at tescos?

yes more cake
tesco's cake is good
just ask NYC (when he wakes up)

he "scored" some there almost as soon as he arrived in Edinburgh

xx

tell you what, will it make you happy if I bake something for tomorrow? What is this sudden obsession with cake man?

What flavour?!

And Molly, sorry if we were less comical this time... but part III will have to take place in Edinburgh, where I'm sure there is room for Pook to become plural On that note, is there anyone who could put me up for a bit up there?

Ahh - what an amazing adventure - I shall have to grace it with my first ever post (well, first ever post here since 1999, but things were different then, when I where a lad...)

And I dedicate my avatar to Meg in all her Badger-related glory.

Oh, and I'm amazed you thought that the insects were attracted by Meghan's hair - in fact her hair spontaneously creates and houses a number of small beasties, depending on her mood (kind of like a cross between God and a Tamagotchi).

Right, enough rambling, time to take my medication - where have my gaggle of nurses got to?

Matt

I remember that 'completely obvious cinema'. Not down three backstreets and dark alleys...

Back in ed now. Just trying to get more appointments with nurses to change my bandage... Or just to get appointments with nurses...

Got in by the skin of my teeth, from the new haymarket ticket controls to the massaging of The Hoop into the overhead storage on the train.

gotta go deal with parental money controls.

yes, what do you mean sudden?
crazy lady

we will treat you to our great cakey goodness on your arrival and if you're lucky bluecat might even make crumble

mmmm

if you're gonna make a cake tommorow, how about jam flavour?