A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

Don't worry; the title does not refer to London, or to any of my friends.


Hit play on the above video, then read on. This requires a soundtrack.

I woke up early on Friday morning with a double purpose for my day in mind. First, I wanted to go to Wal-Mart. A real Wal-Mart. Second, I wanted to get out of London. I haven't left the city for two months. I wanted to see the horizon again.

From 20090327 - Watford

I did some research and planning on my laptop. I downloaded bus maps, planned my route, looked up Wal-Mart locations, etc, and wrote it all down on a little piece of paper. I caught a Circle line tube to Baker St (where Holmes lives) which is only a 20-30 minute walk, but I was feeling lazy. I left Baker St. on a 113 bus headed towards Edgeware (actually it went all the way to Brent Cross Shopping Center)

From 20090327 - Watford

From there I waited around for 5 minutes and caught the 142 to Watford Junction. The journey to Watford was quite pleasant. There were tree-lined roads, quaint little houses, and I actually felt like I was out of the city for once.

From 20090327 - Watford

I arrived at around 10:00 had brunch at a J.D. Wetherspoon's Moon Under the Water Pub, and then continued on towards my final destination.

From 20090327 - Watford

You should be just reaching 0:52 in the soundtrack. This is the really loud horn section strike where Obi-Wan says, "Mos Eisley Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must cautious." I heard those words, and the music cue* as I crested the rise and found a taste of home waiting for me. There really was a rise to crest and I was almost moved to tears. Almost. But not quite.

*You can turn the soundtrack off if you want. It gets a bit ominous-sounding, which is not the feeling I'm trying to evoke.



Well, there would be more pictures for you, detailing the glorious interior of Wal-Mart and the Quaintness of Watford, but for some reason when I put batteries in the camera, I took the storage card out... and the internal memory only holds 4 pictures. Oh, well. More pictures next time. I luxuriated in the isles of Wal-Mart for a while, and then began the laborious process of lugging my purchases back to Watford Junction to catch the bus home. By this time it was around 2:30 or so. There was a lot more traffic on the way back, than there was on the way there, and it was 5 o'clock by the time I was walking out of King's Cross St. Pancras station. I cooked some lamb, did some studying and promptly fell asleep at around 9. It was a good day.