Beware, Ye Faint-Hearted!

I knew today might not be the greatest when I almost fainted on the tube.

Such, was of course, my own fault. I forgot to go to the grocery store on Saturday, so Sunday I realized I didn’t have any food, but I didn’t want to spend money, so I just thought “oh, well, I won’t eat!” But considering how many random meals I’ve been skipping anyway, and the fact that I’ve not been drinking as much water as I should, and that I didn’t get enough sleep the night before…suddenly at one stop I felt incredibly dizzy, and started seeing black spots, and the world began to fade, and I went “uh oh!”. I had to get off the train I did so, and made a beeline for a bench to sit down on while I felt the world steadily dimming around me. “I can’t faint!” I thought to myself. “I’m carrying my laptop and I can’t afford to fix it if I drop it!” By then, I was at the bench, sat down and took several deep breaths for a few minutes, and then went directly to a café and ate breakfast. After that, I felt fine.

Part of “work” today included finally taking the official tour of the Parliament Building. It was the first time I had been in the official chambers, and of course we heard lots of fun historical stories, about the Magna Carta, beheading King Charles I, the assassination of a prime minister in 1812, the Guy Fawkes gunpowder plot…and other cheerful tales. Today's pictures are of Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the building, and yet another picture of Big Ben (from an internal angle this time!)

Since I haven’t given you an update on the roommate/housing situation in a while, I offer the good news that I think we’ve all reached a sort of nice equilibrium. I happily associate with them when excessive drinking is not involved, and they leave me alone when there is. Everyone seems to have a clear understanding and respect for who I am, now, which makes me happy. I had three or four separate instances this weekend when someone was about to tell a story, or show a youtube video, or some such thing, and then noticed I’m around, and instead said “I’ll tell you later” or “Carrie, you don’t want to see this.” The greatest moment, though, was when I walked into a room where about eight people were hanging out, and right one girl noticed that her bottle of vodka had been opened, but she didn’t know by who. “Who took a shot of my vodka?” she asked the room. No one responded. Just then, I came through the doorway. “It was CARRIE!” Adam exclaimed, and everyone joined in on the teasing. “We knew you drank in secret!” Within a minute we were all cracking up. We had one visitor who looked incredibly confused as to why this was so funny. “I’m Mormon,” I said in an aside to them. “I don’t ever drink.” Then he, too, joined in on the laughter.