This took a ridiculously long time to send.

YO!

This is me updating the update, because the computer locked me out just before I was going to press "send" three days ago. In the meanwhile, I had to stalk this non-english speaking guy who was going to use my computer, make him log in, and turn off my open e-mail, because whatever you dont turn off before the computer logs you out is left open for the next person to see. Like this random guy's msn, through which I talked to this random Tanzanian guy. As below!

Haha, so I've got half an hour while talking to some guy's friend from Tanzania on msn. It's funny, I just met someone through the computer. That's ironic.

We also went to Oxford, which is full of schools and things. So we walked around that for a while and took a long freaking walk to suburbia Oxford and saw Tolkien's grave, which had all sorts of flowers on it, along with pens, peoples' poems, and a statue of a LOTR character, I think a hobbit. And THEN we went to Stratford and Iain disappeared to Edinburgh.

AAAnyway. So Cornwall..yeah. We did that! We split up for a while, so Iain went up to Ediburgh early and Shanu and I went to Stratford for our play. Stratford is a small town. A fully Shakespeare town. He was born, lived and died there. Our hostel was super awesome. It was a YHA, so it wasn't REALLY super awesome, but it looked like a house from Pride and Prejuidice, which created giggles.
It was also a bit into the coutnry, so we had to make our way out to get to the town. The first night, cause we arrived kinda late, we decided to go eat Indian food, cause it was late and everything was closing, anyway. So we did. And it was so good! And fancy! And then we shared some dessert...and oh my god. It was THE BEST dessert either of us had had
EVER. It was like ice cream, vanilla, but then some chocolate crusty stuff on top with more balls of caramel...oh god. We sighed at the same time and couldn't stop sighing for a half hour after we finished it. It may have been a packaged deal since the bottom looked oddly plastic. In the morning we went rowing, on a rowboat! It was great. I rowed first and Shanu did the steering. One of the (pinchable) rowboat guys helped me in and I felt gross, cause my hands feel like sandpaper thanks to British water (which, by the way, makes my hair feel like soapy straw and it's driving me mad). And then he gave us a crash course in rowing, told us we had an hour and more or less went away. And then we had to row under this bridge, but we weren't very good, so we crashed into the bridge wall a couple of times, then into some other rowboats that were parked nearby, then we got turned around 360 degrees. It wasn't our smoothest first try. This old man in a boat waited patiently for us to shove to any side (since we we're utterly useless), so he could go under the bridge. But we got it ok afterwards, and it was great! We switched halfway, and I got to steer us into some bushes almost, but it wasn't so bad. Then we realized we had 20 minutes left still (we were heading back to the bridge by this point), so we thought to turn around and row away to not be too early, so we did, but just as we did, the same old man in the boat totted by with some passengers and yelled out happily how we got through the bridge (he thought we were trying to get past it for nearly an hour), and I yelled back happily, "Yeah, we did!!" thinking something completely different, and then Shanu pointed out what he probably thought, and boy that could be embarassing if I had any more dignity left. But it was fun!

The play was awesome. We saw Hamlet, with Patrick Stewart playing the dead king and the evil uncle (he did not say "engage"), and David Tennant playing Hamlet (he's the Doctor on Doctor Who). It was a really good play! All the actors did great, but then my favourite died again. Appolonius. That always happens. I forgot, since I didn't read Hamlet for years. There were these girls that shared our dormitory that were also down to see that play, but they came earlier to meet with the other 23 members of the Dr.Who fanclub, so they could stalk David Tennat and get signatures. We were happy we weren't that geeky. We didn't get signatures (though if we were given the option, we probably would, ha). Instead, we clapped a bit and then RAN like hell. This was because of the following. Hamlet is generally a 5 hour long play (%&!) - but they shortened it to just under four hours. The last train from Stratford for our next destination left at 5:27. The play began at 1pm. Our bags were stored in a carpet shop at one end of the town. The train station was at the other end of the town (and up and down hills). Crap. If we missed this train, we had the option of catching another, that would last 16 hours (waaay too long, that's quadrupling the time), and we would miss our next hostel reservation and there goes the moolah. So we ran. But we made it!! Totally getting better at this running thing.

The next place was Carlisle, a small town vaguely near Hadrian's wall. Thanks to our super long trains/bus ride of plus 5 hours from Stratford, we got there (in the rain, as usual) at 11pm. The hostel was like a dorm
room. We had to buzz the "student on duty" (student? what is that?) to let us in. It was kind of ghetto. I turned on a "permanent" fan by accident. But the next day we went to hadrian's wall, and it was brilliant! So pretty...took pictures, stood on top of a really steep hill because I could, the view was gorgious! Not raining then, so it was awesome - hills, trees, sheep, sheep poo, brilliant clouds! And then I got into their roman exhibit for free, cause I jumped over a part of Hadrian's Wall and no one said not to do it. (But it's ok, I'm sure it all evens out somehow) But we carried our packs with us, so it hurt like hell...I know how turtles feel now. No one gives them enough credit. I realized that my camera is one of the heaviest things. So I'll have to suck it up. Since everything else is actually required. Gip!

We arrived in Edinbourgh several hours, later. Met Iain in the pub, naturally. Our hostel is at the edge of the city (but next to water!). It took us three hours to get to it, cause the shuttle didn't come (for the hostel), and the bus was on the wrong side, so we had to cross the street...yeah. But today we went and climbed the Mound, which is this giant freaking hill in Edinbourgh. And we climbed to the very tip (very rocky tip) in the rain! It was great! We had to move really slowly, though, in case we slipped and died. But we didn't, so it was all good. Going down was a mite slower, cause we were doubly worried of doing the dying thing, but that didn't happen then, either. Now I'm in pain, since I have jello legs. But with happiness the jello stomach is sucking itself in, so
that's a plus!

Oh my! We're going to a haunted castle tomorrow. Looking forward to finding orbs!! But I have a minute left so I gotta run. Stupid timing computers!

I have a new e-friend from Tanzania now!

And this is when I was putting in the "To" addresses and just about to press 'send', the computer went 'out of time', and that was it. But since internet keeps being expensive and libraries far away in the rain, I didn't bother to sign in again. So then we went to Culrain, which is this tiny little village. There are farms, some houses (on the farms), sheep and sheep poo (as usual), some cows, lots of greenery, one lonely (requrest) station, and a castle. Which is where we stayed. It's called Carbisdale Castle and it's a mix of a hostel, a hotel, a castle, and a museum. The hall had paintings, statues, and windows like in Pride and Prejuidice's Pemberley. And it was long. And then to get to out rooms, we were in the Tower (hurrah Gryffindor!) and took a bunch of stairwells and doors, so we really didn't know where we were. But it was awesome! Iain was somewhere in another wing. The downfall of the wonderful views and brilliant castle and all that was that there was nowhere to buy food (unless you killed a sheep). So we had to agree with hostel food, which was ridiculously expensive (dinner=£10). But we missed dinner the first night cause we arrived so late on the train...so we ended up with 15 minutes before the bar 15 minutes away stopped serving food. We ran down the castle drieway (like in a forest, but with cars!), through this grassy path with trees, bushes and fence, across this bridge where you can see the distant water under your feet (and how it would look if you fell) - but it was really pretty! - and finally across this little fence thing where the pub was. We made it right at 8 30, but they fed us anyway with delicious burgers. And then homemade chocolate fudge cake. Oh God. It was great. So that said..we came again the next day. We stayed at the Hogwarts for two nights to relax, but the way it's looking we'll be doing that another night..We're in Inverness now. It's raining/windy/not raining?/definitely cloudy. I have no more clothes. I'm half wet. So it'll be a laid back day. Hah. And hopefully one where I don't sweat a lot, because I'll need to keep from smelling too bad. Laundry here costs 5£ (just a measly 10$), and I being cheap have been thinking of going to Glasgow like Pepe le Peu and doing laundry (or all my clothes except for the rags currently in use) there.

OK. So this time it's totally gonna send. Just you watch.