Hallowe'en with Neil Gaiman

Naturally, I should pick up from where I left the catch-up process before I left in all senses -- London.

The first time I set foot in London this trip that didn't include an airplane hanger was on Hallowe'en, a holiday the British don't find worth much celebration. This whole idea was a bit of a shock to me as I've always loved Hallowe'en the best of the holidays for multiple reasons: my birthday's near it enough to warrant costume parties each year, it's a holiday that celebrates getting free sackfuls of candy from strangers, and it's a bit macabre. You can imagine my delight, then, when I found out that I was going to be able to celebrate my Hallowe'en in one of the world's best-known cities attending a reading by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman.

A couple friends of mine, Katie and Lisa, rented a room in a hotel that night and got all dressed up to see Neil Gaiman at the UK release of his newest book, The Graveyard Book. Both Katie and I dressed up as 'characters' from his stories -- she was Coraline from the book of the same title that is currently being made into a film, and I was a babycake.



We got decent seats in the balcony in an event that sat 600 and we tucked in for a fantastic narration of Chapter 5: Danse Macabre, followed by a signing. It was an exciting moment for me for a few reasons: I got to meet the Neil Gaiman, I got my roommate's favourite Gaiman book signed (for whom I have to thank for getting me into Mr. Gaiman in the first place), and Neil ate one of the cookies I baked for him (a GF spicy chai cookie). And about my costume he said, "That… is… perfectly disturbing. I love it." It was nerd-heaven.





The night ended well enough and when we woke up the next day we ran around doing more nerdy things, seeing some sights we were looking forward to viewing in London. Admittedly, it wasn't the mainstream tourist stuff -- all three of us had been to London before and hit all the notable landmarks on walking tours. We became fast friends with the Underground system and were on our way to seeing the sights of the city.



Of course we went to Platform 9 3/4 -- what kind of proper nerds did you think we were?



We also went to the British Library, the British Museum, and Kensington Gardens, of course. It was pouring, though, and it was hard to enjoy it completely. Plus, how could it ever live up to the night before? Haha.

Soaked through, we made our way home and recovered for a couple days before decided it had been far too long since we had had frozen yoghurt. Katie and I grabbed Janine and dragged her along with us for a nice day out.





All of this was just a bit before the next holiday celebration, though -- Guy Fawkes Day!

A nice place for a picnic...

Oops, almost a week's gone by since I've updated this thing! It's been a pretty busy week so I'll have to play catch-up in two parts. First up, of course, is the trip to Ashdown Forest, the real 100-Acre Woods!

We took a bus ride form US to the forest and it only took about 40 minutes to get there. We disembarked and were immediately confronted by wild English countryside and beautiful views in every direction. We took a small hike to our first destination, the Enchanted Spot, rising up from Gal, where the real-life Christopher Robin used to spend his days staring up at the trees and counting them.



Playing around a bit and taking silly pictures, we soaked up the almost quiet magic in this small gathering of trees. It was a very different feeling within the circle than without and it was a great place to start our trek around the forest.



Soon after leaving the clearing we came upon a wall of earth with a very green looking circle sprouting at the base. Because of the amount of rain England receives, the Heffalump Trap from the books was very much less a hole or a trap and much more a small rain-catcher where the greenest of plants grew from the small reserve of water.



Of course, that wasn't the only thing that Sussex's recent rain has kind of changed in the Ashdown Forest scenery -- it also changed Roo's Sandy Pit to more of a… quicksand pit. It was full of water, too, so we didn't venture down in there, and we certainly didn't even attempt to go to Eeyore's Gloomy Spot because, fittingly, it is mostly a bog, and not a very pleasant place to walk to when it's been wet at all.



We had a picnic in the 'nice place for piknicks' then made our way to Poohsticks Bridge and were treated to some gorgeous bits of nature on the walk there.





Once we got there it was picture time!



And time for a think!



Finally, then, it was time to play Poohsticks! We all grabbed our sticks from the area around the bridge and got in a line atop the bridge. It's essentially letting go of a stick at the same time from one side of the bridge, running over to the other side, and seeing whose stick has reappeared on the other side the fastest once the current has carried it underneath you. All of us played, even (or is especially?) Therie, our professor.

I'm not a ship and not a boat,
I am a twig and I can float.

Happy I'll be, if you choose me,
to float away down to the sea.

I am a twig and can be found,
please look for me upon the ground.

You want to play the Poohsticks game,
so pick me up and change my name.

No more a twig, alone and sad,
I'm your Poohstick and feeling glad.

It's good to play, I hope you win,
count to three then drop me in.

Downstream I float, the game is done.
Poohstick island, HERE I COME.

-The Happy Twig: A Poohem, A. A. Milne

We finished the trip with a visit to the tiny town of Hartfield, at the edge of Ashdown Forest, to visit the small gift-and-tea shop there, and that's where I'll leave you.