Poole

Wow, we did so much in two days that it feels like I've been away a lot longer. I met Jo and three of her friends I've hung out with before at the Victoria Coach station in London midday yesterday, and we took off on our adventure to Bournemouth and Poole! The whole reason for the trip was that Jo is moving with her boyfriend James to Rugby (near Birmingham) in a couple of weeks, and she wanted to pick up her car at her parents' house in Poole. One that they'd recently bought on her behalf for 400 pounds- a little Fiesta.

Anywho, her parents met our bus in Bournemouth with Jo's car, and we took off immediately for the beach. Overall, I have to say I wasn't all that impressed with the beach. It reminded me a lot of Pt. Pleasant or Seaside Heights in NJ, which are not the beaches I'd take people to, unless we wanted beachside bars or clubs at night. Lots of people, carnival rides, etc. Unfortunately it was an overcast day, not really a great beach day, so we didn't stay on the beach for very long and thus no top up of my fading tan :( Plus we were getting repeatedly hit by a frisbee some kids were playing with, so we did a little shopping instead, and saw some incredible street dancing. The town of Bournemouth itself was very cool, it was just the beach and Pier Approach I wasn't overly excited about.

That night, we headed toward the beach in Poole, which is a whole different story, and Poole Quay. I really liked Poole, and it reminded me a bit of Salem, Mass. Very picturesque, very charming, lots of character. Jo had a particular bar in mind, but it was pretty empty, so we went on past to the Wetherspoons pub for a couple of cheap rounds. We met up with several of Jo's friends there, and one of her friends brought along several of his friends, so it ended up being a pretty big group. Not counting the two glasses of wine we had at Jo's house before leaving, we had 8 rounds last night- yikes, my tolerance is back up there where it was when I was working at Gargoyles I think! Considering Sarah and Karen stopped at six rounds, I could almost blush, but I was having a great night, and wasn't really counting drinks. Does that make me more British?- I'm setttling into the drinking culture. Although I woke up this morning feeling still drunk and at the moment am absolutely exhausted, I didn't actually have a hangover at all in the form of a headache or being ill. We danced until we closed down the bar, and my feet felt like they were going to fall off--and as the taxi took us home, we passed part of the waterfront that had been cordoned off with police tape, due to a stabbing that happened while we were inside the bar our cabbie told us. Poole evidently is normally a very safe area.

One of Jo's friends- this guy Chris- was really friendly and outgoing. Evidently, he broke his leg playing American football when he was 21, and they screwed up at hospital. When they were drilling a steel pin into his leg, they hit an artery, and then didn't replace the blood he'd lost. As a result, some muscle tissue in his leg died, and he now has a permanent footdrop. He uses a crutch and has an ALFO he wears inside his shoe, but man can that boy move on the dance floor! I was impressed!

Today after breakfast, and lovely showers (nothing like it after an epic night out), Jo's parents took us off to the New Forest for a BBQ, since Jo was driving us back, and it was on our route back to London. No one was able to tell me why it is called the "New" Forest, so I'm afraid I don't have that story for you. But it was gorgeous, and there were lots of people out enjoying their Sunday, swimming, walking, picnicking, etc. Our setting made me yearn to go camping, which I have not done since leaving Boston.

Ok, so here's the latest photo installment...