Having read Golden Wonders by the Swearing Lady via Around Ireland In 80 Links by Donncha O Caoimh, I set about thinking about my personal seven wonders of the world.
I’m sure it hasn’t passed your notice that the New7Wonders of the World have been announced. (Apparently people voted for them. They claim it’s the first example of a worldwide democracy, yet I wasn’t informed of the election, despite, apparently, six years of work and advertising…) But the ones they voted for are pretty good, but mine are better. And here thus they are. In no particular order.
- Perry Wood, near Faversham, Kent. This was a place of much amusement between myself, my sister and stepbrothers. Perry Wood with no mud was not worth going there. My dad and my stepmum would take us all down there and while they stayed in the car, we would play just on the mass of felled wood by the car park. Climbing trees were aplenty; as were mugs of squash and ham sandwiches with crisps. Many a t-shirt was ripped in that wood.
- Mintching Woods, Milstead, near Sittingbourne, Kent. I used to go there a lot too as a child. A wood that backed onto the M2 perhaps isn’t the obvious choice for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts to have meetings, but that we did. There was a terrific clearing with plenty of room for a huge fire, and that was where I learnt how to make my own. We used to collect dry wood for the fire and cook this strange kind of pastry on the end of bark-stripped sticks over the fire. Brilliant. On our last Scout trip there, we found the whole place had been felled.
- Hexham, Northumberland. A historic market town on Hadrian’s Wall, Hexham is a place of history. There is an abbey, a long-running market, a large park, and, I believe, two Tescos. There used to be a department store called Robbs there. You would have to park the car in the car park by the river, then transcend the steep slope to its entrance. It was a traditional British department store that sold everything and was the first port of call for anything – particularly if you were keen to show off. My grandparents used to reserve a table in their café for us all to go and have something to eat and drink straight away. Robbs built a larger store by the river… before folding and sold out to Tesco.
- Stocksfield, Northumberland. This is the village off the A69 where my grandparents lived. It was on the railway line and frequently saw the freight trains go by, shaking the sideboard as it passed. They had an apple tree in the garden, that we seemingly never ate from despite its wealth of fruit (I’m guessing perhaps they were cooking apples…). And my grandma’s roast dinners were the best!
- Borden Grammar School, Sittingbourne, Kent. Despite all the connotations of going through an all-boys grammar school, I probably learned more about life there than anywhere else… which is a good thing I guess. And for all the moaning that others made during their time there, I miss it (rather sad I know…). I miss the sense of community, for all we denied there was no such thing. Everyone knew everyone at least in their year and everyone had a friend in someone.
- Kitanomaru Park, Tokyo, Japan. I only spent a few hours there, but it was surprisingly peaceful. It was nicely done in terms of planting and keeping it well. It had a small stream passing through, and despite it being surrounded by Tokyo’s largest concert hall and a major road, it was a tranquil place. And there were some very odd people there. And it was where Waz and I first discovered their mental vending machines, which could be found anywhere and everywhere.
- The MetroCentre, Gateshead. It is really the father of indoor shopping malls in Britain, pre-dating Bluewater and with more. It once boasted Europe’s largest indoor theme park (though it is still pretty large). As well as all the High Street shops you could want, there are the smaller independents and a chapel of all things. You can get your hair done, have a meal, watch a film, do some shopping, go on the roller coaster, pray, shop some more and if you’re not tired after all that, Wetherspoon’s is open quite late… if not, there are a few hotels nearby.
So there they are. Anyone been to any of these places? 
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We had to get up early again to ensure we got to Narita Airport on time. The Narita Express took us direct from Shibuya to the airport in a little more than an hour. The cost of the journey cleaned me out with regard to yen, save about 30 yen, roughly equivalent to 12p. After checkin, which took the best part of three quarters of an hour, we headed for the indoor mall in the terminal. We had sushi again, which was slightly less fresh, but nice nonetheless. Again I elected not to get too adventurous and opted to steer clear of the salmon roe: I thought it would be best not to tank myself up with weird fishy stuff before embarking on a twelve hour flight.
After buying Mum a Miffy doll and after Weiran bought some weird spongy stuff from the duty free, we got onto the plane. Our seats were similar to those we had on the way to Japan, only slightly further back, and Waz let me have the window seat this time. The take off was a little smoother: no wild panicked descent this time, which was good. I watched Notes On A Scandal starring Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, and That Mitchell And Webb Look starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Both were also good.
As the plane approached England, I was amazed by how much I could recognise from the skies. There were few clouds, and I could make out the Isle Of Sheppey (in all its ‘glory’) and Sittingbourne in outline. As we got to London, we recognised several landmarks, including the Millennium Dome, White Hart Lane, Wimbledon, Twickenham and Canary Wharf. The landing was bouncy but not too bad.
I got to Kings Cross with an hour and a half to spare before my train departed. I had another wait for the bus when I arrived in Newcastle. It was foolish of me not to expect some sort of drunk coming onto the last bus out of Newcastle… and she sat next to me. After trying to engage in conversation with me, she began ringing everyone in her phonebook. I was becoming wary that she might follow me off the bus, but fortunately she didn’t. Perhaps she didn’t know where she was at all. But I made it home safe anyway!
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We returned to Tokyo on the Shinkansen and arrived about 2 pm, so that we could checkin straight away. This time we were placed on the 22nd floor and should have had direct views of Mount Fuji in the far distance. In reality the weather never cleared enough for us to be able to distinguish Mount Fuji from the other folds in the Earth on the horizon. Having said that, the view was still spectacular.
We went back out, hitting the rain-soaked Shibuya shopping district. Our hotel lent us a couple of umbrellas and we headed off into the grey. We stopped at a nine-storey HMV store before heading to Parco, a mall split into three. Weiran and I visited parts one and three, and I think we were both impressed by Part Three. I bought a t-shirt by Laundry 038°, and Weiran got a t-shirt by Onitsuka Tiger. Apparently Beck got some shoes from there last week…
That night we ate at the hotel’s Szechwan Chinese restaurant, known as “Chen”. That was quite good, but I’m not really a fan of tofu. Nonetheless it was good.
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I was ill. The soup in combination with the alcohol took its toll and I was sick. Weiran didn’t have much sympathy – he wanted to be out and about. Eventually we did get out, going to the Imperial Palace gardens in central Tokyo. They were ok, but they weren’t spectacular. There was a lot of cherry blossom and traditional Japanese trees, of which I have some envy for! They are similar to maple trees but have spectacular red leaves. I took plenty of photos, as did Weiran, of the plants, the moat, the rock gardens and the surrounding buildings.
I was still feeling pretty bad when we went to the electronics district of Japan, namely Akihabara. After waltzing in and out of steaming hot electronics stores, we went to have some food at an Italian place. I ordered an omelette but I could only manage a few tiny pieces at the end of my fork. Weiran bought a new Sigma lens for his Nikon D50 while I went home and recovered slightly.
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We touched down at Tokyo Narita Airport at around 9 am. The baggage arrived quickly so we went to get our rail passes and tickets for the Narita Express train into Tokyo itself. We got to the Shibuya district of Tokyo and onto Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel at about 11 am. It was a little too early to checkin there, so we went off to Kitanomaru Park near Kudanshita Station, home of the Nippon Budokan, where many a rock concert is played (none during our stay, I believe!). There I tried some cold green tea, which is the most vile thing on Earth (at least it was at that point of the holiday…). We took quite a lot of photos there, including the cherry blossoms which were quite well established. At around 4 pm, we headed back to the hotel to checkin. I was knackered by this point: I had only managed three hours of sleep in the space of over two days, so I went to sleep.
Two hours later, Weiran woke me up, wanting to hit the town. I was reluctant but followed. We went to the bar at the top of the tower. We had a couple of Kamikazes (which I now know to consist of one part vodka, one part triple-sec and one part lemon juice). The taste wasn’t great, but they went down easily enough. I also had some other drink, of which I cannot recall the name, but can tell you tasted of lemons and was slushy. Weiran had a White Russian.
Inebriated, we headed into the city in search of further drink, as diagnosed by Weiran. We made it as far as a Japanese fast food place, where we had some pork in noodle soup. Although it was nice, I didn’t finish it, and the pork was a little undercooked for my taste. We gave drinking a knock on the head after that, and headed back to the hotel.
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Well, the British Airways sale has come, and there are no flights on sale to Tokyo for the time we want to go to Japan. So we decided we would go some other time. Actually, Weiran said “Let’s go some other time” and I said “ok”. Never mind. Although we do want to go to Japan and realise it will come to some expense, we don’t want to fork out more than our means, and seeing as my student loan is the primary financier of my trip, I don’t want to plunge myself into further debt than necessary.
So that was a bit of a blow. But not to worry. It gives me more time to learn some Japanese. I had neglected all my studies in the time I have been on holiday, so extra time to learn what is an extra-curricular activity can only be a good thing.
I have also registered with GCHQ, so I hope that I will receive notification if any posts arise. I guess the end of a year is as good time as any to think about the future.
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