Monday 3 September 2007

The Church!!





This weekend took us to a bar down in Kentish town, London called the Church. It is something of a legend over here. They open the bar at 11 am Sunday morning and close at 3 pm. We got a little lost on the way once we got out of the tube! But it made for a nice little detour and we were able to get some breakfast out of it. Which was good because when you leave from Mildenhall it takes about two hours to get to London and then another hour on the tube so no one was up early enough to get breakfast. When we got there the line stretched all the way around the block but it only took about a half hour to get in the door! It is hot and sweaty inside but with the recent ban on smoking you can see across the whole place. The first thing that you do is stand in a queue for vouchers that you then stand in another queue and trade for beer. We waited for about 20 minutes and we didn't go anywhere. Jessi took matters into her own hands and worked her way up to the front in about 3 minutes! She bought enough vouchers for everyone who came with us and we quickly made our way over to the beer queue. This one went a lot quicker and before long everyone had a bag of beer tied to their hip. A voucher buys you three beers in a bag, and you tie this bag to your belt loop to keep at least one hand free for participation in the various acts that come on stage.
We found ourselves a little spot where we could stretch out and enjoy ourselves. We danced and sang along to all of the songs that we knew and a few of the ones that we didn't know! There was this crazy lady who was sprinkling glitter all over the place and everybody in our little group was absolutely covered by the time we left. The thing that I like the most about the church is that it seems like everyone gets along in there. It does not matter who you came with you will, at some point, end up with your arm around someone screaming along with some song at the top of your lungs. Maybe it is because it is a daytime event but it seems that there is never any drama surrounding the day.
When the church closed down, we got back on the tube and took it to Cambden town which is a Gothic area of London with one of the best markets in the world! You can get all kinds of clothes and crafts but we went straight to the four blocks that hold the food booths. We walked through half of the booths before deciding on Chinese food and ate our fill. Then we got back on the tube and went to Kingscross Station where we caught the train up to Ely and finally made it home. It was an intoxicating day and one that I would not repeat on a weekly basis but it was well worth waking up early on a Sunday!