The Blues, Lots of Green, and a Woman in Black

The Blues
Thursday morning I thought it would be best to start this thing called a research project, so I went down to Chelsea to speak with some people. obviously I had to start there, since they're going to win the Champions League on Wednesday. First things first I took a tour of the stadium. So, I've always heard these rumors that European football press boxes are crazy luxurious, and that the clubs went to great lengths to treat the press right. But I wasn't overwhelmed by this stuff. It was very similar to the press rooms at places like the Hurricanes and the Red Sox. Still, it's pretty much a dream job to get in there.

So the first guy I talked to was Frank. He works for Chelsea and has been a fan for like, 40 years. He showed me and a couple other people around the stadium. He really knows his stuff, and it was cool to talk to him. He told me about how the image of the club has changed during recent years, since this oil magnate Roman Abramovich bought the club.

On of the guys there with me was from Nigeria. His real name is Akin Okunola, but he preferred to go by Billy Boy. He's developing a magazine to be distributed across Africa, and possibly the world, that focuses on African footballers playing in the Premier League. Africans are nuts about the Premier League, and they're all about the Africans playing here. Billy Boy was a huge Chelsea fan because of John Mikel Obi, who's also from Nigeria. He gets to travel all over Africa talking to people, and he gets to come to Britain too. He's also hoping to turn it into a television program. I really hope his project works out, because I think it would be really successful, and a really cool thing for Africans.

When I was all finished they let me watch a developmental game. I also talked to this kid in Chelsea's developmental program from Ghana. He's 17 and he's been playing in their programs since he was ten. He came to the country when he met with scouts in Ghana. His story will probably make a good biography when he makes it big one day.

Lots of Green
I spent today wandering around Hampstead Heath. This had absolutely nothing to do with my project, it was just something I wanted to do. I wandered in way further than when I've been running through there. The day started off really sunny and warm, but that kind of digressed into a cold and gray afternoon, which was unfortunate since I wore a t-shirt and shorts.

You never think of cities of being natural, but they all seem to have some cool natural area in which to escape. The Heath is awesome. I wandered into it and just kept walking. I stopped in a couple places to read and such. It has swimming ponds that are segregated into mens' and women's, which I found quite hilarious (though, the actual funny part is that people were swimming, and it was quite cold). There was also a great sign that said watch for mating geese, which made my day, since I can imagine a funny image of geese attacking swimmers.

From the south end of the Heath there's a really cool view. It overlooks the city and is a great place for taking pictures. I spent some time up there hanging out, reading and writing. It was very meditative. There were a lot of people with kites and their dogs. I want one. A dog, not a kite.

So, by about hour 5 I was pretty lost and tried to make my way back to where I'm staying. I was getting really hungry, and I managed to stumble across a little girl with ice cream. Then there was another one. And another. And finally I came across an ice cream stand, which made me incredibly happy, and I learned that my mood is incredibly impacted by ice cream, in a positive way.

A Woman in Black
I saw this play last night. It's called the Woman in Black, and it played at the Fortune Theater. So the big deal about this play is that it's supposed to be really scary. And it was. It scared the crap out of me. It did a really cool job of utilizing sound and silence to get the audience all suspenced and freaked out.

Other than that my wanderings in London have been joyous. The city is really cool, and an interesting mix of history and modern.
Londoners have this problem with walking. They can't quite figure out which side of the street to do it on. In the tube they make people walk on the left, which is confusing as crap. But on the street people walk on the right, or just walk wherever they want. I thought I had it figured out, but every time I guess which side to talk on, I guess wrongly, and have to do the infamous sidewalk dance.

So, until next time, I expect you all to send me emails and all that jazz. Also, I'm kevinkiley on Skype, if any of you use that and want to call.