Further Reflections on Day Three

I saw so much yesterday that it warrants a second blog post. One of the most intriguing aspects of the day was traveling to East London, a much poorer area of the city. We toured the beautiful Docklands, where dock workers used to live with their families. The homes are squashed together like one long string of duplexes, but they are pretty because of government subsidies. Some of the other residences in the area are not so lucky. Most of the city's ethnic population lives in the east. The Docklands are located in a district called Wapping. Particularly horrible crimes in Wapping merited equally horrible punishment. Those convicted were sentenced to being tied to a post and made to lie at the water's edge as three tides washed over them. Needless to say, this was a nasty way to die, yet even more nasty was the sight for everyone else: severely bloated bodies nicknamed "wappers" after "Wapping."

Wasn't that a pleasant story? Anyway, I appreciate Chelsea and Kensington even more now after seeing some of the lower-income sections of London. Sarah (our guide) told us that experts claim that life expectancy decreases by one year for each mile east of Buckingham Palace one travels. The area near the Olympic Stadium is a good seven miles from the Queen's residence. As a side note, the Queen has an opera house named "Her Majesty's Theater" that becomes "His Majesty's Theater" when the monarch in question is a king.

In the same area as the Docklands is the famous Three Mills Studios, a filming venue used by the likes of Tim Burton and Danny Boyle. Danny Boyle and a collection of others in the film industry are busy at work on the Olympic Opening Ceremony. I can't wait to see what he's concocting! Word has it that there will be lots of music and light, and the Ceremony is currently in need of thousands of volunteers. The demure Brits certainly won't let anything slip out, but I'm sure they have something interesting in store.

I have some good news on the grocery front: I have found that I can buy my weekly groceries for just under $50, which leaves some extra room in my budget for going out for dinner, seeing the sights of London, paying for other necessities, etc. The moral of the story is that deals can be found in London as long as you keep your eyes peeled.

 To give you an idea of the Docklands area, I found a photo of the area near Three Mills Studios.

Photo courtesy of the Three Mills Studios website (www.3mills.com).

That's all for now! Watch for my Day Four post coming later this evening. :)