Official Parliament Tour

So. Today was not really that busy but at the same time it was OH SO BUSY! (Does that make any sense at all?) Meh. It does in my brain somewhere.

Let's see. Today I started off by getting up (on time thankfully - I stayed up late last night finishing Shakespeare) and I ate some lovely breakfast. Then I went out to get to class on time - it's Tuesday - so I had British Life and Culture.

This morning we were supposed to have a lecture on both the World Wars, and then we were to go off to explore the Imperial War Museum. However, the problem is that we also had a tour of parliament scheduled for this afternoon, and it was cutting our lunch break so short that lunch would be cease to exist.

So...we rearranged the schedule to meet at the war museum next week (so class won't start till ten YES) and then we had a discussion about a movie that we are supposed to watch this Thursday after our politics class. I don't remember the name of the movie we are going to watch but it has to do with the Royal Family and the rise of the New Labour party around 1997. It should be interesting.

In fact, the discussion made me all interested in the Royalty over here. Did you know that the royal family (to a certain extent) is on a list called 'the civil list' and therefore...the taxpayers support their lifestyles? Granted, the Queen for instance, is supposed to uphold her duties that she has a symbol of head of state and et cetera...but still. I do NOT think that would fly in the states.

Anywho - after class I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich and I had carrots with it. Carrots are healthy somewhat right? Sheesh. :) After that Kemper and I walked to Parliament to get there on time for our tour at 2:00. We didn't really know where we were going - I mean, we knew where Parliament and Big Ben were, but we didn't know exactly where we needed to meet Dr. King, who had our tickets. However, we figured it out and got ready to go on a really informative tour of parliament.

I took some pictures in Westminster Hall the oldest remaining part of Parliament that has survived from when King Edward (Edward the Confessor) had the original building (parliament used to be the cite of a Royal Palace) built in the 1090s. Just saying - that is really really old. It was a neat part of the building - but it was really really cold. Our tour guide, who was a nice lady - said to imagine how cold it was in January. I can't!! Must be FREEZING!!!

Anywho - I had an interesting time. We went through the area where the House of Lords and the House of Commons meet. If you didn't know, because I didn't, the House of Lords is an assembly made up of men who were born into a seat in the house of Parliament - or that's how it used to be. They used to have some five hundred of these 'hereditary' lords, some of them were even bishops and all that jazz - but now there are only 92 odd 'hereditary' ones. Apparently, according to Susie and our tour guide, the British people like tradition and so - they are having trouble with getting rid of things that may - well - be out of date so to speak.

The house of commons is made up of men and women who represent a certain percentage of the population. There are a bunch of those - I don't really remember the number she gave us. Anywho - the area where the Lords meet is so regal looking with gold and red everywhere and the place where the MPs meet is green and rather simple looking. Apparently the design is so simple because the Houses of Parliament suffered from bombings during World War II. In fact, Churchill made the people who were rebuilding it leave an archway in the building as it has a bit of damage from the bombings (needless to say it is now called the Churchill Arch.)

Anyway - that's a lot of perhaps boring information if you don't have the actual images in your head to go to. I was very impressed with the tour and the building itself. I was a little let down with the British's system of doing things. Let me explain - when there is a vote for something in the House of Commons there is a decision bell that they ring (it rings for eight minutes) to let the MPs decide if they want to vote yes or no. In stead of ballots or raising their hands, they literally have to divide into either the 'yes' or 'no' corridor.

Well, they then are marked down for how they voted - and that's put on public record. That's all great and sounds democratic. However, if they vote against their party - they get a nice little invitation from what are known as 'the whips.' Apparently these are people that note how MPs vote with the party guidelines and if they vote against something that a party advocates they then interrogate the MP about why they voted the way they did. Even the tour guide said herself, it's a form of party control. That had me a bit...well...apprehensive.

Anywho - The debates that go on either in the House of Lords or the House of Commons are open to the public, when Parliament is in session. I think Kemper and I are going to try to go watch one one day whilst we're here - seeing that the Parliament is usually in session from October until June. We're golden.

After our parliamentary tour Kemper and I walked about London on a search for comfortable shoes. We are going to Northern Ireland this weekend and I absolutely refused to let her go without any good shoes. So - we finally found some...after we went almost all the way to St. Paul's along the Thames and then through Covent Gardens and then through Soho. Soho - is a whole new world man. Just saying.

Anyway - we finally settled with a pair around seven. I came back to the flat and had a beer whilst Claire and I cooked chicken stir-fry. It was great. Really good food. (I was especially hungry for some reason - but I'm sure I'll have some cookies later. You know me.)

Tomorrow I have to give a presentation of my artist - "Mad Martin." I also have to go see a Shakespeare play - which I am rather excited about. It will be a long day - and it is almost promised to rain on us groundlings tomorrow evening during the course of the play. Thank goodness for the rain jacket. Miss you guys.

PS I GOT YOUR LETTER TODAY. Thanks so much for sending me snail mail. It makes my day when I get to hear from the people who truly care about me. Miss my little familial unit. :)

Cheers. (Enjoy the pictures!)