Jack the Ripper

What a day! I started it out with a math test at 10 am. It was the last math test I will ever take! I do have tons of regular old engineering tests to take, but the actual tests devoted to math are now over. I think I did pretty well, but I didn’t know how to do one problem, which was frustrating.

Matthew and I left after my test to go exploring. First, we went to Regents Park, hoping to visit the London Zoo and a Beatles store. We found the Beatles store after a short search, and Matthew bought some presents. We continued into the park, which is gorgeous. I can hardly imagine a better living situation than to be on the edge of this gigantic park, in the middle of this great city. Unless of course, you lived in one of the unused underground tubes. Now that would be awesome.

We found the London Zoo, but decided not to pay the 20 pound admission fee. Instead, we looked at the zoo animals through chinks in the fence. We saw a giraffe, and a ferret, and some flamingos, and then we found a waterfowl section in the park, so we saw as many ducks and geese as we could want. I think it is mating season, because they were restless. We walked around in the beautiful park a while more, then headed off to Harrods, my dad’s favorite place in London. And it didn’t disappoint Matthew. The quarter-million pound wristwatches really tickled the accountant in him, I think.

Tonight, we went on a Jack the Ripper tour. The murders were surprisingly close to Mile End. They were in Whitechapel, between Queen Mary and the main city. It seems there were five official murders, with one other which could have been the same man. They were gruesome things. He did not stop at murder, but he really butchered the bodies. We saw some pictures of his murder victims, and they were pretty awful. It was a very interesting tour, though, and I think we’re both happy we went on it. Afterwards, we went on a mini pub crawl, looking for a couple of famous London pubs. The first we found, called The Anchor, was on the south bank. It was all right, but we were both a little more impressed by Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, on Fleet Street. We sat and had a drink, and, after looking for the famous barber of Fleet Street, came back to Queen Mary.

I’ve asked Matthew to do a guest blog, but I don’t think he’s interested. So, as penalty, I suppose I have to spin the story to my advantage. So here’s what actually happened today. Matthew was almost struck in the face with a speeding double-decker bus, but I scooped him out of harm’s way just in time, and rattled off some interesting facts about the bus as it hurtled past. What a tour guide.