Well it's a brand new year. So what's new with youse guys? Me? I'm getting dangerously close to qualifying as "white trash". January 6th and I still have ALL my Christmas decorations up. Now THAT's new for moi. January 2nd and I am usually
Not that I didn't get to enjoy some bloody good yuletide decor only a wanker wouldn't appreciate, while I was away in London. The London Eye, on the South Bank in London, is the dog's bollocks. Gobsmacked I tell ya! I can see how those Brits are pretty darn chuffed. But blimey! Gotta wonder how long it takes to take down all THOSE Christmas lights. Which begs the question...does England have the equivalent of "white trash"?
"Yuletide London Eye"
London, England
In the spirit of "new", here are some new bits 'n bobs for ya about the London Eye. If you go to London you should know your onions, right? Plus, I MIGHT just be using this list to procrastinate my un-bedecking the halls just a bit longer...
1. It is now called the London Eye. But it's the Ferris wheel previously known as "The Millennium Wheel"...opening ceremony 12/31/1999.
2. BOLLOCKS! (not be be confused with dog's bollocks, which I've been told is a GOOD thing)...I've also been told it's NOT a Ferris wheel. According to the Brits, it's the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel.
3. I've also been instructed you don't "ride"....you "fly".
4. The London Eye is 443 feet tall. That's the same as 64 of those cute red London telephone boxes piled on top of each other. Now THAT I would pay to see. Especially decorated for Christmas!
5. This ain't your normal "world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" folks! You ride in enclosed capsules. Where you can sit. Or stand. Or walk around to take in the amazing view.
6. How MANY capsules did you ask? 32. One for each borough of London. Altho they are numbered 1-33. Apparently the Brits suffer from Triskaidekaphobia too. Kinda makes you wonder what they thought about us Americans having thirteen original colonies.
7. It takes 30 minutes to "fly" one full rotation on the "world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel". That's a distance of 26 centimeters per second. That's twice the speed of a tortoise sprinting. To put that into REAL perspective...that's faster than Thing #3 moves on a school morning!
8. Each of the 32 capsules holds 25 people. That means the London Eye transports 800 gobsmacked riders per rotation. That's the equivalent of what 11 of those cute red London double-decker buses can transport. But ya just don't get the same view.
9. On a clear day, you can see as far as 25 miles from the London Eye. Which is a bit dodgy considering the question...DOES London have any clear days?
And the most important NEW fact for ya...
10. The London Eye sits on the River Thames and is the focal point for London's famous New Year's Eve fireworks display.
Fireworks? New Year's Eve? The London Eye? Absobloodylootely! Yes, that was a cheap gratuitous attempt to pique your interest in tomorrow's post. Yes tomorrow. When all my Christmas decorations will STILL be up. Pip pip cheerio youse guys.
3. I've also been instructed you don't "ride"....you "fly".
4. The London Eye is 443 feet tall. That's the same as 64 of those cute red London telephone boxes piled on top of each other. Now THAT I would pay to see. Especially decorated for Christmas!
5. This ain't your normal "world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" folks! You ride in enclosed capsules. Where you can sit. Or stand. Or walk around to take in the amazing view.
6. How MANY capsules did you ask? 32. One for each borough of London. Altho they are numbered 1-33. Apparently the Brits suffer from Triskaidekaphobia too. Kinda makes you wonder what they thought about us Americans having thirteen original colonies.
7. It takes 30 minutes to "fly" one full rotation on the "world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel". That's a distance of 26 centimeters per second. That's twice the speed of a tortoise sprinting. To put that into REAL perspective...that's faster than Thing #3 moves on a school morning!
8. Each of the 32 capsules holds 25 people. That means the London Eye transports 800 gobsmacked riders per rotation. That's the equivalent of what 11 of those cute red London double-decker buses can transport. But ya just don't get the same view.
9. On a clear day, you can see as far as 25 miles from the London Eye. Which is a bit dodgy considering the question...DOES London have any clear days?
And the most important NEW fact for ya...
10. The London Eye sits on the River Thames and is the focal point for London's famous New Year's Eve fireworks display.
Fireworks? New Year's Eve? The London Eye? Absobloodylootely! Yes, that was a cheap gratuitous attempt to pique your interest in tomorrow's post. Yes tomorrow. When all my Christmas decorations will STILL be up. Pip pip cheerio youse guys.
Here's where I'm linking up today ..."The Party's On"
Please join me on Sundays for Song-ography.
This week's song title is Sara Bareilles' "Brave".
I loved my trip on the Eye! We got lucky and only had a few other people in our car and had a great trip around! So glad you had a good trip - and really it's been that long since it opened? wow!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking up, really!!
It is quite a ride , isn't it. No wonder you are gobsmacked by this shot ( and whatever is to come). A Fun Christmas jaunt!
ReplyDeleteI knew your London photos would be spectacular and you sure did not disappoint with this beauty.
ReplyDeleteWOW...I had no idea this contraption was so ginormous...the photo you've captured of it is incredible!! I look forward to more photos... :)
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! I'd never heard of it before. Here's my list:
ReplyDeletehttp://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2014/01/listicle-all-things-new-1614.html
Colletta
Learn something NEW every day!! Loved this post!
ReplyDeletehttp://hammockinthehoneysuckle.blogspot.com/2014/01/till-newness-wears-off.html
Just so you know - the hot dog never left my tree & is now packed away to bring me BIG smiles when I open up the boxes to decorate the tree.
ReplyDeleteThere is just nothing like the traditional "Christmas Weiner"! :) Glad you like it!
DeleteWhat a beautiful invention...hope one day to be on this glorious ride.
ReplyDeleteThat is a pretty amazing sight! How very cool. Don't worry, you can be festive a little longer. I won't tell! ;)
ReplyDeletegreat post...be as festive as long as you want...I have heard of people leaving them up all winter. I just want to take it down before I return to work...makes it easier for me.
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE to see the London Eye and fly on it. Being in London is a great excuse for not taking down your decorations, though as far as I know, there are no rules for when you "should" take them down. I wish people would leave up their lights all winter--it would give us some much needed light on these long winter nights. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm dying! Laughing at all the Brit-isms. I have a Brit slang app on my phone that has some "interesting" terms. Use to be I had to look up a few words from shows like plonker
ReplyDeleteI found a new term for me this trip..a sign that said "No Busking". Turns out it means "No Street Performing". I was convinced it had something to do with public displays of affection :)
DeleteGorgeous photo as I'd expect!
ReplyDeleteWhite trash...no!?! I don't take my decorations down until January 6 (otherwise known as Epiphany or Three Kings Day or Old Christmas or the 12th day of Christmas) since it's the last day of the season!
HA! For what it's worth, our Christmas decorations are all still up too. :)
ReplyDeleteI ditto Phoebe's comment. You're right on track to start taking down the decor. 😃:-)
ReplyDeleteFun to learn about the London Eye!
Stopping by from Listicles.
well you could do what i do.....cover the tree with a bike bag, carry it upstairs and put it in the "walk-in-closet" that use to be a kids room ;)
ReplyDeleteYou've got the English lingo down pretty darn good and considering I'm married to one of them, I knew exactly what you were sayin'!! That shot is a Bobby Dazzler I tell ya!!
ReplyDeleteIncredible photo and such a fun post. Seems that you really picked up on the vernacular! ANd I concur with Phoebe - Little Christmas/Epiphany is when you start taking down decorations - been doing it for years. Although I can't guarantee when the boxes actually make it back up into the attic...
ReplyDeleteLOVE this gorgeous shot! I think you are fine w/ the decorations. I usually wait until the week after New Year's but this year I had to get it down right after!!
ReplyDeleteWHOA!!! That is one tremendous photograph of almost an optical illusion of gold and blue. It took me a second or two to actually figure out what I was seeing. I love trompe l'oeil like that! Thank you Kathy for the fun comments of loving b/w & red! Yay!!!! ♥
ReplyDeleteWhat awesome London Eye facts (and the picture is gorgeous!) !! The last time I was in London, they were building the The Millennium Wheel. It was cool to see it then. Now I've got to get back so I can have a fly!! It's time!! --Lisa
ReplyDeleteFlippin' 'eck Kathy, that was a bloody brilliant pos, I almost wet myself laughing! Okey dokey (Dick Van Dyke as that wretched chimney sweep in 'Mary Poppins', worst English accent EVER, along with Don Cheadle in 'Ocean's 11'. For the record the best accent achieved by an American award goes to Spike in 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and Higgins in 'Magnum'). Serious part first - love that shot! Did you use a tripod? I didn't know those facts about The Eye either - fascinating. As for white trash - yes we do have them here unfortunately, sometimes called chavs, often appearing on TV in programmes like The Jeremy Kyle Show where they get to argue, fight, talk about how hard done to they are because they have 6 different children with 5 different fathers, oh and there's often a paternity test involved somewhere along the line as well. 'Little Britain' had their own chav character in the form of Vicky Pollard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVjKVBf-AxI Skank or skanky is often a good descriptive term for these people - or scutter (as in 'she was a right scutter' to describe a female, which is a bit sexist really!). Skanky can also be used to describe an insalubrious place ('yeuch, it was so skanky my feet were sticking to the floor'). Finally, I have to say I am in awe that you managed to get w*nker and b*llocks in the same post - I'm not worthy! If you'd managed to say dick-head in there too I'd have nominated you for some kind of award ;-) Be careful who you say any of those things to though or you might get a smack in the gob ;-) Toodle pip, cheerio etc...
ReplyDeleteTotally cheesed off I didn't bring a tripod...spent my time searching London for flat stable surfaces.
DeleteP.s. Classic example of Jeremy Kyle show - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfsh5NeCeLU :-)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah...white trash fer sure in England :)
DeleteRofl....I do love all the fun and quirky saying they have...I took a woman visiting from England, well a couple of them, to Michaels once ( we were at a jewelry conference) and she stopped and wanted to know if I had seen her trolley? Huh, oh, you mean your cart....can't wait for the fireworks, since today in my search for something else I actually came across a you tube video of the entire experience...all I can say is WOW!!
ReplyDeleteBesides Paris, London is a favorite European city of mine. I have friends that live in Middlesex and I only hope I get another invite!
ReplyDeleteIf having your lights up until January 6th is considered white trash, then count me in! We always keep ours up until/after Epiphany…which is coincidentally January 6th. Love all the “London Eye” facts, and it sounds like you had a great time over the holiday. And I definitely agree that it moves faster than a kid on a school morning.
ReplyDeleteYou have me smiling at my computer screen once again.. And that is one nice Ferris Wheel.. Oops, I mean Cantilevered observation Wheel. Hee Hee... Amazing shots my friend.
ReplyDeleteHugs~
What a gorgeous picture with all the blue lights below. I've been on that eye, sadly on a rainy day so we couldn't really see that far but still cool.
ReplyDeleteWell my goodness this post was jammed packed with stuff I've never heard in my life and one awesome photo of something that I'll probably never see in my life either. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute here.
ReplyDeleteYou are so damn funny! I'm cracking up over your British vocabulary! Gorgeous pic of the London Eye! One for the bucket list...being able to visit London! Btw...you're not alone in un-bedecking the halls. I took the outside decorations down. So, my neighbors won't give me that girl from around the hood look. lol
ReplyDelete