Umbrellas and Pimp Canes

September 09

After my last horribly long post, I've decided to shorten these posts and (hopefully update more frequently). Unfortunately, there are no pictures in this blog, mostly because my index finger is a bit worn out from pressing the buttons on the camera. Anyway, after class, Steve and I decided to tour the area around the building where we go to class. We had passed by this area several times on our various times on our various tours, but we wanted to see what was there for ourselves. The first shop we went into was James Smith and Sons, which was a store entirely filled with umbrellas and canes that were probably for pimps. I mean imagine you are a pimp and you need a cane. What better way to show your dominance by owning a cane where the grip is a lion's head or an eagle's wing or a small crystal ball looking thingy? There were some regular-people canes too with standard grips, and there were a few fetish-type canes. The one I remember in particular was the cane with a silver foot for a grip. The store also had so many umbrellas, including some of the fanciest (apparently this is a "non-standard word" according to Microsoft Word), some of the most expensive, and also some of the smallest umbrellas that I have ever seen.

Next we hit a comic book store and were surprised to find that this store really had only comic books. There was no other nerd paraphernalia, which is common in most American comic book stores. Anyway, since we were not buying anything, we left. The next stop was a movie and music store. The movie selection was very good, and the prices were so cheap compared to the U.S. I was going to buy something when a little voice went off in my head and it said "REGIONAL CODING". Argh! That's right, due to DVD regional coding, I would not be able to play any of the DVDs unless I used my laptop. So basically, the whole time I was in the store, I had to resist my natural urge to buy movies. It was painful.

We started to head back about now, but we chose a different route so we would see other things on the way back. "FORBIDDEN PLANET!" says Steve. In Bristol we passed by a store (while on a bus) called Forbidden Planet, and the store looked to be full of nerd paraphernalia like comics, video game merchandise (the main selling point for me and Steve), etc. Here was another (making this store a probable chain) so we immediately headed for that. Now I tend not to indulge in most of the things this store was advertising (action figures, etc.), but I must say this store was something special. There were action figures for so many comic book and movie characters, so much useless accessories for movies, comics and video games, and so many fluffy things for all the previously mentioned. From a distance, I saw a Heather Ledger Joker statuette that was £70, which seemed baffling to me until I got up close to it. It was a near perfect replica, down to the slight wrinkles in the makeup under the eyes. On the lower levels there were books... hundreds and hundreds of books. From comic books to fan fiction, to extended universes of movies, to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as well as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer, this store had books on everything (except literature). We looked through the books for about twenty minutes and then left.

I did work the rest of the day until I went partying at night. I had not realized how far behind I was on popular party music. I recognized like 4 songs the entire night. Regardless, I had a good time.