typing on a computer is so much simpler than on a phone!!

okay so continuing on with the exhibition: i went to another talk that some scottish guy was giving about rock climbing (this was on the main stage, so no longer in the bicycle section of the convention center). he had done some filming for BBC with these two climbers, one was supposed to be the best in scotland, and the other in england, and i forget exactly where they were climbing but i think it was in scotland. he sure did show some nice photos of scotland!! and also of the islands off the coast. so he showed us some clips from that show and another clip for some other documentary he did of another climber, but i forgot where that was filmed. but those rocks sure looked crazy!! the climber kept cursing the entire time and was doubting herself that she could actually make it up to the top. and unfortunately the clip was only a few minutes long so i dont know how it ends! what a marketing ploy! and he also mentioned something about an older couple that he met from the USA that walked from mexico to canada, with 50 lbs of gear on their back!! how admirable!! so after that talk i went and signed up (aka put a fake phone number) down on some form and received a free goody bag! there was lots of things i didnt need so i tossed those, but i did get travel toothpaste, tea, energy powder things to add to your water, ricola (might come in handy although, quite surprisingly with all the time ive spent outdoors and in the rain especially, i still havent gotten sick this winter yet!! im super proud of my immune system!) and im sure glad i did get that goody bag cause i ran out of toothpaste only a few days later, and didnt bring a spare!! so anyway, i walked around some more, checked out more stands, threw away lots of papers for things i wont need (then noticed there was a paper recycling bin right by the exit..woops!) and i went to the boat show but that totally was not up my alley so i only spent like 10 minutes there and then went back to the other 3 shows. I went to two more talks: one at the career stage on how to become a moutain guide (lots of teenagers at that talk. most of the talks were centered around volunteering actually, but i think those days are over for me so i didnt attend any!) and the guy who gave the talk was a guide for mt everest hikes. his pics and videos were beautiful! you could even see the curvature of the earth from the summit! but i dont think ill ever be doing that hike. so i cant remember much of what he said the skills involved were for becoming a leader/guide, but i remember you didnt need as much first aid training as i thought you would. the last talk i saw was from a guy who hiked kilimanjiro. the talk before him was from the youngest british woman to hike everest, and she sure drew a crowd! and even her Q&A at the end was popular, so her talk went over time, so i sat in on the Q&A. the only question i remember was what's next for her and i cant remember her answer. i cant imagine there are many greater feats in life though!! so after her time, then it was the kili's guys time. and the place cleared out. i felt a bit bad for him actually. i mean i wanted to go to his talk over the everest one cause kilimanjaro is a hike that could feasibly be done, mt everest is not. so why would i waste my time hearing about something that i would never experience for myself? but yeah when he saw how much the size of the audience shrunk after the everest woman finished, he said well im going to talk about a hike that maybe isnt as exciting as [insert everest lady's name here]'s hike but it still interesting nonetheless. and i thought it was! his pics were really great, and they employ locals as the guides. and he said you dont have to be in incredible shape to hike it, and hes been working for this company, hiking kili for several years (and after looking at the size of his gut, if he could do it, almost anyone can!) so yeah i definitely would think about doing that for charity at some point in my life. after his talk ended i left the exhibition. i hopped back on the DLR (didnt pay this time around hehe) and went to leicester sq for a guided walk on the SOHO area! it was a small group, only 7 of us in total. so the name SOHO is derived from back in the day before the area was built up, men used to bring their dogs hunting ducks in this area, and whenever he got a kill, the code to the dogs to go and fetch it for him was "soho" (my guide never explained what that actually meant) and so thats how the area got its name. and in manhattan the soho area stands for SOuth of HOuston St, or maybe thats just a myth! but yeah so we walked around, there was some construction going on in leicester sq, apparently a new tube line is going to be added. he told us about what some of the buildings used to me. the odeon used to be a picture house (like one when movies first started coming out) and one of the buildings on the adjacent st used to have a varieties theatre. the french man  Jules Léotard performed there and he is best known for inventing the leotard - all because he wasnt getting a large size crowd at his performances and so he devised a way that would make more women interested in going to his shows; and thus the leotard was invented! pure genius!! then we saw the apt (from the ground i mean) of the man who sent the first TV image. he showed us the headquarters of 20th century fox! and told us a little about the history of leicester sq. this was a pub tour so we went to 3 pubs, the first being the dog and duck, how fitting. there was an image of a dog with a duck in its mouth carved into the stone wall of the pub too. so we stayed there and i found out that the elderly couple on the tour was from yorkshire, and another man was from whitby. the other 3 ladies were american but i dont know where from. the yorkshire couple (who reminded me of aunt angela and uncle joel) came to london for the da vinci exhibit at the national gallery. i asked my guide if i could get day of tickets and he said yes but people start lining up from like 7 am! so yeah, i killed that idea real fast. but yeah for the rest of the tour he told us about CCTV cameras and showed us a bar that got bombed in the 90s by some guy who they eventually caught, who bombed bars in other minority neighborhoods around london. one of the americans asked if the CCTV scheme has helped reduce crime and he said its debatable!! oh and we quickly stopped by some pub and he told us what it used to be and today ïts a very bad pub"so the american again asked "whats a bad pub"and he said its part of a very large chain that has the same menu as all the other pubs that belong to that chain and it has no uniqueness, character and has a bad atmosphere. and he contrasted it to the pubs he took us to which were in operation since victorian times and had splendid decor. then he showed us a jazz club that like in the 70s used to charge P5 entrance fee, and its one of the best jazz clubs in the central london area. there were lots of jazz places in SOHO"though, even pizza express had a live jazz set! so for the other 2 pubs on the tour, we didnt stick around in them cause no one wanted a drink, so the tour ended early. so after the tour i went back to that main jazz place but there was a private event going on. so then i just walked back to the hostel, and checked that jazz place's website for events the following day, but ticket prices were much more expensive than P5! so i checked the time out london website for ideas of places to go for nightlife but didnt settle on anything. when i got back i finally showered, with the water filling up in the cubicle again, and then did some chatting with the nice french lady above me in the room, and funny enough, she gave me a time out london mag cause she was leaving the next day. then i went to bed. oh and one more thing i wanted to mention about this day: i was supposed to leave london on monday and stay with some guy david on couchsurfing that lives in chelmsford for monday and tues night. i had messaged him earlier in the week and he said i could stay but never gave me an address or phone number, and when i messaged him for it he never got back to me. so im starting to get nervous now that its sunday and i still havent heard back so i messaged him again and i also messaged some people in chelmsford and the surrounding areas to stay with them on monday and tues or at least tuesday for one night. so i checked my email one last time before going to sleep and still no response from david. and well ill continue with that story tomorrow cause that about does it for me tonight im afraid!