What Coventry is good for…

I’m going to start this post with a video I took in London that I forgot to upload to the last post. It’s just people walking in a really busy intersection, but I tried to capture how busy the streets were for a Tuesday evening:

While we’re at it, here’s another of a funky light-bright-crosswalk-thing they have all over the place. Again, my awesome hostess, Tara, provides comic relief:

Anyhow, I thought I’d spend some time discussing how awesome Coventry turned out to be. There are two universities flanking our apartment, so much of the population (of over 300 000) is roughly my age.   

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There is also a famous cathedral. This cathedral is best known for being mostly destroyed in a bombing during the second world war (and of being completely rebuilt later on). After seeing the cathedral today, I thought I’d share some pictures I took! That is, that was the plan, until I saw that most of them were posted on the link its page on wikipedia, taken by photographers far more talented than I.

A picture they failed to post, however, is one of the pipe organ inside. This thing is really wicked. I got to speak to the organist who was playing it:

He explained to me that this organ was actually fitted to the cathedral as it was being built, as opposed to most others which are added afterwards. Here is a picture of one of the columns of pipes. (There’s a matching other one on the other side of the gigantic tapestry to the right):

Coventry is also well known for being where Lady Godiva rode naked on her horse. Yea, this Lady Godiva:

Coventry is also the origin of the term “Peeping Tom”. Here is a statue dedicated to him, staring at Godiva through the windows behind her:

All right, back to our regular scheduled programming of slightly odd, yet comical, British stuff:

Forget Dollarama. Here in England we have Poundland!!

Red telephone booths!!! (Don’t ask what’s posted inside! :o)

What I had for lunch today – a chicken sandwich from the dollar store… I mean, Poundland.

In other news, at the Poundland, I bought that razor and that toothpaste I needed. I also got ahold of a cheap umbrella. I don’t know when I’ll use it – it’s been so bloody sunny this whole week. (Still kinda chilly, for the record.)

I’ve also booked some transport – I’ll be catching a bus to London on Monday, and then a flight to Dublin next Friday. Keep your eyes peeled.