War Fatigue

8 September - Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Made my way downstairs and drank a cup. Looking up, I noticed I was late, made the bus in seconds flat. ...**?!??!! ... Went to the Imperial War Museum, which is something that has been on my list since I got here. Some very good displays but and some very educational snippets about the history of war (which is what you would expect) and some very good, factual briefs of all of the major world conflicts over the past hundred years - a lot I didn't know and some I did. There were a lot of school children there and there's only so much reading on such an unpleasant subject that one could do so a few hours was all I could manage. One of the most interestingexhibitions was one on crimes against humanity. It was a half hour documentary and a computer display that had very in depth examinations on the recognition of crimes against humanity and detailed essays on some of the most signficant (armenia, the holocaust, rwanda and cambodia). The movie was harrowing - there were interviews with children who had committed murders in Rwanda and a womn who had lost her entire familyto the Khmer Rouge (this was particularly interesting after having been there so recently).
Couldn't manage anything too cultural after that so went to the movies. I've been feeling movie withdrawala lot on this trip, i'd onlyseen three movies since leaving Australia over two months ago so I decided to see 'Goal'. I wasn't inspired but as it's a trilogy it might come to do it later.
Finally made my debut at London's most prestigious member's club, The Penthouse. Upon arrival we were greeted by the manager and rushed past the riff-raff queing outside and waved through the preliminaries that the normal member must endure. We were then taken to the cloakroom where we were relieved of our jackets. Then we were introduced to the security staff who was told in no unspecific terms that we were the guests of the manager and no harm must come to us during our stay. Taken through the well appointed but common regular club we were given a tour of the restaurant and then taken to the table in the private VIP room that was reserved for our use. We were presented with a bottle of finest champagne on ice and were later regaled with tales of London society by the manager. A capital night. Hangover the next y wasn't too great though ...