Land of the TARDIS

Sick of sitting in my cute, tastefully decorated room reading news about people I will never meet I decided to eat as much as I could (so I wouldn't get hungry and have to buy food - ah economising in London) and head out. Not quite feeling up to sightseeing, as my Lonely Planet and I still haven't made up, I decided to take myself to see my first movie since leaving Oz. Holding firm to my principles and refusing to add to the gross "international" profits of my least favourite minor American celebrity, I decided to show some patriotism and support Jean-Luc instead. Once I arrived at the Southside Shopping Centre in nearby Wandsworth, I was confronted with the surprisingly difficult task of finding the front door. After having walked around part of said shopping centre in search of an entrance, I wondered where they fit the 14 screen cinema they'd so modestly advertised (if there's one thing the English don't like to do it's boast). After locating the entrance I was presented with the most depressing shopping setting I think I've ever experienced. I guess developers don't have anything better to do than sink £72 million into an ugly 1960s structure. It went something like this: phone shop, empty shop, phone shop, placard advertising said shopping centre covering empty shop... ad nauseum. Eventually there was some variety, in the form of the usual suspects: Boots, Superdrug, cheap clothing stores, and yes, everyone's favourite Poundland, with a caption that reads "yes! everythings £1" [sic]. After walking for some time through the insanely wide corridors that were presumably built to accommodate the gazillions of Londoners that will flock to Southside every Saturday to buy new mobile phones, I realised that the shopping centre was far bigger inside than it appeared from the outside, and that in fact the creative geography so prevalent in SciFi is in fact a reality here in the Queen's land. Maybe that's what happened to the £72 million. If only they'd use both the TARDIS technology and the money somewhere where it would be of use, like the tube. As for public transport in London, well that's a topic worthy of a post in and of itself, and for another day. Librarian out.