Sweet Nothings

En route to Chicago we stopped off at Cedar Point  theme park in Sanduskie, Ohio. It has lots of rollercoasters, including the 400ft+ Top Thrill Dragster : I'm pleased to report that I completed this ride without soiling myself. After queuing for a good hour, the ride itself being about 17 seconds long doesn't represent great value for money as it were, but goodness me it's intense. An espresso shot of adreneline, compared to the more traditional coasters such as Millennium Force - itself over 300ft and offering an arguably more satisfying overall ride experience. In our limited time here we also squeezed in a ride on the Windseeker (above)   - just like chair-o-planes except that you again happen to be over 300ft in the air. We tried 4 rides in 4 hours, and barely scratched the surface of what the park had to offer. America - where they do things just that little bit bigger.

Toronto was never that high on my city wishlist, but due to various complex friend-related reasons (which can be boiled down to "I don't have many, so am reliant on the ones I do have") it's where I spent the first few days of my recent north American jaunt. I certainly had no designs on staying at the Holiday Inn Express in North York a good 10 miles outside the city centre either, but again due to various complex friend-related reasons... etc. Still, a night in the drab suburbs did gave me a taste of what life must be like for your average Torontonian - a far cry from the idyllic, summer-cottage-by-the-lake existence enjoyed by their more fortunate brethren. Once properly ensconced downtown at the much nicer Strathcona (although no free breakfast - complex friend-related reasons etc), I was much happier. The CN Tower is by far the main tourist attraction, although despite its great height it's not all that impressive when viewed from close-up - a grey concr

So yeah... that last post moaning about a handful of minor disturbances on my road was started at the beginning of last week, but by the time I'd finished it and published it last night London was being beset by rioting. Talk about great timing... I guess it's good to keep things in perspective - and pat myself on the back for choosing not to live above a shop again. And not to live in Tottenham, obviously. Yikes...

So it's come to this - a blog in which I complain about my noisy neighbours. I've lived in my current flat for two and a bit years now, and I can't remember another period in my life (even living in student halls and villages) during which I've been woken up during the night and generally been perturbed by noise as much as these last few months. I'm not under any illusions that my little street in Palmers Green is particularly classy. It's also the summer, and the place is like a greenhouse, so the wide-open windows do inevitably increase external noise levels. But nevertheless, it seems that amongst the newer crop of residents in these blocks there are an awful lot of selfish, shouty bastards. The standard disturbances are people coming home from a late night out. Sometimes this involves cars waiting around with the engine on, sometimes it's just the too-loud sound of intoxicated speech. (I should add that I'm on an off-street cul-de-sac, which ca