Post from England

In July & August of 2004, my mom, my grandmother and myself took a trip to England and Wales to see where my grandmother was born and raised. Tonight, mom came across this email that I sent to my dad while we were away. It made me laugh so I thought I would share: (make sure you read to the end)

Hey Daddy, 

I don't have much time because I only brought 2 pounds with me, so this may be short... but I'll type as fast as I can (bear with the typos). Today was a pretty good day, we started off with a tour of Westminster Abbey. It was pretty neat to see where all the royal stuff (coronations, weddings, funerals) take place. Plus it was where the Anglican Church started so that was pretty cool. Then we went down to Buckingham Palace to watch the  changing of the guards. T he lady that sat with me on the bus was from Scotland, I could barely understand a word she said... Anyway, so we got dropped off at Trafalgar Square (where there's a GRANITE column commemorating Lord NELSON, right beside the CANADA building). We roamed around there and Picadilly for awhile then headed over the Thames to the London Eye (it took mom some convincing to get on it). Then I found a sporting store where everything was on sale :) :) :) I ended up getting a Welch rugby jersey and a English 'football' one too. On the way home we got VERY lost on the tube and had to get a bunch of people to help us. I think one guy (prolly around 19 or 20ish) was in complete awe of how stupid we were, but he was very helpful. Then when we finally got redirected by some other man from Notting Hill he helped us out quite a bit. He ended up holding the subway doors open for us since Grammy couldn't run to catch it. 

Anyway, tonight we went to see Chicago. It was SOOOOO good. We had pretty bad seats (Second row, fat right) but it was still amazing. David Hasselhoff was in it too, mom was impressed, she said she's going to rub it in Ruth's face. (Ruth is my aunt, who apparently had a thing for Hasselhoff?!) 

I wish you had've come with us, you'd love all the architecture and the carvings, it's really quite impressive. And my fake British accent is coming along nicely too.

I haven't done too many drugs since getting here, nor have I gotten so drunk that it's taken me any more than 5 trips on the tube to get me home. (Legal age here is only 18 by the way). Mom's trying to send with off with random guys to pick up some more pounds, we're running out quickly because of all the British weed we're been smoking in hyde park after hours. Grammy says she's feeling the best she's felt in years. Oh, and while we were long on the tube a drunk man offered me a swig of what was in his brown paper bag... so I took it and ran before he could catch up with me... the more I drank the faster I seemed to run. I don't know what it was, but it was some powerful. The police actually thanked me for helping to stop the drunk bums in the subway. Also, mom's decided to let me roam free at night since I want to go clubbing and it's not quite what her and gram want to do (they'd rather hit up the pubs). 

Anyway, I best be off... I've got a taxi waiting around the corner with my liquor run for the night... 

Love, Steph xoxox

I'm actually kind of surprised my father didn't have a second heart attack after this email. I can just picture him sitting in front of the computer with a stunned look on his face, trying to figure out if I was serious or if I was kidding around.