So, as everyone is most likely aware, I am actually becoming an official house husband at the end of the month. It's been a lot of work but I'm going to graduate from fiance to husband. With that, it's important that you look good on the big day and since Rebecca likes my hair best about two weeks after it's been cut, that meant that I needed to get my haircut here in London. I will say, that really shouldn't have been a big deal, but since when has anything worked out well? So, Monday I decided that I would check around the wharf to see what if there was a simple barber around. I should have know that would be a waste. The banking capital of Europe and possibly the world, does not have simple hair dressers. My options were: one: Toni and Guy - a premier hair salon that wanted a personal consultation before even considering cutting my hair, Two: Sean hanna - another high end salon or three: the gentry barber - which was a high end barber like Men's Ultimate Grooming in Phoenix, a place that while nice and would do a good job is still a little much for me, the guy who likes a simple hair cut, nothing fancy. Deciding the wharf was a little much for me, I found a simple hair dresser at a mall a short train ride away.
This morning, I decided that today I would venture out to get my hair cut in the morning and then I would have the rest of the afternoon to get some other things that I needed to get done finished. After Rebecca left for work for 9:30 (side note, how awesome would it have been to start work at 9:30 instead of 6am?) I cleaned up and went to Lewisham where the mall was. I got to the hair dresser, I think it was a supercuts, maybe mastercuts? One of the generic hair dressers. I got there just before 11 am and asked how long? Apologetically, they said it would be 45 minutes as they were quite backed up. That sucks but hey, I have my trusty smart phone and I can easily kill 45 minutes on the internet. 45 minutes come and goes, and only one of the people in front of me has moved, but you know what, there is this duo of girls that are getting their hair full out coloured and worked on, why they decided to do all that at a generic place is a different story, but they look like they are coming to an end so I will wait. Another hour passes, and the only reason the line in front of me has gotten shorter is because people have gotten fed up and left. The duo of girls have decided that the first attempt wasn't done right and are now on try two, but I still have the internet and I'm still happily waiting. Now, it's 2:30 and I'm really thinking that I should just give up, but so many others have and I'm now in the front of the line and I've invested so much time I feel committed. I decided that I wasn't going to give up and finally, at 3:30 I'm rewarded and they say they will cut my hair. However, apparently I've been sitting so long that the hair washing that I did in the morning wasn't good enough for them and they said that they wouldn't cut it unless I paid them to wash it again. Fine, you know what, just wash it again, I really don't care. They cut my hair, I pay up and I thankfully get the hell out of there. To my amusement the duo of girls, was now on attempt 3 or 4, and still working on it. So, I have to say it could have been much worse and hey, I was getting to go home. Or so I thought...
I get back to the DLR station (one of the various subway like trains in London), Check the time for the next train, 20 minutes, hmmm, that's odd, usually they come every 5 - 10 minutes. After 20 minutes, the displayed time disappears entirely. Oh no, this can't be good. Sure enough, a few minutes later "Excuse me, Due to issues with the DLR system, all trains have been cancelled to Lewisham. Please find alternative travel arrangements. Sorry for the inconvenience." What? it would only be a hour or so walk, which wouldn't be too bad, but I'm on the south side of the river and need to get across the river to my place on the north side with no major bridge for miles. Time for the trusty smart phone to save the day. Unfortunately, remember that 4 1/2 hours of waiting for my haircut, well, I was watching high def video's online, and the last thing my phone told me before dying was there was a foot path that went under the river that wasn't too far out of the way. Hmmm, no phone for directions, in a part of london I don't know well, to a footpath I only saw briefly on the map before my phone died. Sounds like an adventure I can't pass up. Thankfully, the trip didn't involve getting too lost. I actually made it back home in about 2 hours. I mean, yes, the footpath that went under the river was ultra creepy with the 'I'm going to get raped vibe' but other then that the weather was nice and overall I would do the walk again. Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst part of the walk back...
After awhile, I got through the creepy underground tunnel, got back to the isle of dogs where I live and can actually see the building I live in. Now, there is a park near our place and as I'm leaving the park I get caught behind two mothers pushing their babies strollers while meandering down the street. As I'm tired and want to get home I decide that I'm going to just slide past them and continue down the road. How I wished the road had been too small and I had to have crossed the street to pass them. If only life had been so convenient. Passing a baby stroller what is the first thing you always do? For me, it's look at the cute little baby usually enjoying themselves on their walk. This time was no different, expect I did not expect what I saw. To be honest, I can't even remember what the kid looked like, but I do know what I did and said... I looked down and saw what in my opinion was an alien and jumped and said "AHHH!! what the hell!?!" Note, for all of you who are a little bit socially unaware, mother's are generally pretty defensive of their babies. The next few minutes, or what seemed to be hours, consisted of me being hit and yelled at for insulting the poor woman's child. Next, the child started to cry which caused the second kid to start crying, and it was all bad, all the time. I don't think that I could have gotten out of there any faster. I mean, I feel like a totally horrible person, but I didn't mean to be an ass.
All this in the name of a shitty haircut. So, I expect everyone reading this that sees me at the wedding to compliment me on the haircut. As with most things in my life, it was certainly an adventure.
