The London Chronicles Day 12 : In Which I Fly on Emirates Air Line

Today I went to a conference near the outer banks of London, which involved taking all sorts of transport. Northern -->  Jubilee --> Emirates Air. Yup, took a quick detour to Qatar. No, not really. Instead I got to ride the Air Line, remnants of the London Olympic.  Readers who know me in real life (RWKMIRL, as I affectionately call them) may be very aware that I am incredibly afraid of heights. In particular, I am terrified of being in confined space with transparent walls and floors that go up really high, and wobbles unexpectedly.

I used to not be like this. I don't know why, but it just keeps getting worse.  I now choose aisle seats on planes, and the sight of ferris wheels makes my palms sweaty.  So when my coworker cheerfully suggested that we take Emirates, I was confused, but nodded, because I don't want to be rude. Maybe Emirates is a nickname for the District Line? How would I know? I'm not a real Londoner, and every time I attempt to say anything, the Brit coworker cringes.  So there we went, up and down the Tube stairs and escalators,  to find out that Emirates Air Line, is this. 

Lovely. So lovely. 

"Pretend you're going skiing!"

I confessed my fear of heights as the doors shut on the death grape thingy.  She was very kind and stayed very still so as not to freak me out further by vigorously shaking the thing.  Had I been less fortunate (i.e. ride with a certain portion of my male coworkers), I probably would have been screaming to kill them mid-way.  I tried to relax. I asked her to keep lying to me that it's almost over. She took pictures of me faking it till I make it. It worked. Nobody (=me) died.  

The conference itself was a wash, but one of the booths had a mini golf pad so my coworker and I ended up having ferocious competitive putter fights. I won by a shot.

Tasty (huge) pizza!
How do you stay so slim, London? 

Fake it 'til you make it! 

So much laser and bass! 

I also went to see Perfume at the Hammersmith Apollo yesterday. 4th row, center!  Way too close to the hardest working ladies in EDM!  They were adorable - like dolls that just sprang to life, although at this range you can see how exhausted they must be from all the touring.  It was touching to see many fans from all over the world (lots of Japanese, but lots more Euro-fans, too, all screaming out lyrics and Japanese words they know).  All in all, a fun night!