Day 3, 18th November, London

Today was the 3rd day of our London trip, and probably the most tiring day we had experienced up till now. Nevertheless, it was a fun and enriching day for us. In the morning, we left our hotel to take the tube from Stratford to the Covent Garden Station, where we would attend a writing workshop by the famous poet, Jacob Sam La Rose. It was our first time taking the tube, and many of us were excited yet nervous as we were travelling during the peak period, and the train station was filled with many people rushing to work.  Though I was overwhelmed by the immensity of the train station and the crowds streaming endlessly down the escalators and from the trains, I was heartened by how the English commuters were always courteous and made way for alighting passengers.  With clear instructions on how to get to Covent Garden station from our tour manager, Angela, and help from our group members, we arrived safely at our destination.

After settling down in a small and cosy room at the Covent Garden Community Centre, we finally started our writing workshop. Even though many of us were tired, Jacob’s warmth, enthusiasm and spontaneity really energized us.  As writing prose and short stories was new to me, I was worried when Jacob posed a five-minute challenge – to develop a story round a character who we had encountered during our past 2 days in London.  We claimed our own spaces within the room, and started penning down our thoughts. 

Jacob guided us in developing our short stories by sharing important elements of characterisation, and also providing many prompting and searching questions.  Some helpful questions included: what does the character want or desire; what is preventing them from getting what they want; and finally, what deeper significance or longings lay beneath these desires.  We were then thrown our next challenge to develop our character sketches into a short story, and I met with more difficulties such as starting the story, deciding how it would develop and the obstacles that lay in wait for the character.  Through this exercise, I realized that we have to really put away self-judgment and the restriction of forms when searching for ideas and creating our own stories.  I also learnt that we must always include a “human truth” in our stories, as many small and seemingly insignificant things that happen in our daily life may evoke deep emotions or alter the course of our lives.  Time flew by quickly, and we really enjoyed the whole workshop.  Jacob’s encouragements and his simple three-step writing process – “Create, Craft and Communicate” – truly helped us become more aware of how to develop our own characters, ideas and stories, and most importantly, communicate our own perspectives. 

After the workshop, we walked to the Royal Courts of Justice, and were taken on a tour by the Courts’ only official guide, Bryan Grover.  Having worked at the Courts for about 40 years, his presentation was most informative and detailed, beginning with an introduction to the history of the building.  It was built in 1873 and completed in 1882.  The building was designed by George Edmund Street, a religious man, thus explaining the statues of Jesus and Moses that line the Royal Courts.  Currently, there are about 100 courtrooms in the building, and more than 1000 staff and 104 judges in total. The Royal Courts of Justice is divided into 3 divisions: the Chancery, the Queen’s Bench, and the Family division. Each division handles different types of law cases, and it was interesting to find out that there were no criminal trials in the Royal Courts of Justice. There were only appeal cases for criminal offences, and a few prison cells located at the lower floor of the building.  We were then given a short tour around the building, and our knowledgeable and friendly guide intrigued us with tales of hauntings, such as the clock-winder who was strangled to death when his tie was caught in a huge clock hand.  In all, it was an enjoyable learning experience for me, as I not only learnt more about what the people in the Royal Courts of Justice actually do day-to-day, but also the importance of every member of the Royal Courts in ensuring its smooth running and fair hearing of trials.  

Next, we visited the British Museum, a museum that houses about 80,000 artefacts, with numerous rooms on Africa, Egypt, Japan and so on.  The exhibition that caught my eye was the display of mummies at the Ancient Egypt gallery.

I learnt that mummies were actually ground to powder and exported to Europe as medicine, and the shape of the coffins symbolized different things, such as their rank and status. The coffins for women also had drawings or paintings of classical dress, which I found really unique and exquisite.  Walking through the rooms on Europe and Asia also deepened my knowledge on the history of other parts of the world, and broadened my perspectives about the afterlife, religion, and the sharing of cultures through trade.  It was a pity that we did not have enough time to explore all the exhibits and displays in the museum, but what we got to see was enough to impress upon me the importance of preserving the past and cultivating a healthy respect for diversity and tradition.    

We had our dinner at Porters, an English pub, and had our first taste of pub food – a steak and ale pie, mashed potatoes and a custard cake.  Seeing our confusion about how to eat the pie, our kind waiter explained the ingredients and even demonstrated how to eat and enjoy the pie.  Eating the steak and ale pie was a novel experience for me, as I had not tasted this mixture of flavours before.   

We then proceeded to watch the play “War Horse” on full stomachs. “War Horse” is a play based on a novel of the same title, and tells the story from the horse’s perspective. 

Initially, I was a bit skeptical about the idea of having an animal that could not even speak as the main character, as I felt that its feelings and thoughts would not be conveyed to the audience effectively.  However, after watching the play, I was surprised that I had developed a much closer connection with Joey, the horse, in comparison with the other human characters in the play.  This was only made possible through the amazing puppetry, which truly brought the horse to life, conveying its movements and feelings so vividly that you forgot about the puppeteers.  I was especially touched by young Albert’s courageous efforts to find his horse Joey, and how love can transcend the barriers of language and war.  

Written by Michelle, 13A01