Gunn Show hits London

As it was my brother's first time the UK, the Gunn Show hit the road, er, train Monday morning to visit London. With no map, no agenda, we arrived just after noon. I got minimal sleep the night before -- it felt like a shade over 20 minutes -- and was stuck with the role of navigator. Such a task brought up past navigational failures during my youth ice hockey career. I vividly remember the face of frustration written across my mother's face like a newspaper headline as I tried giving her directions in the form of questions: turn left at the light?, merge onto the interstate now?, you may have missed the turn?, et cetera. Needless to say, she wasn't shy in sharing her thoughts using colourful language. But let's be honest, I always got us to where we needed to go, so I had faith I'd succeed in this brotherly adventure.

The story was much the same in London. My larger-than-life brother drew great stares as we walked the streets of Westminster. Just as the Red Sea was parted, my brother parted the sea of people with little, to no effort. They just don't naturally make 5-4 individuals that large. I told him he's probably one of the few lucky ones who could get a London Underground map t-shirt and have the graphic look clear as he's so wide.  This is what #beastmode is all about.

After seeing the House of Parliament, we headed up through St. James's Park towards Buckingham Palace where a multitude of things happened. 1) I saw my brother's quickness as he bustled off to take a photo. 2) I saw my brother almost step on the grass of the garden across from the Victoria Memorial, could've been a criminal charge on our hands -- lesson learnt. 3) We saw Prince Philip's car heading into Buckingham Palace -- no jokes were said. 4) The last thing we expected to see was Dora the Explorer -- Map must've given her poor directions.

Following our visit to Buckingham Palace we somehow ended up at Trafalgar Square. I'd like to say I planned it that way, but yeah... kind of just happened. A minor miracle. There, I insisted several times that Tommy had no choice but to get his photo taken under Nelson's Column with one of Landseers' lions. He finally accepted, knocked about six kids out of the way with his pinky finger and stood beneath the only mammals in London with a larger total mass than than he -- swol' never takes a holiday, which seems to be a running theme for "The Kid".

The Gunn Show headed back down towards River Thames with Tommy snapping photos of everything. I kept being apologised to for his sudden stops, so I had to tell him multiple times that it was his trip and to take his time. We soon realised that Tower Bridge was going to a be trek. An Underground later we emerged around the corner from Tower Bridge. A few selfies later, we were across the bridge and ready to eat.

[INTERMISSION]

Feeding time included pizza and some Six Flags dinner date conversation between two pre-teens. I give the young gentleman credit, he was impressing her by going on some dangerous rides. Once finished we were back at it in the heat -- #SunsOutGunnsOut. We crossed Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral, but not first before debating whether or not we should run through a mini water fountain for a cool down.

And then it got interesting. I got us lost... momentarily somewhere. Honestly, I couldn't tell you where, but we ended up at a Starbucks to recharge our batteries -- AKA our mobiles. I figured out where we were and then we carried on back to Westminster so Tommy could do the London Eye. I would be keeping my feet firmly on the ground as I don't like heights. I've done the London Eye once and that is more than enough for me. Especially when he comes off after telling me some kid said, "Wouldn't it be crazy if all the glass just shattered right now as we are about to reach the top?". There would've been tremendous scenes had he said that if I were in the pod with.

We were then hit with a hurricane of tired. Big tree fall hard. Upon returning to the train station with a little more than an hour to spare, Tommy ended his day with a pint, one that he'd been craving all day. I ended it with my face in the table.

So needless to say, the sleep on the train was well welcomed, especially when the next day your mother talks the gentleman at Uni of Salford's MediaCity campus to give everyone a tour of the building their son will be learning at. More walking = more sleep required next time.

Guatemalans, out.

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Edit note: All photo credited goes to brother Tommy Gunn. More photos from our day out can be viewed on his Instagram.

Minor anecdote, a running default between my brother and I: We both love the Al Pacino Any Given Sunday speech. We quote it endlessly, almost excessively, but that's really not possible to do with Pacino. Long story short, a pigeon zoomed past this random lady's face making her jump. She exclaimed, "That bird almost hit me in the face, it was really close!", to which I responded, "THE SIX INCHES IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE.". Maybe only we will get it... but it is moments like that make having my brother here awesome.

And now for the moment I invade Blogger with even more annoying hashtag that'll never work... until they jump on board that train, which I back 100%. The "behind the scenes" as it were.

#SELFIENATION -- where I hit you with quizzical faces of tiredness, unnecessarily crooked hats, and a serious case of 5 o'clock shadow a shade past noon. Maybe I should just grow a moustache or buy a better brand razor.