I am not sure this is one experience I should really be shouting about, but it is one ticked off none the less. It is not so much the experience that I should not be publicising, but the manner in which it was completed. Have you ever been so drunk that you could not remember what you did the night before? Well, that happened to me a few weeks back. Although I was aware I had been out for a few drinks to celebrate a friends up and coming marriage, I was at a complete loss as to how I got home. This type of behaviour is something my dad often warns me against. Every time he asks I pull myself together and lie in the same way that I answer any medical professional asking about alcohol consumption – “I do not drink that much, maybe one or two a week”. Every one knows that their consumption is more than the UK government recommendation of 14 units a week. Oh the shame. Anyway, I diverge. A few days later I am flicking through the photo gallery on my phone. Low and behold there are pictures of me on a rickshaw. I guess that fills in the memory gap. It also ticks off another item on the list.
Riding a rickshaw is something I have never done before. Often I have contemplated the idea having left various London drinking holes. In fact we had planned to get a rickshaw in London on our way back from the Wales vs. Italy rugby game I went to earlier in the year (Item #4 – Visit One of the Home Nations [Wales]), but we were all too far gone before we entered the stadium in Cardiff, let alone to do anything that evening on our return to London. Anyhow, the ultimate rickshaw experience saw me take a short drunken (the passenger, not the driver) ride from a pub in Soho to Leicester Square station. Like with every experience I try my best to document my progress with photographs and videos, and whilst there is media to support this Edison Project experience, its quality is questionable. The video that I captured is so questionable that I have decided against sharing it. To be completely honest, it would appear that I fell asleep mid-way through the short trip with my phone left filming the plain black interior of the rickshaw cabin. God knows how much I paid for the trip, but I can assume it was more expensive than other options and he no doubt charged me extra for the photo request at the end of me on the drivers seat.
With all the items on The Edison Project list I envisioned creating lots of valuable memories. This is definitely the first experience where I have regretted the manner in which I went about capturing that memory. At this juncture my only hope is the rickshaw experience has progressive opportunities for future Edison Project lists. For instance, ‘ride a rickshaw in India’ would in my opinion go someway to rectifying this.
I will love you and leave you on that
Item: #70 – Ride a rickshaw
Useful Links: N/A – I am unaware of a relevant link for this one, but I am open to suggestions.
Cost: If only I could remember, but my recommendation would be to barter hard if riding a rickshaw is something you are contemplating.