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annualaMonday, 23 May 2011: London
Back home, it’s Victoria Day, the “official” start of summer. Here, it looks like it’s been summer for weeks. It’s also not a Bank Holiday, which I find strangely amusing: the land of Queen Victoria doesn’t celebrate her.
I got up a bit early because I wanted a shower and to wash my hair; the sooner I got to it, I reasoned, the sooner my hair would be dry. So I did my best to hurry through my ablutions and dress. I went downstairs in my slippers because I’d put a load of washing in last night, and all my socks were in it. So I folded everything out of the dryer and got clean socks on, then made toast and tea.
We’re headed for London today, to have lunch with an online friend ofshinyship’s. shinyship came downstairs a bit after I did, and looked at the computer while she had her breakfast; S joined us shortly after that. S opted to stay home, not being a London enthusiast, and so, once we were ready, we headed out to the bus stop.
I quite handily got “a single to Havant, please”—I’m getting quite used to the bus system now—and soon enough we were at Havant bus station, walking to the train station.
At the station, I decided to try to video a train coming in to the platform for my niece—the child’s fascination for trains knows no bounds. Unfortunately, I didn’t set the camera up properly. I’ll have ample opportunity later, I’m sure.
So now we’re on the London Waterloo train. We’ve just stopped at Guildford; two more stops to Waterloo.shinyship and I have passed the time discussing the stories we’re writing, and I think we’ve got them all sorted.
Later: Waterloo Station
The trip up was relatively painless. Waterloo Station was a chance for me to buy a toothbrush, since I’d left mine in Wells, apparently. I need to lose something each trip; last time it was a pair of sunglasses in Totnes.
We caught a bus over to Great Russell Street and walked up to the British Museum. It’s as impressive as always. We had a stroll around, then headed for the part of the café near the totem poles, since it wasn’t as crowded there as in the other bit by the Assyrian king statue. The awkward thing was,shinyship didn’t know what R looked like; they’d only ever chatted online.
We sat down with our lunches,shinyship looking around now and again. We’d both basically finished when she spotted a young woman and a young man looking as if they were searching for someone. They seemed to spot us at the same time. shinyship stood up, calling her name, and we were all well met.
R and her husband D turned out to be a lovely couple, and we chatted for quite a long time—longer, I think, than any of us expected. We parted as friends.
shinyship and I then went off round the Near East exhibition: Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and that sort of thing, which I hadn’t seen the last time I was at the Museum.
shinyship took my picture beside a gargantuan Assyrian winged-lion statue.
Of course, after that, we went round the Museum gift shops. We’d done the bookshop when we arrived, and so did the others now. I got things for several people on my list, plus a pile of postcards and stamps.
We left the Museum and went across the street in search of royal wedding souvenirs for Mom. I hope she likes what I got her. It came from one of those horribly tacky gift shops that are on nearly every London street corner.
Then, purchase made, we went back around the corner to Starbucks for drinks and a sit-down. I wrote up every single postcard I bought at the Museum—yes, and stamped them all.
We couldn’t really decide what to do next, as it was past 3:30, and it would take time to get anywhere, and the museums tend to shut rather early. In the end, we caught a bus back to Waterloo and caught a pre-peak-hour train home. We did pause in Marks & Spencer for some things for tea, including some luscious-looking strawberries, killing time till the platform for our train was announced.
We’re well on our way now, having just left Guildford. We’ll probably have a nice quite evening in, and I’ll try not to worry about any Icelandic volcanic-ash clouds. Like last April, an Icelandic volcano has erupted, and it’s spewing ash. The experts can’t say how it’ll affect flights in and out of the country this time, but last year, flights were cancelled and planes grounded for days. With luck, though, it’ll all blow over fairly quickly, pardon the pun. If not, well, I guess I get a longer holiday.
Back home, it’s Victoria Day, the “official” start of summer. Here, it looks like it’s been summer for weeks. It’s also not a Bank Holiday, which I find strangely amusing: the land of Queen Victoria doesn’t celebrate her.
I got up a bit early because I wanted a shower and to wash my hair; the sooner I got to it, I reasoned, the sooner my hair would be dry. So I did my best to hurry through my ablutions and dress. I went downstairs in my slippers because I’d put a load of washing in last night, and all my socks were in it. So I folded everything out of the dryer and got clean socks on, then made toast and tea.
We’re headed for London today, to have lunch with an online friend of
shinyship’s. shinyship came downstairs a bit after I did, and looked at the computer while she had her breakfast; S joined us shortly after that. S opted to stay home, not being a London enthusiast, and so, once we were ready, we headed out to the bus stop.I quite handily got “a single to Havant, please”—I’m getting quite used to the bus system now—and soon enough we were at Havant bus station, walking to the train station.
At the station, I decided to try to video a train coming in to the platform for my niece—the child’s fascination for trains knows no bounds. Unfortunately, I didn’t set the camera up properly. I’ll have ample opportunity later, I’m sure.
So now we’re on the London Waterloo train. We’ve just stopped at Guildford; two more stops to Waterloo.
shinyship and I have passed the time discussing the stories we’re writing, and I think we’ve got them all sorted.Later: Waterloo Station
The trip up was relatively painless. Waterloo Station was a chance for me to buy a toothbrush, since I’d left mine in Wells, apparently. I need to lose something each trip; last time it was a pair of sunglasses in Totnes.
We caught a bus over to Great Russell Street and walked up to the British Museum. It’s as impressive as always. We had a stroll around, then headed for the part of the café near the totem poles, since it wasn’t as crowded there as in the other bit by the Assyrian king statue. The awkward thing was,
shinyship didn’t know what R looked like; they’d only ever chatted online.We sat down with our lunches,
shinyship looking around now and again. We’d both basically finished when she spotted a young woman and a young man looking as if they were searching for someone. They seemed to spot us at the same time. shinyship stood up, calling her name, and we were all well met.R and her husband D turned out to be a lovely couple, and we chatted for quite a long time—longer, I think, than any of us expected. We parted as friends.
shinyship and I then went off round the Near East exhibition: Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and that sort of thing, which I hadn’t seen the last time I was at the Museum. shinyship took my picture beside a gargantuan Assyrian winged-lion statue.Of course, after that, we went round the Museum gift shops. We’d done the bookshop when we arrived, and so did the others now. I got things for several people on my list, plus a pile of postcards and stamps.
We left the Museum and went across the street in search of royal wedding souvenirs for Mom. I hope she likes what I got her. It came from one of those horribly tacky gift shops that are on nearly every London street corner.
Then, purchase made, we went back around the corner to Starbucks for drinks and a sit-down. I wrote up every single postcard I bought at the Museum—yes, and stamped them all.
We couldn’t really decide what to do next, as it was past 3:30, and it would take time to get anywhere, and the museums tend to shut rather early. In the end, we caught a bus back to Waterloo and caught a pre-peak-hour train home. We did pause in Marks & Spencer for some things for tea, including some luscious-looking strawberries, killing time till the platform for our train was announced.
We’re well on our way now, having just left Guildford. We’ll probably have a nice quite evening in, and I’ll try not to worry about any Icelandic volcanic-ash clouds. Like last April, an Icelandic volcano has erupted, and it’s spewing ash. The experts can’t say how it’ll affect flights in and out of the country this time, but last year, flights were cancelled and planes grounded for days. With luck, though, it’ll all blow over fairly quickly, pardon the pun. If not, well, I guess I get a longer holiday.
