Our last day in London

Our last day in London and we decided to go our own way to grasp our last British experience.

Leigh caught the underground to Waterloo train station and then hopped on a train down to Guildford (on the Haslemere line) to meet someone he went to school with in Jakarta, 20+ years ago. He and Ollie had lunch in a small cafe near the station and chatted about life after JIS - Leigh had lived there for two years (1981-1983) and Ollie was in his 6th grade class. Ollie now works in the IT Recruitment and Placement industry, based in Guildford.

After lunch, Leigh bid Ollie farewell and caught the train back to London to spend some more time drinking yet more beer in the Old Red Lion, a pub just up the road from our apartment where he spent a lot of time :)



I had a quintessential British experience this morning, as I chatted cricket in general, and Sir Donald Bradman in particular, with Dr Watson in the sitting room of 221b Baker Street and then shopping at Harrods.

Hard to find a bargain in Harrods but good news, girls, I did manage it! Found a deal for 3 books for the price of 2.

A more upmarket and elegant version of Myers, that seems to carry off the style that Myers tries for and never quite reaches. I think the doormen add that bit of poshness that lifts Harrods up the shopping ladder. There was lots of nice stuff, tho I only visited the homewares floor. Luckily for my credit card the ‘getting it home in one piece’ problem stopped me in my tracks. However, if I could have afforded the china and cutlery, transport probably wouldn’t have been a consideration.

Soup of the day, which just happened to be butternut squash, at Harrods Café to complete my shopping experience and a tube ride home from Knightsbridge.

And then the highlight … doing the washing so we have something to wear on the coach tour!

My overall conclusion/description of London would be “old and tired”. The items in London are outwardly kept in good condition (ie the buildings are restored and stone cleaned etc) but they work as well as can be expected for anything that is just plain old. And while old is fascinating to get to see, it is a pain in the butt to live with on a daily basis. About the only thing that belies its age and seems to work well (at least it did for us) was the underground. It was a great way for us to successfully navigate our way around. I can get to places by underground that I would have no idea what roads to take to achieve the same end if I was city side.

Our apartment was a good idea but I wouldn’t recommend the Citadines Apartments if they are all like the one in Holborn. Definitely a form over substance kind of place. Very clean and neatly laid out but most things under the surface left a lot to be desired. A fold out bed (which wasn’t the most comfortable thing) with sheets that had holes in them – it was a studio apartment so I knew it was one room but I did expect a real bed. A small kitchen with fridge, stovetop and dishwasher but no frypan or proper utensils to cook with. A reasonably sized room but fitted out such that there was nowhere to put anything or to generally organise our ‘stuff’. Ditto the bathroom, space in all the wrong places. And a toilet seat that broke 4 times in the first 4 days of our stay. Now I have a feeling it may be a bit London-ish in general, but this place had either boiling hot water or freezing cold water – no such thing as tepid. It was impossible to have a decent shower here. I know they don’t want you to hog the shower/water but making it impossible to wash you hair properly does make life difficult! You can discuss London Internet access with Leigh if you would like to.

To finish off our last day in London (well, beside the need to pack) we hopped on the tube to Leister Square and flipped a coin to select one of the many Chinese restaurants in the nearby streets. Leigh was especially pleased with the salt and pepper squid dish. From there, back on the tube to Waterloo station for our ride on the London Eye. It was nearly 9pm and the ride took about 30 minutes. I had a great time happy snapping the 360-degree views from 85 metres but Leigh wasn’t comfortable until we had feet back on terra firma. So know we have St Paul’s 360 degree views during the day, and London Eye 360 degree dusk views to complete the picture collection, although no 'panorama' shots were really possible from the eye, so just ordinary pics this time :)



On the ride back home on the underground, I spotted this poster - Leigh couldn't work out why I noticed it - he was too fixated on Jakki and Leilani, but it was Eric who caught my eye :-)