I hopped the train to Paddington Station at 2:21pm and ended the portion of my trip that required work. Except for the hauling of 75 pounds of crap that I decided was necessary for my trip to England. I’d call that work, too. Anyway, the trip back to London was lovely – all verdent (and I mean blinding, saturated greens on the hills – dotted with sheep, of course – that we passed) and lovely and relaxing. We got to Paddington, hopped the tube to Victoria Station, got bad directions to the hotel and wandered the streets for a bit – until we finally got good directions – and then made it to the hotel – with all 75 pounds of crap still attached. We were going to get an extra bed and Bobbi was going to crash in my room overnight, before getting on a 7am plane to Italy – but my room is barely big enough for the twin bed that is in it (as in the door won’t fully open because the foot of space between the doorjamb and the bed won’t allow it. Private toilet, lots of tea/coffee makings and all, but NO ROOM. They are moving me to a bigger one tomorrow. After all that, Bobbi decided it would be just as cheap to get a hotel room out at the airport than to get a room here and pay 45 pounds (that’s 90 bucks) for the taxi back – since the tube doesn’t open til 6am. She left, I got settled in my closet and went out for dinner.
I stopped off at a cute little pub on Victoria Street (I think – still getting my bearings) and had bangers and mash with a cider to drink. As I was finishing up, a lady came and sat at my table and asked to bum a light – I gave her one, we chatted amiably, then her friend came out and joined her and she lit into him like a banshee. Apparently he (or someone) had been telling people that she will “drain your bank account” and she wanted him to stop. He insisted that he wasn’t saying it. I was fascinated, but had to leave in the middle – it was getting a bit weird for me! They paused in their argument, wished me a lovely evening and continued on as I walked away.
I got back to the hotel at about 9:30 and the “emergency engineering issue” that they had warned me about when I checked in kicked in. No electricity for the rest of the night. I’m typing this up on battery power and will post it tomorrow (Thursday) after the power comes back on to our street.
Sweet dreams, y’all – I’m going to sleep!
