Touchdown


Finally I'm in London.

After an interminable delay boarding, a long flight, and another wait to get into our "ramp" at Heathrow, I was finally free. Jerry was there, waiting for me (the man is a saint). We hopped on the Heathrow Express and then into a cab.




London cabs are everything they are cracked up to be. Spacious, fun, and driven by a character straight out of Eastenders. I would lay money that our driver was named "Charlie."

I settled into Jane and Jerry's place and then went for a walk round. I got a SIM chip for my cell phone and now have a local phone number. North America really are hopelessly behind the times when it comes to cell phones. The array of available phones and services here is ridiculous.

Notting Hill suits me as a neighbourhood. The Waterstones bookstore is across the street from the Starbucks.




I wandered down to Hyde Park...




where the Princess Diana Memorial Childrens' Playground thingamajig is. I took one look at this thing and thought "that's a lawsuit waiting to happen."





But it appears the British (or at least the locals) seem to understand that harm reduction can go too far...





After sitting on a bench for a while I wandered back home. And now there is some delicious smell wafting in from the kitchen. Excuse me... 12 hours of airline food requires that I must investigate this...

Posted: Mon - June 9, 2003 at 07:34 PM   Meltdown   Out and About   Email Comments

© Adam Smith