Look Out London!

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Suz had taken the day off work, I mean was “working from home”, so we decided have pancakes for breakfast. The three of us trundled down to the local supermarket, Tescso’s. We grab some food to start us off for the week and were introduced to the ‘self service’ checkout! Brendan and Suz cooked up a storm of pancakes, bacon, banana’s and maple syrup. What a treat!

We went down to the local tube station, Clapham South only a few minutes walk away and had a quick lesson on how to use the tube pass ticket machine (₤5 for a 1-2 Zone day ticket! = a lot when your comparing back to NZ$!).
We went though the ticket gates and down what would be considered an extreme long and steep escalator back in NZ. The station was reasonably old. The walls were cladded with tiles, which I dare say are at least as old as my grandparents. The place seemed small, loud and a little creepy. I had no idea where we were or how to get out. The platform felt narrow, and before I could think about get used to it, a tube train came hurdling down the tunnel and into the station.
To be honest, I was terrified. I hid behind Brendan and nervously climbed aboard after them and sat down. I don’t know if it was the fact that we were sitting side ways, the heat or it was the thought that any minute now some terrorists are going to blow us up into smithereens, but I did not like it one bit. I was feeling claustrophobic, disorientated, a little dizzy and couldn’t not wait to get off!

We finally made it to Oxford Street after swapping tubes. Here I was, main street, central London!
There were so many people, all pushing past and lots of large buildings, but no high rises. It was hot and felt claustrophobic. The infamous red London double-decker buses were everywhere. As we pushed our way through the crowds up Oxford Street, “Overwhelming” soon became the only word to describe.

We made our way to some mobile phone outlets, looking for the best deal. We both decided to go with "O2" and ended up with the same phone number +1 - how tacky!

We went to Pizza Hut for lunch (who would have thought!?). Not quite the same as home, but not bad. Bottomless soft drinks are definitely an improvement though. We walked up to Hyde Park for a bit of a rest under the trees, and a good chance for us to play with our new phones. Hyde Park appeared to be BIG, but soon found out we were only in one small corner of it. I think I was just happy to be sitting down in the shade. We did a bit of shopping, and hurried to the tube station to avoid the commuter’s traffic.

After a short break at home, and a bit of organising of my new room, we jumped back on the tube to Piccadilly Circus. I was still quite apprehensive about the tube ride, but was a little better than this morning. We meet some of Suz’s friends for dinner at a local restaurant, and Ben came to join us later. The meals were nice and seemed well priced, that is until you convert it back to NZ$. Not sure how I’m going to survive with no job for the next few months!!

After dinner, me, Brendan, Suz and Ben we went to a local pub ‘The Carlisle Arms’ in Soho for a drink of Magners. As there were no seats left in the pub, we sat outside on the curb. Classy.

There are a few specific things here that Suz’s says I’ll notice are different from home.
Firstly, there are no stars in the sky. And she was not kidding, I know the Auckland nights can drown out a quite a few stars, but the London lights appear to drown out ALL stars, minus maybe one or two if your lucky.
The other thing is roaming fox’s in the middle of the superbs! You can see them quite easily at night roaming around the streets. They are not the lean-mean-killing-machines that has been imbedded into your mind since you were a child, but rather skinny shy animals that resemble a large timid cat and not so much a dog or wolf. The worst thing about them is the noise they make - it sounds more like a child or woman screaming fearfully than any sort of animal.

Brendan and I were still rather tired from our flight and long day. So back on the tube we climbed and headed back to Clapham South. I was once again glad to be jumping back into my bed.

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Photos

Oxford Street
Check out those London buses!

Suz & Hanz - Carlisle Arms
The two classiest chicks in London!

Comments

[Haemoglobin]

Wolves!? 5 pound tube rides? no seats inside the bar? Scary.