London Town

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5th April 2005
South-East London, England.

I've arrived! I had so very many last-minute half-forgotten things to write about Thailand. But now it is all in the past, forgotten. London fills my head to overflowing. I had thought it was Spring here (again making incorrect assumptions about the weather of another country, lah), which it actually is, but that doesn't stop it from being possibly the coldest place I've ever been. I stepped off the plane from Bangkok in my ghekko top and a light-weight skirt.... and with all the jackets and woolies packed deep within the bowels of my packpack. A very bad decision.

But the sun was shining, and I survived the "tubes" and buses and the walking to my hostel with my unbelievably heavy bags, and so all was good with the world. It's a bit weird, the prospect of sleeping with seven other unknown girls and women, but surely an arrangement which I will acclimatise to. I went out walking, something which is becoming a habit with new places, and familiarised myself with the area. I'm in a great location, there's a bus stop about two metres away (if I had only known), a "Sainsbury's" shop down the road (which is apparently a very good and cheap place to shop for gorceries etc), there's an underground "tube" station about 500 metres down the road, and the Earl's Court district, previously known as "Kangaroo Valley" on account of all of the Aussie expats, is just around the corner. So it's all excellent, very easy to get around, and so forth.

My roommates seem very nice. I've been offered all kinds of advice on where to shop, what to see, what to do, etc. It's true, what they say about London being so expensive, but there are ways around some of it. Places to shop cheaply (dinner was a microwave meal for £1), things to see for free, places to walk for free.....um.....and I'm sure there will be more to discover, as well. I'm going on a London bus tour soon and will work things out from there.

Oh! I had some funny anecdotes to offer. I was walking about and happened to come across a tall conical-shaped building of about 3x3 metres in the middle of the street. My attention was attracted to it by a guy stuffing around (bit of a story, let's leave it at that) and upon closer inspection I discovered that it was a toilet! Seriously, in the middle of the street. You pay for the privilege and in you go. Shameless Poms! I laughed myself silly. Surely the train station, which was about 10 metres away, offered bathrooms.

And then there was the damned library. I eventually boarded one of these double-decker red buses which London has in abundance, and wouldn't you believe it, but when I got off in Earl's Court, one of the first things I saw was a signpost directing one towards the local library. I am being stalked! (Private joke for those who know me). But I resisted any impulses to follow that lead down and make sure that their shelving was suitably straight and tidy.....with only a little effort. ; - D

The London establishments and buildings lining the street and so forth in the area in which I am staying seem very lovely and suitably impressive. The trees are bare with the last grip of winter but there are splashes of early Spring's hesitant colour on carefully potted doorsteps and in half-glimpsed walled-off private parks. The sun, when it is seen, cannot rival the brilliance of a Queensland summer, but it's icy blue is lovely all the same. And the air is not only cold but crisp, as if you could touch it and hear the crackle of shiny new cellophane.

But enough nonesence, must go, fingers are frozen and it's uncomfortable to type. All my love,
Emma

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Photos

Well, lah-de-dah
Servants to go 'round the back....some residents still clinging to the old ways...

Toilet in the middle of the Street!
Shameless poms...

Eros statue at Piccadilly Circus
There were all these people just sitting there beneath the statue....I asked but could not understand why they were just sitting there, doing nothing.