M&D Tour: London

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18^thJune



Have hired a car and drove from Cardiff to London to meet Mum & Dad. We left by 0900 to let the morning traffic subside and had mostly a good trip up.....until we got to London. We found out by a passing taxi driver about the ‘congestion zone’. This is an area around central London where you have to pay a fee if you want to drive through. Of course...our gps was taking us right through the middle. So with very careful consultation with congestion zone map on phone...and gps, I navigated us right around the outskirts of the zone. We found the flat where we were staying..then had to meet a girl with to get the keys. All fine! Then to find the parking lot. (you have to pay to park...you can’t park on the street without a permit and only ‘residents’ can be allocated a permit. VERY long story short...we drove round and round trying to find this stupid carpark....finally pulling into a dead end street to ask a third person for directions. A lady walking with a shopping bag was passing so I asked her if she knew where this carpark was. “First I have some bad news for you” she said “by turning into this street...you have entered the congestion zone”. I was not impressed!! Then, the carpark was directly opposite through a small gate with a tiny sign indicating the carpark. And here I was looking for the big yellow sign as advised by the carpark company!! Not a good start! Then we caught the tube to find Mum and Dad at Heathrow. That was the easy part!!

Had a few days in London...saw the main sights, and on our last day, accidently got caught up in the massive ‘austerity protest’ that was happening. Fortunately we were just on the very edge..and only while we were walking from our diverted red bus...that also got caught up in the protest in a traffic jam...to the underground.

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