A Very Ordinary Day

Saturday October 2nd

There are no little travellers with us here in London. There simply was not enough room to accommodate them. So they are having a long sleep at Baton on Sea.

We knew that today needed to be a quiet day and Hamish was having a much needed sleep in after a very busy week. We walked to the local shops and bought a paper which we came home and read with a coffee. Life seemed almost normal, except this is England not Wanganui.

Just before 12 we decided that it would be nice to have a home cooked family meal instead of going out so we got ourselves organised and caught a train to Shepherd’s Bush. We had noticed a supermarket there near Wetherspoons and thought we could combine lunch, internet and shopping. We settled ourselves into Wetherspoons and ordered the burger and Beer lunch and then tried to connect to the internet. After 20 mins and considerable frustration I finally got online. I was able to book a National Express coach trip back to Ringwood for Monday and checked the date carefully several times! Having no printer I opted to have the ticket sent electronically to my mobile phone. This is an M-ticket. You just show the text to the bus driver. Then there was the anxious wait for the text to arrive but it finally did. As long as we can negotiate our way around the tube strike on Monday we should be able to get back. It would seem we can walk to the next station which is close and get on an overland train to Marylebone Station. Then we will have to bus across London to Victoria. We will allow plenty of time and if it all goes wrong we may have to take an expensive London Taxi ride.

We must have spent a good couple of hours in Wetherspoons using their WiFi and looked at some other transport options for later next week. It was a good fast connection and I was able to update the blog and check mail etc.

My goodness, how long is since I actually cooked a roast dinner and in a gas oven. But it all turned out really well and we had a lovely time with Hamish and Louise. We had even tracked down a bottle of NZ wine, (on special of course). Thanks goodness I had got it all in the oven early because Hamish arrived and said how long till dinner because I am so hungry. Nothing changes!

It was not a late night as they have to be at the band room for 7am in the morning. Tomorrow is the concert at the Albert Hall which we have come to London to go to. They have a morning rehearsal before a 2.30pm concert. After the concert we will meet up and have dinner in town and hopefully find a way back home as the tube strike starts at 6.30pm Sunday. Seems you may not be able to top up you Oyster card during the strike but you will be able to use them on the overland trains. I told Hamish this so they left to go and top their cards up before having an early night.