Much Ado About London

I had a great trip to London last week. It got off to a rocky start because of some wicked weather that rolled thru. Our scheduled flight was cancelled and we had to deadhead over on a later flight. It was packed, but I still managed to score an aisle seat. The First Officer got the middle seat next to me and he had a little temper tantrum about it, so after the meal service, I switched with him since I planned to sleep the rest of the flight.

We arrived in London around noon and got to the hotel around 1pm. Given that I had slept most of the way over, the arrival nap was not really needed, so I could hit the ground running.

I met up with a four other co-workers and went to lunch with them at a place called Eats. I mistakenly grabbed a bag of beet chips instead of potato chips and they tasted like death.

After lunch we walked down past Harrod's to a place called the Tattersill Tavern and had a pint. I had a Kronenburg 1664, which was a tad bitter, but still good. I bid my farewells to my co-workers and headed over to Sainsbury to do some shopping (Ladyfriend was requesting Original Source bath products - http://www.originalsource.co.uk/) and then on to Boots (my friend Terry in my card group likes Remegel, the best antacid ever made).

I dropped everything back at the room and then headed down to Piccadilly and the Criterion Theare to try and get a seat to The 39 Steps (http://www.criterion-theatre.co.uk/), a play based on an Alfred Hitchcock movie. I was able to get a seat in the Upper Circle, the nice British way of referring to the Nose Bleed section for about 20 GBP.

I still had some time to kill so I thought I would do a little walking around and some people watching. I saw a group of high school kids who were wearing Nebraska t-shirts and they were obnoxious and all I could think about is that I hoped they were not on my plane the next day.

I walked over to Trafalgar Square and got some take-away food from a cafe and sat around the fountain to take in the scene. I saw the police pick up a man for pick pocketing, which was kind of interesting.

I got back to the theatre and made my way up to the high altitudes that was my seat. The play was great. A mix of suspense and comedy. The cast consisted of only four actors who played all 139 roles. Watching them switch between characters was hilarious.

After the play ended, around 10:30 or so (it was still light out), I made my way to the Underground and back to the area near the hotel. There is a 24 hour TESCO, a kind of mini supermarket, near the hotel and I got a few vittles for breakfast.

The flight home was OK. Since I had purchased the bath products, I was over my allotment for liquids, gels, and aerosols and had to check my bag. It's a bit unnerving to have the driver leave it out on the tarmac next to the plane just sitting there out in the open.

I actually slept for most of my break, and we landed right on time.