Sleepy Tourist
And so this is London.
I’m pretty sleepy, but I wanted to check in while I’ve still got a broadband connection here at my hotel to tell you a story or two about my first couple of days.
First, the travelling: I hinted in my last post that the trip itself was something of a nightmare. It wasn’t too bad, I guess, just very long. It included a spectacularly lengthy delay in Sydney where I learned that there’s only so many hours you can wander around and look at shiny duty-free shops without going mad. It was late Thursday night before we actually took off, and during the twenty hours (and then some) on the plane I discovered to my great joy that despite my extreme exhaustion, a couple of glasses of red, a supposedly knock-out antihistamine and an incredibly boring movie starring Kevin Costner, I STILL CAN’T SLEEP ON PLANES. Sigh. The Indiana Jones-style map they provide on the little screens is fun to watch but a bit of a curse – the ‘time remaining’ counter moves v e r y slowly indeed.
Upon my arrival I discovered that all that time spent worrying about packing my suitcase in the most strategically brilliant manner possible was utterly wasted because:
1. I have brought entirely the wrong wardrobe. It might be technically spring, but most of the UK is currently covered with snow and London is very, very cold. I do have a coat (thankfully) but have already had to emergency purchase a jumper and a pashmina to be able to brave the streets. I’ve never owned a pashmina before. I’m not sure what, if anything, my new pashmina-owning status says about the effect the UK has had on me already.
2. The clothes I did bring have been ruined by a toiletries-bag explosion. ‘Oh no!’ I hear you shout. ‘The shampoo? The talcum powder? Surely not the toothpaste?’
Oh no, my friends. It was the Dettol.
Yes, you read that correctly. The Dettol. Luckily it wasn’t a full bottle (or my hotel room would currently smell even more like a hospital, which doesn’t seem possible) but still, a little Dettol goes a long way.
No, I have no idea why there was Dettol in my suitcase. A lack of faith in English antiseptics, perhaps? Or (more likely), could it be that I simply packed everything in the “B-List: Potentially Useful Items” drawer in my former bathroom without actually considering any of the items individually? Either way, my punishment is severe and ongoing.
That’s probably enough for now. I’ve had mild-to-middling jet lag sleeping issues, but have managed to enjoy wandering about and reacquainting myself with the streets of London. It’s strange how everything is unfamiliar and yet I recognise so much of it – the shop names, the tube map, Ribena, the goths at Camden market, it’s all coming back to me now.
I’m pretty sleepy, but I wanted to check in while I’ve still got a broadband connection here at my hotel to tell you a story or two about my first couple of days.
First, the travelling: I hinted in my last post that the trip itself was something of a nightmare. It wasn’t too bad, I guess, just very long. It included a spectacularly lengthy delay in Sydney where I learned that there’s only so many hours you can wander around and look at shiny duty-free shops without going mad. It was late Thursday night before we actually took off, and during the twenty hours (and then some) on the plane I discovered to my great joy that despite my extreme exhaustion, a couple of glasses of red, a supposedly knock-out antihistamine and an incredibly boring movie starring Kevin Costner, I STILL CAN’T SLEEP ON PLANES. Sigh. The Indiana Jones-style map they provide on the little screens is fun to watch but a bit of a curse – the ‘time remaining’ counter moves v e r y slowly indeed.
Upon my arrival I discovered that all that time spent worrying about packing my suitcase in the most strategically brilliant manner possible was utterly wasted because:
1. I have brought entirely the wrong wardrobe. It might be technically spring, but most of the UK is currently covered with snow and London is very, very cold. I do have a coat (thankfully) but have already had to emergency purchase a jumper and a pashmina to be able to brave the streets. I’ve never owned a pashmina before. I’m not sure what, if anything, my new pashmina-owning status says about the effect the UK has had on me already.
2. The clothes I did bring have been ruined by a toiletries-bag explosion. ‘Oh no!’ I hear you shout. ‘The shampoo? The talcum powder? Surely not the toothpaste?’
Oh no, my friends. It was the Dettol.
Yes, you read that correctly. The Dettol. Luckily it wasn’t a full bottle (or my hotel room would currently smell even more like a hospital, which doesn’t seem possible) but still, a little Dettol goes a long way.
No, I have no idea why there was Dettol in my suitcase. A lack of faith in English antiseptics, perhaps? Or (more likely), could it be that I simply packed everything in the “B-List: Potentially Useful Items” drawer in my former bathroom without actually considering any of the items individually? Either way, my punishment is severe and ongoing.
That’s probably enough for now. I’ve had mild-to-middling jet lag sleeping issues, but have managed to enjoy wandering about and reacquainting myself with the streets of London. It’s strange how everything is unfamiliar and yet I recognise so much of it – the shop names, the tube map, Ribena, the goths at Camden market, it’s all coming back to me now.
posted by jLo at 11:49 PM
7 Comments:
Conversely, the English bowls team here in Melbourne, freshly landed in Oz, were close to death the other day in a 24deg scorcher. An Australian Autumn is quite different from that in London.
At least if you fall and graze your knee your clothes will automatically sterilise the wound for you.
Quick, escape from the pound before it eats up all your poor little Australian dollars!
But don't forget about visiting Greenwich for a cheap snack and a fabulous free view from the observatory. DIRECTIONS: Take Northern Line (Direction Southbound), connect at Bank, take DLR (direction Lewisham), get off at Cutty Sark.
Hey Julie
Glad you finally made it out of the country! Too late to make it to the Queen's Australian reception - sigh.
J-File, Dettol exploding in your suitcase is something that could only possibly happen to you. Glad your having fun
Be grateful that the spectacularly long delay was in the airport and not actually ON the plane. I got stuck in a plane on the tarmac in Toronto for 5 hours once (and this was after waiting for about 5 hours in the airport prior to boarding the plane) because the airconditioning wasn't working - so there were hundreds of people stuck in an unairconditioned tin can for hours with the only refreshment offered being water. The fun bit was that they opened all the doors (so we wouldn't sufffocate) and I got to peer out of the rear door of a 747 to the tarmac maaaaaaaany metres below.
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Great blog mate!
That is one fine looking cake you have displayed in the header... and there I was thinking the tram cake was the pinnacle of decorative desserts.
I hope your pashmina keeps you toasty warm and you catch up on some sleep.
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