Retro Post

Hi guys,

It's been far too long - my apologies! This will be the retro post, containing all the time-up-until now...

Day 1 - Fri 13th-Sat 14th
We FINALLY left Sydney on Friday night, after spending too many hours in the Qantas lounge. The food was great (a little too good - see later) but things did start to wane after 4 hours.

As for the flight, all I can say is - SEVEN SICK BAGS. I was so ill, the Qantas staff ended up asking me if I wanted to sleep in the staff area. I would sleep for a while, wake up, puke for a bit, cry, then fall asleep again. Not much fun. Things were better for a while after we landed in Bangkok, until we had to walk past the smokers' lounge (aka Cancer Club) then the horrible pattern recommenced.

The less said about this time in my life, the better. We finally landed in London (puke bag number 8 as we taxied to the terminal - even the guy travelling with a wife in a wheelchair and four kids was giving me sympathy looks), took forever to clear customs and were met by Grant. This wonderful man drove us all the way to his house and left me alone so I could get some sleep. I was feeling pretty seedy, so I just said a brief hello to Cath and fell asleep.

After a few hours, we ate a wonderful lunch (have I mentioned that Grant & Cath are fabulous hosts?), then Mike and I went for a wander. We got a lift to the local station and caught the train to London central. Lots of Mike making little happy noises. We stopped in the Covent Garden area, did a quick lap of the London Transport Museum, saw a nude bike ride (more riders but less colour than the Sydney version we've been involved with), wandered around and went to a local Lush shop - the first time the smell has ever been too strong for a die-hard ike me. Then we met G&C in Chiswick, near where Mike used to live. Lovely pub dinner, home again home again, jiggety jig.

In this time, more blood tests performed than in the whole rest of my life, or so it felt! Fell into a blissful sleep with a snnffle and start of a cold...

Day 2

London tourist day. We made an early start - both still jet-lagged! - and went in search of an English breakfast. No luck here (everyone else had the sense to sleep in!), but we did find a place that promised "Antipodean coffee". Tasted pretty good, too! We made it to Buck Palace and saw the Changing of the Guard - a bunch of dudes march in, yell at another buncgh of dudes already there for a bit, then the old dudes march out. Very Pomp & Circumstance, but pretty cool. From there, we wandered through St James's Park to Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street. There was a Normandy Landing memorial parade happening, so the streets were pretty full of veterans and security guards. Stupid George stupid W stpid was due in town, so most of the areas close to No 10 were locked down.

We saw the Horse Guards on duty - the horses were huge, but very tolerant of the hordes of tourists! Then we hopped on a red double-deckered bus tour and saw some of the sights. As with most old cities (I'm guessing!), there are HEAPS of stories to be told about this part of the world.

We stopped off at the Tower of London after crossing Tower Bridge. Fromt he outside, it looks like a pile of rocks on a hill - whoop de doop. But I was amazed when we went inside and saw all the amazing stuff that is actually there! We were shown around by an actual Beefeater (and yes, Goodies fans, they do eat beef). We checked out the crown jewels and I personally want to put any of the Cullinar diamonds on my Christmas wish list.

Back on the bus, we hopped off near Cleopatra's Needle, the oldest monument in London. It's only been in England for the last few hundred years, but it's about a gazillion years old. We walked across Jubilee Bridge and jumped on the London Eye - a whopping great big Ferris Wheel that takes about 20 minutes to do one full revolution. The view was, as you would expect, pretty amazing. Seeing the sun set over the houses of arliament was also pretty cool.

We then hot-footed it back to Covent Garden and met up with Mike's mates. Craig and Eva were there, and it was grat to finally meet them. They'de had their civil wedding ceremony the day before, so they were still all a-glow and giving each other goofy grins. Also making an appearance were Peter and Mark, some of Mike's London mates.

Mark gave us a lift back to Hanwell, with his GPS giving us an interesting tour of the back streets of west London - perhaps it was dizzy? Another night of being sound asleep...