London calling

I got home from a late shift at work via the Melbourne Wine Room. Then the packing began In earnest as I dillied and dallied as to what I should take seeing it was summer in old Blighty after all! I finished up at around 2am and tried to sleep. 
Well the day finally arrived and lucky I looked at the long range weather forecast for London and promptly undid my bag and pulled out the summer clothes and added more temperate climate clothes; rain, showers, heavy rain, cloudy and a max of 19 degrees all week! So I will see London in all its grey glory, all week!
After a cycle along the beach where there was a long grey band of ash along the entire horizon, i checked my flight was still going to take off as scheduled. so far so good! Breakky at lil ox filled my insides with a warm burst of vanilla porridge with mapel syrup and a decaf coffee. The day was filled with this and that and before i knew it Hop was at the door ready to ferry me into town to catch skybus to Melbourne Airport. On arrival at the airport there was no long queues so my check in was super quick and so was customs clearance. I bought my Christmas brandy at duty free to pick up on my arrival home, so i better remember!
So after a long but dozey 14 hour flight to Doha in Qatar, i continued my journey after a 2 hour stopover and a long busride to the departure terminal, a big airport under construction. We continued our flight in a smaller plane with an Indian man sprawled out next to me snoozing using both arm rests so i could not retrieve my remote for the entertainment hub and had to sit on an angle as he took up half my leg room as well, bloody hell! Arrived in London a little late and got held up at immigration as there were only a couple of people checking passports while some abruptly shut shop for a break as the queue of passengers snaked around and around. A few people were detained like border patrol. Finally outa there and took the Heathrow xpress to Paddington as i thought it would be quicker than the tube, but in hindsight my £18 could have been put to better use. Got to Tooting Broadway on the Northern Line and settled into my new abode for the week, snoozed for an hour, showered and headed into Covent Garden, tired and Jetlagged to meet up with some friends i met in Japan last year. We ate at Wagamama which is still big here and after a couple of hours, felt like crap so wound my way home on the tube in a daze. Next day went to Clapham junction to meet some Galapagos friends for lunch. The station was invaded by girls dressed to the nines in their racing regalia and hats with feathers, and boys with champagne in both hands in top hats and tails, off to Ascot  for some action, i guess on and off the track!  I felt under dressed in my jeans and tshirt, but got over it and we had a 5 hour lunch with wine and then some more wine at a pub in waterloo station whilst the heavens opened and dumped buckets of rain onto the unfortunate commuters who actually ventured outside, then back home, and out again to wagamaga for dinner and home. Up and down, back and forth on the tube!
The following day was spent in Essex with my extended family meeting up for an all day lunch and i washed it all down with a glass or more of Bulmers pear cider, my new fave drink!
On my return to London i looked up what was on at the Tate Modern and there was a massive Miro exhibition, so out i headed again and indulged my senses and my little heart leapt for joy surrounded by many diverse and some massive Miro works, awesome! Then onto South kensington for dinner with Bev and Tony, old friends from Melb, and we had Thai which was so hot, i had to drink a lot of wine to compensate!!!! The next day I decided to take a ride on the London Eye like a real tourist and headed to Waterloo to queue up with the rest of the sheep who were herded towards the giant white wheel in 2 corralles. It took 30 mins to reach the entrance and i boarded the big white capsule. We went up and around very slowly taking in the sights of London and the bird's eye view was quite fascinating. The weather had cleared and blue sky and puffy cloud replaced the grey blanket which has covered the sky since I arrived. I met my friend Adam from my Galapagos trip and he decided to surprise me by trying to find me as i exited the eye instead of waiting for me on the steps of St Pauls. I heard my name called and it was surreal as i did not expect it. We headed off towards chinatown where he introduced me to Waxy O'Connor, a whimisical pub right out of a Harry Potter movie with several bars on several levels interconnected by a maze of stairs and passages, a tree in the centre and some random antique pieces like a confessional and old church seats etc. After a few drinks we took off to Borough where i discovered there is a big gourmet food market, but it was closed when we got there. I am going to check it out tomorrow. We then went on and after a couple more pubs ended up in an Indian restaurant walking thru hospital grounds somewhere in the back streets near London Bridge and a group of us had very nice meal, quite spicy and more authentic than the indian food back home. great to discover new places around town!