Day 50 London - last day (Monday 7 May)
Funny how reliable that is. It always rains on Bank Holidays. Silly Leni believed the forecast of "light cloud" and went out about midday in leather sandals and without umbrella (though the rain jacket has a hood; I'm not totally daft). It started raining almost at once. By the time I reached Oxford Circus ("next bus stop closed", so quite a hike back to Regent St) the rain was fairly heavy. I made my sad attempt at retail therapy (boggled at prices; bought nothing), and gave up.
Had the weather been better, I might have gone out to the Leighton Museum off Kensington High St, where they have an exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite paintings on loan from a private collection. Or back to the V&A to look at the glass or ceramic collections (lots to see, and the modern stuff is mostly gorgeous). But I was wet and uncomfortable, and didn't feel like getting more so, especially as the first option involved quite a bit of walking to get to the museum. Bah. So I went back to the hotel, via Tesco, where I laid in several boxes of different pink teas to take home. (Tea bags are much lighter than museum catalogues.) The V&A, at least, will be there next year; they're currently re-doing the glass collection displays, so maybe it's for the best I didn't go.
Two hours later, and the sun is out again, as it was until about 11 am. With any luck my shoes and jacket etc will be dry before I have to pack tomorrow morning. Not my day, clearly.
In Tesco I also bought some Ben and Jerry ice cream, experimentally, and had that for lunch. Quite tasty, though I could have done without the "chocolate truffle" core inside the vanilla with white chocolate chips and the raspberry with raspberry pieces (truffle be damned; it was just thick chocolate goo).
If I go out again it will just be to get something light at Le Pain Quotidien.
So I can surf the net and read fanfic with a clear conscience: it's too late to be doing anything else! And I can finalise my sshg_exchange sign-up, whee. (As usual, reading the existing sign-ups has reminded me of some items I should label Do Not Want. As well as exciting my admiration for what some people dreamed up for prompts.) Hoo boy, I've just read a BBC article warning that a persistent cough may be a sign of lung cancer. Let's hope not.
Next year. If not Jerusalem, then a number of London museums I still haven't visited.
Note to self: next year, bring the brown trolley bag and the backpack and the handbag. I can pack quite enough weight into those. Nothing else. Unless I have company to lug the cabin bag down escalators for me… It's a pity that a laden cabin bag is much easier to move (trolley wheels) than a laden backpack. But I need the backpack for actual journeys. I can't imagine what I can leave out. I've already abandoned walking shoes.
Had the weather been better, I might have gone out to the Leighton Museum off Kensington High St, where they have an exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite paintings on loan from a private collection. Or back to the V&A to look at the glass or ceramic collections (lots to see, and the modern stuff is mostly gorgeous). But I was wet and uncomfortable, and didn't feel like getting more so, especially as the first option involved quite a bit of walking to get to the museum. Bah. So I went back to the hotel, via Tesco, where I laid in several boxes of different pink teas to take home. (Tea bags are much lighter than museum catalogues.) The V&A, at least, will be there next year; they're currently re-doing the glass collection displays, so maybe it's for the best I didn't go.
Two hours later, and the sun is out again, as it was until about 11 am. With any luck my shoes and jacket etc will be dry before I have to pack tomorrow morning. Not my day, clearly.
In Tesco I also bought some Ben and Jerry ice cream, experimentally, and had that for lunch. Quite tasty, though I could have done without the "chocolate truffle" core inside the vanilla with white chocolate chips and the raspberry with raspberry pieces (truffle be damned; it was just thick chocolate goo).
If I go out again it will just be to get something light at Le Pain Quotidien.
So I can surf the net and read fanfic with a clear conscience: it's too late to be doing anything else! And I can finalise my sshg_exchange sign-up, whee. (As usual, reading the existing sign-ups has reminded me of some items I should label Do Not Want. As well as exciting my admiration for what some people dreamed up for prompts.) Hoo boy, I've just read a BBC article warning that a persistent cough may be a sign of lung cancer. Let's hope not.
Next year. If not Jerusalem, then a number of London museums I still haven't visited.
Note to self: next year, bring the brown trolley bag and the backpack and the handbag. I can pack quite enough weight into those. Nothing else. Unless I have company to lug the cabin bag down escalators for me… It's a pity that a laden cabin bag is much easier to move (trolley wheels) than a laden backpack. But I need the backpack for actual journeys. I can't imagine what I can leave out. I've already abandoned walking shoes.