S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y.

Sadiddy!



I awoke early Saturday, but chose not to have breakfast. I decided instead to have some biscuits or muesli. I dug into my bag and pulled out the muesli. The bag was a little shredded.

I wasn't certain that the bag wasn't just torn, but even though it was in a sealed zip-loc bag, I didn't want to take the chance. I kept thinking of this:

I tossed the meusli forthwith and had a biscuit instead. I'm happy to announce that my kettle worked nicely. As did my various chargers. I spent the few extra quid for an hour of internet and informed Thomas (of Heather and Thomas fame a.k.a. the World's Most Perfect Couple), that I had changed residences and was no longer at our original meeting place. Previously we arranged to meet for 11.

A few minutes later, I got a response that they would indeed meet me at the HI for 11.

I spent the morning lounging in bed and watching Murder She Wrote on TVI.


I got dressed and went to the lobby to meet Heather and Thomas. They insisted on taking me to lunch because I had to spend so much extra money on new accommodations. See what I mean by perfect???

I was ready to walk, and so were they, so we walked. I wasn't really sure where I was or where I was going, but I enjoyed the brisk air and being led around not having to pay attention to where I was.

We went back to Tibbits. This time I took a pic of what I had.

Here we have two falafel, two eggplant dishes, some soba noodles, a whole wheat roll, hummus and some type of  'traditional' cheesecake. I'm not sure what that was or what it meant, but it had a pleasant 'play dough' flavor.  And yes, the delicious Ginger Lemon Fizz! The three of us chatted and ate. It was wonderful!
After we'd had our fill and digested for a bit, we decided to take in the sights of the city.


We were walking along looking at this and that when they took me past a new landmark. See if you can figure out what it is.

Give up?  That's the new 221B Baker Street next to Speedy's Deli in Sherlock. Yup, the actual set used for the external shots. And of course across the street is the building that exploded from a 'gas leak' wink, wink.  I don't know why this particular place was chosen as the set except that it's a small, quiet street? No idea. Maybe I'll learn one day. I also saw this dragon on the side of a building.

Santas

As we were walking past the British Museum, we saw a curious sight. 

Santas

AND MORE SANTAS!

It made me laugh and creeped me out a little. It also brought to mind the episode of The Tick - The Tick Loves Santa.

SPOON!

I have since learned that this gathering is called Santa-Con and is held every year. Presumably the last day of Uni exams. 

By this time, the temperature was dropping and it was time for a walking break and just a place to relax while the sun goes down and the lights come on. We ended up at a Cafe Nero where H and T had soy hot chocolates and I had a 'real' (?) one. We stayed here watching the locals and snacking on chocolate covered coffee beans until it was dark enough to see the lights.

To say the Brits like Christmas is like saying NOLA likes Saint's games. They just don't enjoy it, they LIVE it. Merry Christmas was everywhere. Even people who were obviously not of the Christian faith were spouting Merry Christmas. It was a odd and refreshing change from Happy Holidays or Happy Christmahannukwanzika. And they were really, really happy.

We walked past Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Fortnum Street and Covent Garden. Christmas Everywhere!


We even took out life in our hands and walked passed Hamley's, the FAO Swartz of London. That was terrifying!

And there were lights!

 Everywhere lights!

 Lights! And more lights!

And more random Santas. The pub crawl led them to the Cathedral where we watched a Paddy Wagon pull up and get a few. This is a very racist statement. I know. But I can say it because I am of (as of yet undocumented)  Irish descent.

Paddy wagon going to get the unruly Santas

It was creeping into evening and Mrs. H was feeling slightly under the weather. She works with germ laden munchkins in her every day life and she had been fighting back a cold. As the temperature was dropping, I insisted on having them walk me back to my hotel and go home and get into bed. We did make one stop at a book store for a bathroom break where I picked up a copy of a Flavia de Luce book for Mrs. H's birthday the day before. After that, we said good bye and they went home.

Might not have been this one, I remember the book store didn't have'
 the first one in the series. Great read!

I completed this very nice day with a nice hot shower and more local tv flavor. I had to get up and get to a plane the next day. So it was all about charging stuff and packing. Eventually I fell asleep. After I watched the final episode of Misfits.

This is the original cast, they've been through about
100 versions since then/