Odds and Sods

Sorry it's been so long.

A couple of people noted that they would like to hear the London travelogue. It was mostly work - arrived on Tuesday in the morning, meetings, blahblah, off to bed (strange to turn on the tv in the late evening when I was getting ready for bed and listening to the Beeb's take on the US midterm elections), then more meetings blahblah on Wednesday. Then a rapid-fire two or so hours of down time before I had to take off for Heathrow, so I stashed my suitcases with the valet, asked the concierge for a Tube Map, and bolted for Oxford Circus to do a lightning round of Christmas shopping. A few slapdash impressions:

- It's strange how taking the Tube takes me back to my days as a college student in London.

- Oxford Circus is well-named and makes Fifth Avenue's hordes look like a small, well-mannered group of schoolchildren marching in tidy lines.

- I had forgotten how oddly tucked back Liberty is and couldn't believe I had a hard time finding it.

- If I thought listening to the Beeb opine on the US elections on the 7th was odd, seeing this on the Evening Standard stalls was even weirder:

I bought just about as much stuff as I thought my not-quite-full suitcase could handle and went back to the hotel for a re-shuffling of my things and a dash for Paddington. Then the long flight, and subsequent issues with JFK and American Airlines.

I seem to recall some more mental notes that may or may not have included lyrical descriptions. Unfortunately (fortunately?), if they ever really existed, they're gone now. To paraphrase someone I read recently, the brain is a remarkable organ, but it makes for a lousy white board.

Posted: Wednesday - November 22, 2006 at 11:08 AM | |