October 29, 2007: Goodbye grey skies, hello blue
Okay, okay, I had one day of blue sky in London, but c’mon, London in November? One day is pretty good.
Anyway, I had a nice farewell dinner in Ottawa with Mom and Dad, Matante Marcelle, cousins Matt and Lisa, and even Mononcle Gilles, who just happened to have flown in to town from the Sault. Note to self: in future, avoid steak dinners before boarding overseas flights, particularly when flying cattle class.
(For those of you not in the know, I gave up waiting for job interviews back home and waiting for my boyfriend to leave the ship — he's still there — and decided to get back in the water. I looked all over but found work in Egypt first.)
Arrived in London the next morning without any hiccups — I didn’t even have to pay excess baggage for my dive kit — and Ali was waiting for me in arrivals to get me on the train to hers in St. Albans before heading off for another action-packed day of crime-fighting in the capital. She had big plans for me that day: the sun was shining and she’d armed me with a map of St. Albans and instructions for a walk that would take me through the park next to the abbey, the remains of a Roman town, and a museum on the area’s Roman history. By the time I got to casa, dulce casa, though, a hot shower and a clean bed were luxuries not to be passed up.
The following day I was ready to tackle Ali’s self-guided tour of St. Albans. It was a good excuse to take a few test shots with my new camera.
A view of the abbey from the park:
View through the remains of the Roman wall.
The local flora and fauna:
A couple of the Roman floor mosaics on display in the museum:
And then, it was time. I’d avoided it as long as I could. But this was my last day in the U.K. Time to face the music, take the bull by the horns, go mano a mano with my shopping nemesis. I had one day to find some swimwear before departing for Egypt. If I’d known what a big deal this was going to be I’d have done it in Canada, where you can find a bikini shop in every mall. Who knew the Brits didn’t have such things? Don’t they get the winter doldrums and need bikinis for sun holidays during the cold months? My mission took persistence and ingenuity, but I finally, exhaustedly, claimed victory over the shopping demons who’d conspired against me, and celebrated my success with Ali over some very good South Indian food on Regent Street and a couple of beers at G.A.Y.
And that, as they say, was that. I was on the plane the next morning and Hurghada bound.
(And for good measure, here are a couple of tourist shots of the Alps. I don't think I've taken photos from a plane window since my first flight as a kid!)
Anyway, I had a nice farewell dinner in Ottawa with Mom and Dad, Matante Marcelle, cousins Matt and Lisa, and even Mononcle Gilles, who just happened to have flown in to town from the Sault. Note to self: in future, avoid steak dinners before boarding overseas flights, particularly when flying cattle class.
(For those of you not in the know, I gave up waiting for job interviews back home and waiting for my boyfriend to leave the ship — he's still there — and decided to get back in the water. I looked all over but found work in Egypt first.)
Arrived in London the next morning without any hiccups — I didn’t even have to pay excess baggage for my dive kit — and Ali was waiting for me in arrivals to get me on the train to hers in St. Albans before heading off for another action-packed day of crime-fighting in the capital. She had big plans for me that day: the sun was shining and she’d armed me with a map of St. Albans and instructions for a walk that would take me through the park next to the abbey, the remains of a Roman town, and a museum on the area’s Roman history. By the time I got to casa, dulce casa, though, a hot shower and a clean bed were luxuries not to be passed up.
The following day I was ready to tackle Ali’s self-guided tour of St. Albans. It was a good excuse to take a few test shots with my new camera.
A view of the abbey from the park:
View through the remains of the Roman wall.
The local flora and fauna:
A couple of the Roman floor mosaics on display in the museum:
And then, it was time. I’d avoided it as long as I could. But this was my last day in the U.K. Time to face the music, take the bull by the horns, go mano a mano with my shopping nemesis. I had one day to find some swimwear before departing for Egypt. If I’d known what a big deal this was going to be I’d have done it in Canada, where you can find a bikini shop in every mall. Who knew the Brits didn’t have such things? Don’t they get the winter doldrums and need bikinis for sun holidays during the cold months? My mission took persistence and ingenuity, but I finally, exhaustedly, claimed victory over the shopping demons who’d conspired against me, and celebrated my success with Ali over some very good South Indian food on Regent Street and a couple of beers at G.A.Y.
And that, as they say, was that. I was on the plane the next morning and Hurghada bound.
(And for good measure, here are a couple of tourist shots of the Alps. I don't think I've taken photos from a plane window since my first flight as a kid!)
posted by Unknown at
9:49 a.m.
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