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  London, England, United Kingdom
Monday, August 11, 2008

I've arrived in London at last!! And the fun started even before I got off the plane. As we passengers waited to disembark, we were told by the stewards to sit back down. About a minute later two policemen boarded the plane and proceeded down the aisles into the section behind where I was seated. I was on the wing. About a couple of minutes later they were escorting a young man off. Why?? I don't know. He was standing in front of me when we boarded the plane in Dubai, and I noticed he had a South African passport. Thats all I knew.

I texted Katie ( I'm staying with her and her fiance Tim while in town) to say there was a hold up. I got a quick reply saying that she had slept through her alarm and wasn't at the Airport to met me. At that I just burst out with laughter. The Irish girl beside me asked what was funny. I told her and she laughed too. Naturally I couldn't pass up the opportunity to rub it in, so I called her from the plane. There was alot of sorry sorry sorry, and at that I couldn't help but laugh harder. She even offered to pay for a cab!! LOL She's an awesome chick. I have alot of time for her.

Well I decided to catch a cab anyway. I'm not all that keen on dragging my luggage through the tube system. What an awesome decision that was. The cabbie was brilliant. Not long after I got in and told him where to go, (He even laughed at that pun!!) he was telling me about the game at Wembly and the Tri-athlon in Town and why he had to take a alternate route to Limehouse due to road closures and traffic. Oh yeah, Sunday traffic in London was more intense than peak hour in Christchurch or Wellington.

That turned out to be a blessing. I got, what I can only describe as a very detailed, tour of London. This cabbie knew his town. As he was negoitating the quickest route from Heathrow to Limehouse (Eastend) he would point out notable landmarks. Earls Court, Hyde Park Corner, Natural Museum of History, Picadilly Circus etc. A throughly enjoyable ride that ( thanks Katie ) I didn't pay for.

I finally got to Katies Place and she was waiting on the front steps for me. She paid the cabbie cash, and I paid him compliments. It was the least I could do haha.

I settled in and we promptly went to the pub. We went to one on Canary Wharf, had 3 pints, and then onto dinner at a restaurant called Jamies, also on Canary Wharf. Beef burger and Verve (Think that's how you spell it???), a bit of a contradiction that worked well with my palette. Back to Katies for more beer, and the most awfully worded email's and text msgs I can compose drunk. Sorry about the wake up call victoria. London is 11 hours behind New Zealand. I'll get that right one day. NOT!!!

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