Even though I've left the Motherland, my journey still isn't over-
I arrived at Heathrow early Tuesday morning, after a red-eye flight from Joburg. There was only 1 hitch in my journey, I lost my printed itinerary of my flights that I had packed to show the immigration officials once I arrived in the UK. Well, I didn't exactly lose it. I threw it away. What happened was that I was browsing the shops at the Joburg airport, and thought that I should take advantage of these 2 extra hours from my delayed flight, and moisturize. Airplanes are ALWAYS dehydrating, right? So I tried a sample hand cream, which turned out to be hand soap. Oops. Then I had a handful of soap in my hand, and so secretly wiped it off on the nearest scrap of paper in my backpack. That's right, my itinerary. And then I threw it away, not even realizing. I know, not the smartest thing I've ever done. But the beauty of it was that it didn't even register that I had thrown away my itinerary until I was about to board the plane, at which time I rushed back into the bathroom and tried to dig through the trash, unsuccessfully of course.
So when I got to immigration, the guy was questioning me about what I was planning to do in the UK, etc etc, and he asked for my return itinerary. "Uuumm I accidentally threw it away" was my response. I got a long look after that one, and I don't blame him, if I were him I would have been suspicious of me also. And this particular guy was taking his job pretty seriously, he really did remind me of Ann Robinson, the host of "Weakest Link". He had that whole slow drawl + poker face going on. So then, desperately grabbing at straws, I told him I could tell him my confirmation number for the flight, RHPTXS. He looks up, "You memorized it, DID you?" I didn't know memorizing things was a crime, but apparently it made me look even more sketchy. Anyway, after he asked me about 10 more questions, like what my uncle does, what I studied, where I studied, if we have any plans, etc, and then finally he was satisfied and let me through. So despite my stupidity, I eventually made it through, and met David, my uncle John's partner, on the other side.
I'm going to be in London for 2 months, staying with my uncle in a borough (aka suburb) of London called Chiswick. It's pronounced "Chisick", apparently there's such thing as a silent W here in the UK. And people say Americans don't speak real English! Chiswick is a very cute little town, with a nice High Street (aka Main Street) with lots of little shops and restaurants. Both Gordon Ramsey AND Jamie Oliver have restaurants here, which in my book says a lot about a place. The neighborhoods here look a lot like a mix between Harry Potter and Georgetown, this is John's street:
Right outside the closest Chiswick tube station
On Thursday I took the tube into central London, and went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards ceremony, which at this time of year happens every second day at 11 AM. It was chaos, with hundreds of tourists elbowing each other for a prized view of the gate.
There were tourists from all over, but especially other European countries. There was even an intense Italian in front of me who hand-rolled a cigarette while we were waiting for the ceremony to start. Those Europeans. Once it finally started it was pretty cool, the guards lined up in formation, and then a marching band came up through the gate, and then the old guards were replaced with the new. Or at least that's what I'm guessing, because I really couldn't see much. I got sick of the smoking Italian and so left about 10 minutes in, but then ended up running into the new group of guards on my way out:
I then continued on through St. James Park, and Hyde Park, which are astoundingly huge, and covered with blooming flowers. The cherry trees remind me of spring in Ripon, with blankets of almond blossoms.
Springtime snow
After I spent a few hours walking around the parks, I may or may not have gone to Oxford Street, the notoriously commercial part of London. But if it makes my dad feel any better, I spent most of my time in Primark, which is about the same price point as a Walmart. Primark was even more chaotic than Buckingham palace though, and absolutely filled with Russians. The only explanation I could think of for that was there must have been a tour bus-full of them dropped off together. Either that, or Eastern Europeans really like Primark.
On Friday I took the tube into Richmond, a nearby "borough", about 3 tube stops from Chiswick. I had a cup of coffee at Starbucks (oh, familiarity) and walked along the Thames for a while. I even earned 5 pounds, probably the only money I'll actually earn the whole trip, because I participated in a market research survey about household cleaning products. Not that I know a whole lot about British cleaning brands, but hey, it was 5 pounds! These people that worked for a research group were trying to get volunteers on the street, and since I'm a sucker for not ignoring people, I listened to what they had to say. After "promising" it would only be 15 minutes, I agreed, and so went into the office to do the study. It ended up being pretty interesting, they tracked my eye movements when looking at a grocery store shelf, asked my opinion about packaging, and did a survey on which products I buy. Which was kind of stressful, since I haven't actually ever bought British cleaning products, and didn't recognize any of the brands except for Dettol! But anyway, 30 minutes later I emerged 5 pounds richer. Although random, I see it as another interesting experience to put down in the books!
