A Random Ten London Moments Thus Far...

I have far too much to tell and too little time in which to do the said telling. I'm having a marvellous time so far catching up with friends each night and exploring the grand old city that is London during the day. My expectations regarding the weather were low and each thus far have been thoroughly met. It has been grey, cold and miserable every day since I arrived on Sunday with the exception of yesterday.....where it was Sunny....kind of....in that the Sun seemed to never quite get into the sky; it was like it had a really big hangover. Ok I will give you a random ten london moments thus far because it is impossible to collate any of the moments into a top ten....

1. Meeting Nathan and Suzanne in Soho immediately after my 28 hour flight....I kept speaking in two minute delays.

2. The Belgian restaurant with Kristin and Guy where the Croatian waitress brought out our desserts before our mains; we had waited so long and drunk so much by that stage when the meals arrived we really didn't know the difference!

3. The Australian cuisine restaurant at St Pauls with Liv and David where the heating was so high that it felt like Townsville in February. My hair was ringing wet by the time I left.

4. Obamarama: the US Election party at Leicester Square; it was also a drink made out of Zambucca....I had far too many.

5. The French lawyer I met at Obamarama.....000...la...la.

6. My hotel is perfect; just a five minute walk from Soho and the rest of London city and Westminister. It is clean and tidy and very english although hilariously run by these South Africans (Front of House) and Ukranians (cooks/cleaners). Every morning is like a Ukranian/South African version of Fawlty Towers as the South African manager argues with the Ukranian cook on how to display scrambled eggs appropriately.

7. The best part of London is the people watching; sitting down at a cafe with a nice coffee (I'll admit so far hard to find in London), lighting a cigarette and watching the crowd go by. All the museums, palaces and galleries are nothing compared to this art form; particularly to the monolingual ear of an Australian, the gazillian different stories being told in multiple languages and accents is a continual delight for me.

8. The buskers in Covent Garden every morning; each morning I've gone down to Covent Garden for my coffee and around ten am, there is a young opera singer who busks in the middle of the markets ; there seems to be a different opera singer every day; it is absolutely magical.

9. Stumbling across this pub under Waterloo station full of labourers (yeah ok...it was kinder hot).....having lunch (snags and mash...of course) and a beer for £3....who said London was expensive?

10. The brazillian hookers who keep aprroaching me in Soho......do I look that old already?

C