London, Days 0-1, 2

Day 0-1: E-ville to London

Quote of the day:

Sometimes, I feel I gotta get away
Bells chime, I know I gotta get away
And I know if I don't, I'll go out of my mind
Better leave her behind with the kids, they're alright
The kids are alright

Weather: E-ville – perfect, London – warmish, humid, touch of rain

Pics: None, THB is too jet lagged

Flight on United in Premium Economy, bulkhead seats with even more leg room, night flight where KHB falls asleep before first drink service and THB before first meal service. Before we pick up bags, we find a SIM card vending machine and get our unlocked NZ mobile to work!

Take bus ($3.20 pp) from right in front of airport terminal to within 2 miles of G&M’s place. G&M are long time friends we met when on our sabbatical in Europe in summer of 89. They live in Wimbledon and their kids are now grown and out of the house, and they have not yet moved to a one-room loft to keep the kids from coming home occasionally. Good for us, means KHB and THB get their own rooms! For those of you with long memories, James, their son, met up with us in Beijing, and he’ll be going to some events with us again, a four year reunion we hope happens again in Rio.

A very nice meal cooked by M, chicken lasagna, is nice enough we eat outside in the garden. A few drops chase us inside for dessert, berry/apple crumble with ice cream for dessert. THB makes it up for about ½ hour of the opening ceremony on the telly and then crashes.

Day 2: London

Quote of the day:

I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats
'cause it's all been said before
Make the best out of the bad just laugh it off
You didn't have to come here anyway
So remember, every picture tells a story don't it

Weather: Clear, and cooling.

Pics: Volleyball: cheerleaders, GB vs Russia, lots of shots of USA, Nandos...and KHB and THB at the Games

Note: with every O ticket came a one-day pass on the various London transports!

Up early, and head out from Wimbledon via the underground to Earl’s Court and three sessions of Women’s VB. The first session we are accompanied by friends of our hosts as we have two extra tickets. We leave plenty of time, take our time, and lo and behold already there is a vast improvement over Beijing: many, many lines through security, and we are inside quickly with an hour to spare.

Session 1: Japan walks all of Algeria, China beats Serbia after losing set 1. Our friends depart and KHB and THB walk the hood looking for lunch, end up at a chain called Nando’s that KHB had heard of, where THB has half a (pretty small) chicken with chips and slaw, KHB has a Portobello and halumi wrap, one cider, $36.

Session 2: Back through security even faster than morning to see Russia skunk Great Britain (the host country gets a slot in all the events regardless of talent) and Italy top Dominican Republic (who played like they had jet lag) 3-1. Out again for a light dinner of frozen yogurt, $13, and a scout of the hood for lunch and dinner spots: you’ll be reading about them in upcoming posts, we’ll be eating quite a bit of ethnic food, some pretty exotic.

Session 3: Security is very slow, takes us around 7 minutes to get into the arena (see how fast THB can adjust to O reality), we arrive in our seats just as USA takes on Korea. Very exciting, USA wins first two sets, pulling away in last half of each, then blows a lead to lose third set, then gets back on track and pulls away with superior blocking in fourth game. It is now after 10:30 and we wait to see Brazil warm up for their match with Turkey and decide to head back to Wimbledon, though we are still awake.

Easy ride on underground, then a decision: wait for a train to Raynes Park, one stop away, wait for a bus back, or start walking. Can’t find anyone to help us with train (we can see the posted stops of the upcoming trains, none of them have Raynes Park listed). So, we head around the corner and see there is a bus listed as arriving in 8 minutes (all the bus stops have electronic boards giving the upcoming buses and when they’ll be arriving, a great feature!). Is it a real listing, or just something that is related to the schedule?

We decide to start walking, and check again at the next bus stop: 7 minutes away. More walking: 5 minutes (at least the bus appears to gaining on us); walking some more, 3 minutes away…walking, 2 minutes away. Finally we stop, and in a minute and half we can see a doubledecker heading our way: scoops us up and two short stops later we’re near back to home. It is around 11:40, THB falls into a deep sleep immediately (well, after checking the A’s score).

Observation 1: at sessions 1 and 2, there were families with kids around age 2, who had no interest in watching VB and thus their parents spent the entire time attending the kids.

Observation 2: THB checked out the t-shirts and found the following (you get to guess how much the t-shirts cost):

- If they were $20, that would about right

- If they were $25, that would be a bit exorbitant

- If they were $30, THB would think it a bit of a rip-off

- If they were $35, THB would think about going into business selling t-shirts

- If they were $40, THB would expect them to be hand-tailored

- At a whopping $45, THB is thinking he is not going to have any t-shirt memories of the 2012 O games