Nora's England/Ireland Travels 2002
London, June 4, 2002
Well, here we are. The flight was fairly simple and civilized. Our flight attendants were funny and jokey, and seemed to enjoy the trip. I conked for a couple hours. Costner's Dragonfly put me to sleep. Not a riveting movie, by any stretch.
As we started dinner, BW moved his TV screen, tipped his glass of red wine, all over the place. Oh oh. Red wine on his trousers, which the guy fight attendant dealt with by having BW put on what they call your sleep suit--sort of light sweats they give you should you want to sleep in something besides your clothes--and dousing the red wine stain with white wine. A trick I didn't know. The white takes out the red, then you douse it with soda water, and voila.
It worked very well.
Arrived early in London, which meant we circled Heathrow awhile, then landed and sat on the tarmac awhile, then a bit longer as the guys bringing out the jetway bashed into a van. We're all--first class passengers, flight crew, pilot, looking out the little window making rude comments. But they untangled themselves and got us off the plane.
Sort of floaty from fatigue and lag on the trip into the city. A rainy, dreary morning. Hotel is very pretty, old worldish. I haven't oriented myself and only know we're directly across from the BBC. I can see the building from the parlor window. BW and I both flopped down for a nice long nap. Having trouble with AOL connect, so I don't know when they're going to figure out what's up so I can send this.
We went down and had afternoon tea. Lovely scones, some of the best I've had. Pretty dining room with high ceilings, lots of light, soft piano music. This is one of my favorite Brit traditions. Tiny sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, little pastries and tea in the afternoon. In our case, it was the perfect way to revive a bit.
Meanwhile, it's the Queen's Jubilee celebration for her 50th year on the throne. And on cue, the sun broke through. Watched some of the parade on the TV. Everything around town is closed, and the streets are empty while the parade route is jammed. A good day for resting and recovering.
I'm figuring in on talking BW into an early dinner, possibly room service, though I doubt he'll go for that. And early to bed as I have an early morning and a full day of work tomorrow.
Signed about 200 books the publisher sent up in six enormous boxes.
Still a little punchy, but not too bad for this sort of travel. BW just went out for a walk, but since there's nothing much around the hotel, and it's all closed anyhow, I wasn't interested. Will wait for phone guy to tell us what gives with our Internet access, and zone out for a bit.
Nora
ADWOFF > Nora's Travelogues > England/Ireland 2002 > London, June 4, 2002
Nora's Europe Travelogues are © 2002 by Nora Roberts & ADWOFF
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