When I arrived in London I had time to kill, ’cause I was meeting my friend Sarah after 5 pm. So I checked  my luggage into the “left luggage” section and went to Searcy’s Champagne bar and had one of the nicest sausage rolls I have ever had. Their bread and butter was also pretty damn good. A couple of glasses of Henri Giraud and life was good. The Portuguese waiter was lovely, it was really nice being able to understand what he was saying.

A friend at work had lent me her oyster card that had been topped up. It made life so easy. Such I nice thing to do for someone .I found my way to Croydon East with amazing amount of ease.

I stupidly rang Optus, as the bridge alliance deal they said they would provide did not work. I ended up a little distressed and in a bar called “the slug and the lettuce” where I waited for Sarah.

Today I , as you can imagine, had a bit of a hangover so I wasn’t really up to much. I wanted to go into the city and get my bearings. Another customer at the kiosk I bought my bottle of water from was highly amused by my accent. I was highly amused that he was speaking English but I could not understand a word he was saying. A very nice and handsome man made sure I knew where I was going when I got to Victoria Station. I should have asked him to come to the Victoria and Albert museum with me ;). Victoria Station is HUGE. Without his help I could possibly still be there. I am not sure if today was smile day, but a lot of men smile in London.

I went to the paid exhibitions at The V and A museum, one was one fashion and one was an adaption of a book about memory. It is a pity I couldn’t take photos as they were share worthy.I needed lunch so I got

I went and visited the shop, which is SO good,a winner in the Gallery shop stakes so far. I ,of course, bought a few things ( i like getting cheap rings from gallery shops).

I felt like some fresh air , as it is very hot in the museum and I was still hungover. I will do the other floors before I leave.

I went for a walk around the city and bought a data sim card for my phone as Optus have really dropped the baton with my data plan. I walked around and got my bearings, bought a map, all that sort of daggy stuff. I am good at daggy!  When I was on the train back to Croydon there was an announcement that the train was going to split in two and go off in different directions. This freaked me out a little but a lovely lady across the way reassured me that it wouldn’t affect me and that sometimes they split in three. Crikey!

I’ve only been here for a day, so might change my opinion but so far the train system is very good. They are very well looked after trains too. My encounters with the public have been really nice, all very helpful and kind. In France to everyone I was American, here they recognise my accent.

There are no bins anywhere on the subway/railway stations, Sarah was telling me that they were taken away due to them being used as depositories for bombs by the I.R.A back in the 80s. I have really noticed that I must use bins a bit as I have missed them

English tv! great! like a walk down memory lane. So many channels . Currently watching The Professionals  which is fine by me as I think Bodey and Doyle are pretty good.

Tonight we went to the White bear pub in Warlingham it is a 16th century pub that is quaint and very traditional English. Low ceilings and mismatched decor and little alcoves everywhere. It was very nice to just be 15 minutes away from where you are staying and be at some old world English pub. Sadly I am still a bit of a suffering bear from yesterday so I am not much fun. There were some books on the window sills that were medical encyclopedias one volume was from rheumatic infections to syphilis HA there is some pre dinner reading for you!

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