Thursday June 20, 2019
Happy Birthday Dave.
I have no idea why I was awake so early (6:30). I was up and showered by 7:00. I had the instant porridge with a banana for breakfast and then waited and waited for the taxi to pick us up at 9:30. Today was a travel day, so nothing much to report.
The taxi arrived on time, the train left Windermere on time and the train from Windermere to Euston was on time. We sat next to a couple from Glasgow and we started to chat. Shelley’s face was a picture, she stared at the fella as if he was talking a foreign language. In a way he was with his very strong Glaswegian accent. After he asked her a few questions, and she just stared at him, she told him we were from Canada and that she was travelling with me. He turned to me and said “So you are the translator” we all laughed and had a great trip chatting to them. They were going to London to see a Bon Jovi concert at Wembley. They came prepared with drinks and sandwiches. A bottle of Prosecco to start, followed by several vodka and lime sodas and he was drinking cans of cider. They offered us a drink, I refused, I needed to keep my wits about me when we arrived at Euston. Shelley had one and said it was nice but fizzy.
By the time we arrived in London their accents were even stronger and I could barely understand them.
We maneuvered through the crowds with Shelley’s wonky wheeled suitcase and took the underground to Victoria Station.
One of the wheels of Shelley’s suitcase may have been damaged on the flight. After all the rough pavements, cobbled streets and dragging it on and off trains, the wheel has almost totally disintegrated. At one point she was wavering from one side of the platform to another as we left Euston station heading to the underground, she looked like a drunken sailor. It wasn’t Shelley, it was her suitcase.
The underground was busy and I told her to push herself on and push herself off the train when it arrived, elbows out and go. Fortunately we only had to go four stops. The hotel is only a short walk from Victoria Station. It is relatively cheap (for London) and handy to Victoria Station which is why we picked it. On Saturday we will take the Gatwick Express straight into Gatwick and as soon as we can we will hand over the wonky wheeled suitcase to the baggage handlers where they may decide to damage another wheel!
When we got to the hotel they asked for ID. I almost had a heart attack, I couldn’t find my passport! We got to our room and I emptied my suitcase, my backpack and my new handbag, no passport. I couldn’t remember where I would have left it. Shelley asked if she could check my purse for me. She had bought a similar purse, and there is a small zipped pocket inside the main bag, there was my passport. Fortunately my bud knew I had put my passport in a safe place.
If the worse came to the worse at least we were in London and I could have gone to the Canadian Embassy with the photocopy of my passport and hoped to get an emergency passport issued in time.
We had a good cheap meal at a Wetherspoons pub and we have planned a busy day for tomorrow.