Travelling Hopefully - London Daze

 I arrived in London as invigorated as all hell and taut as a bowstring a state that lasted for a good sixty seconds after which my mental and physical state took a bit of nose dive.  

I say I arrived in London, actually I arrived at Heathrow.  At this point the airline told me I was on my own.  I changed money, bought coffee and procured a train ticket to Paddington.  This was not because I wanted to go to Paddington, that’s just where the train stopped.  My hotel was actually close to Victoria station which a quick glance at a map on my phone seemed to be within reasonable walking distance.

It is an indication of my mental state that I actually thought this was a good idea.  I shouldered my kitbag and set off through the mean streets of Paddington.  A couple of minutes later I turned around and started walking in the right direction. 

“This could be worse,” I thought.  “It could be raining.”

It started to rain.

“Fuck” I thought.  But I was committed now and on I trudged.  I entered Kensington Gardens which was in my way and stumbled through meadows and trees.  My morale was raised when I saw a squirrel (I am pathetically easy to please).  At some point Kensington Gardens became Hyde Park but I don’t recall going through passport control.

Large swans stopped me from walking straight into the Serpentine.  I stopped off at a lakeside cafe where I swapped purchasing a cup of hot chocolate for the opportunity to use their toilet.  I didn’t quite put it like that at the counter of course.

Recharged with hot chocolate I continued on my way.  Eventually I ran out of Hyde Park and wound up on one of several streets in the vicinity called Grosvenor.  I followed it hopefully and to my delight (and no little surprise) I wound up at Victoria station with my hotel lurking modestly next door.

Now I was faced with another problem.  Despite blundering around various parts of inner London wilderness I had managed to turn up at my hotel more than four hours before I could check in.  I repaired to the station where I spent a productive hour or two trying to stay awake while a vast number of people milled around me.  

Many of these people were football fans decked out in the blue and white colours of Brighton.  The fans ran the full gamut from a respectably dressed man with a modest dab of blue and white on his cheek to others who looked like they had looted a bunting shop on the way in.  Their singing helped keep me awake and for that I thank them (Brighton lost btw).

Finally I could stand no more.  With two hours still to go until I could check in I presented myself at the hotel and threw myself weeping at the receptionist’s feet.  Possibly to get this bedraggled, hysterical man out of their reception area they kindly let my into my room.  

A shower and a change of clothes transformed me from an exhausted, physical wreck into a clean exhausted physical wreck in different clothes.  I popped out for pasta (as you do) and tried to wait for darkness.  I went to bed at five pm and slept for thirteen hours.