London one-way!

It’s been a busy week since I got back from Canada, so I switched off today to recoup.

I hadn’t even got back from the airport on Wednesday when the agency calls, asking if I can do a waking night that night, so of course I say yes. I got back to the hostel, organised my stuff, and dropped into the website’s new office. We are no longer in Notting Hill, but in Edgware Rd – that’s right, two blocks down from my hostel. Everyone else seems to like it too. It’s within an office building that provides IT, telecoms, kitchen and reception facilities. Edgware Rd is also great for shopping and eating – or in my case window shopping and smelling great foods.

My night shift was down in Thames Ditton, a client I have been to before, so it was quite easy to navigate (tube and train) and she was settled in the night time. The morning was a bit difficult but I got through and caught the train straight back to the office where I went on a drip of coffee for the day but still managed to get quite a bit done.

That evening I had a free ticket to go see The Norman Conquests: Table Manners. It’s one of three plays written by Alan Ayckburn, all featuring the same six characters but based in different parts of the house, sort of overlapping in times. Table Manners was hilarious, it was performed in the round, and I nearly had a biscuit tin thrown at me. The other side of the audience had half a glass of wine thrown over them – they were a bit dramatic to say the least!

On Friday morning the IT guys remotely accessed my computer (I log in to their system online and they can control my computer) and they hooked me up to the printer and the shared network. Again, got a lot done but also I’ll now be doing things on other parts of the website so I’ll have to organise and divide my time properly.

Friday night was the IMS Wigmore Hall concert, so it was a huge reunion. I saw people I haven’t seen since being in Cornwall in April, as well as everyone who was there in September. As Harriet put it, “I bet you’ve never been kissed so many times under the same roof!” The society here is all about the kiss on each cheek greeting, which is still kinda new to me. The concert was great, and afterwards we all went and invaded the local pub for several hours and lots of laughs.

Yesterday I had a 10-11am shift, and then walked down to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. It’s in a beautiful old building and of course as soon as you walk in you come across a huge dinosaur skeleton. It’s divided into three parts – the dinsaurs and ocean, insects, plants and minerals, and the earth itself.

Then I caught the bus down to Clapham and Imogen and I caught the tube up to Picadilly Circus to see Mamma Mia! the film. Not my first choice, especially with one and a half hours of Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep singing, but I got through it without going totally insane. I dropped her home and had to head straight back up to do an 8-9pm.

I didn’t get sleep last night (another psycho in my room) and it was pouring so much this morning that the underpass was four inches high with water so I had to go the long way – 10-11am again in Notting Hill. I took the tube from Paddington Station because it was too wet. I got back at midday, soaked up to the knees with wet socks, put my jammies on and jumped into bed to get some sleep. Now here I am, just finished my dinner, watching a film, and have to get dressed again to head down to Notting Hill for 8-9pm.

Tags: Travel

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