(this narrative began from when I first landed in London on September 3, 2016)
Sunday
September 4, 2016:
It’s 1:35 am right now and I’ve watched two more
pay-per-view movies: “Bridget Jones’s
Diary” and “Stanford Prison Experiment”.
For totally different reasons, they were both good movies that I enjoyed
and actually stayed awake while watching.
I haven’t gone back to sleep yet.
The sleep I had yesterday happened in the late afternoon to early
evening. I guess my biological clock is
totally screwed up now. Why? There is a five-hour time-zone difference
between Toronto and London nor did I sleep at all on the plane while travelling
to London. I was tired and I wanted to
sleep earlier in the day, but it was impossible due to the baggage issues I was
experiencing and had to solve in a hurry.
By the time I got back from Heathrow International Airport the second
time and, after walking around in that huge airport building for what seemed
like kilometres, all I wanted was a hot shower, to brush my teeth, and then
relax with a movie. The movie I chose yesterday
afternoon was “Everest” and I’m pretty sure I didn’t see the whole thing due to
fatigue, but what I did see of it was good.
Yesterday, during my second time at the airport, I
purchased a much-needed SIM card for my new cell phone. It was set up by the girl who works for SIM
Local, the vendor, and will be ready for use as soon as it’s installed. I’m not sure how I’m going to do that, but I
could try to install it by myself. And,
I would have to buy some “top-up” time for data roaming in order to make calls
or send texts and emails. That means it
would then be good for use in the UK and later, in Europe. I will also have to buy myself a watch so
that I always know what time it is. Cell
phones will also give you the time, but they’re sometimes unreliable because they
can run out of juice and need to be re-charged.
I also changed the time-zone (and indirectly the time) on my notebook
computer and then inserted the icon for my clock and calendar on the desktop. I think I’ll need to buy a new pair of
sunglasses as well because the ones I had at home were too uncomfortable. I’m sure I’ll have to buy something else too,
but I’m not sure what yet. I just want
to make sure I’m ready for touring tomorrow morning.
On Monday September 5th, we are doing a
tour of London only. On Tuesday
September 6th, the tour will leave London and head north and, at
that point, I will start seeing some places that I’ve never seen before. I’m not sure about this, but I think I will
be spending Monday night in this hotel too, as part of the tour. Cool!
Twenty-five days of touring the UK should be terrific – I’m looking
forward to it.
I watched two more pay-per-view movies – “The
Holiday” and “Sisters” through the night – finally falling asleep again, but I’m
not sure when – and woke up today around 10:30 am. After getting ready, I decided that I was going
to tour London on one of those hop on/hop off bus tours that are offered to
tourists. I just had to find out where
to buy my ticket, which I later found out, was at my hotel. The concierge pointed me in the direction of
Hyde Park and told me that’s where to pick up the tour bus. So, with a little bit of trepidation, I set
out on foot and eventually arrived at what I thought was Hyde Park (it wasn’t,
but I was very close). I caught the
correct tour bus after asking a tour guide there and stayed on it for maybe a
couple of hours. Finally, while on this
bus, I saw a London pub called “The Sherlock Holmes” and decided I had to stop
and have a bite for lunch. After that, I
hopped back on the tour bus, but started to realize I was getting too
tired. So, shortly after hopping back
on, I hopped off again for good. It was
now time to run the errands that I needed to get done today.
So, I got my SIM card installed with some help from
a nice cell phone vendor guy and I bought a nice, basic wrist watch for
myself. While I was doing these things,
I met this lovely Lebanese man and thought, why
can’t I meet men like this more often? Then, I looked for some sunglasses
and inquired at a pharmacy about their availability. The very nice lady there told me I didn’t
have to worry about having sunglasses anymore – the London weather was going to
be cloudy from now on! I asked her, “Are
you sure?” and she checked on her cell phone for the weather forecast over the
next few days and she was right! However,
it’s supposed to get sunny again by next Thursday…..we’ll see. If I really need to buy some sunglasses while
we’re touring Great Britain, I will find a vendor from which to buy them.
Now that I’m back at my hotel, updating my journal
on my computer, I’m starting to feel really tired and just want to veg out and
watch some TV. Early tomorrow morning
(8:05 am), we are meeting as a tour group and touring London for the day. But, I don’t care if I tour London again –
there are dozens of ways to see London.
I would love it if we took a river cruise on the Thames, for
example. There is also a walking tour of
the places where Jack the Ripper, London’s most famous serial killer of the 19th
century roamed the streets killing young woman at random. And, I’m sure I only saw a small fraction of
the places there are to see here, so far.
Would you believe that I actually chose a
pay-per-view porn movie this afternoon?
As a matter of fact, I didn’t believe it myself until I chose one. I was so bored for something new to watch, I
decided to choose this kind of movie – something I wouldn’t ordinarily do. As it
turns out, it wasn’t a movie I particularly enjoyed, but it was educational…..I
didn’t know people did sexual things like that to each other. What do I know about such things anyway? I honestly can’t remember the last time I got
laid. It must have been maybe ten years
or more ago. The point is that I must
have been desperate to do such a thing.
But, at least I learned something, so I guess it was a good thing
overall.
This afternoon, while watching yet another
pay-per-view movie, “Crimson Peak”, I spent a little time filling out the
required Emergency Contact papers – one for each tour. I don’t suppose it’s a big deal unless
something bad happens to me and then Globus Tours will have to get in touch
with my designated emergency contact, which in my case is a family friend. Why? Because
Dave (Burton) is much easier to get in touch with at any given time than my son
Brent is. All I have left to do before
the beginning of my first tour tomorrow is to ensure that I wake up early
enough to get ready, eat a bit of breakfast, and meet the tour group by 8:05 am. Maybe a wake-up call is in order? Or, I could try to set the alarm on my new
cell phone and see if it actually works and wakes me up on time. You know, people who travel with others don’t
usually have this problem – there’s always someone who gets up early enough and
wakes everyone else up. Well, I am just
going to have to be self-sufficient enough to make sure I do my own wake-up
calls. As it turns out, I was easily
able to set my alarm on my new cell phone – no problem. I just had to make sure the alarm time was
correct (6:00 am) and that the sound of the alarm is loud enough to wake me up.
Tonight, instead of watching movies or, as I am
doing right now, listening to BBC Radio (a free service provided by my hotel),
I will pick up one of my Sidney Sheldon books shortly called “After the
Darkness” and try to lull myself to sleep.
Hopefully, that will work well, which should ensure I get enough sleep
tonight. In any event, I am really
looking forward to the start of my tour of Great Britain tomorrow!
copyright 2016 - Anne Shier
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