But before that we're spending today and tonight in London...So, it’s up at 3.45 for a taxi at 4.30 and we’re at the Airport by 4.40. The flight’s not till 6.15 though...
After using the swift auto check-in service provided by BMI, whereby you just enter the Credit Card you booked your flight on into their machine and your boarding pass pops out, and quickly dropping off our bags, we’re in the cafeteria for breakfast by 4.50...amazing.
The worst part of flying is checking-in...that and, of course, the possibility of the plane crashing and you meeting certain death in a horrible no-chance-of-surviving-this-at 30,000-ft kind of way...”hey Certain Death, not good to meet you”...
I always have the feeling when at an airport that everyone else waiting to fly is an incompetent idiot who’s never flown before...despite this prejudice against all my fellow flyers (apart from Anne of course) the rest of the flight is equally as smooth as this morning's check-in and uneventful other than a couple of circlings around Heathrow as we wait to land...
Rather efficiently, we have our bags within around 15 minutes of touching down and, due to engineering works today, are allowed to use a £6 All Day Travel Card for the Tube on the Heathrow Express which takes just 15 minutes to deliver us non-stop to Paddington and would normally cost £14 for a single journey...result.
We get the tube from Paddington to London Bridge which involves a couple of changes and much wandering around in the stiflingly hot pedestrian tunnels below the surface....
This, coupled with the fact that we’re each dragging a fully laden case means that, by the time we’re in front of the receptionist at the Hotel checking in, sweat is dripping off my nose onto the documents...how appealing...
After a quick shower and change we’re back out on the street by 9.55 – the weather is overcast but very soon today becomes a scorcher...
We head to Borough Market, admiring the stalls of fresh produce and end up having a mid morning coffee and snack (ok a second breakfast...) before walking over London Bridge to Monument Tube Station and travelling from there to Tottenham Court Road....we are making a pathetic attempt to find Covent Garden (which of course has its own Tube Station)...
We find ourselves in the area around Neal Street and we like the shops and streets here – it’s a bit like Amsterdam...loads of shoe shops for some reason and a branch of Fopp – I resist the temptation though...
Finally we make it to Covent Garden and take a wander around the various stalls – it’s nothing exciting to be honest but we partake of a freshly squeezed orange juice and a smoothie to try and stave off the sweltering heat.
A particularly good pitch from a Big Issue seller with a wee old dog coaxes a couple of quid from me for his mag, then after a sit down we’re back on our way and wander into Old Compton Street and over to Soho where we stop in Dean Street at “The Couch” for a drink – bloody Hell £9 for a pint of Kronenbourg Blanc and a large glass of wine – comfy big sofa though....
An hour or so later we’re back on the street in the heart of Soho and Anne heads to Oxford St while I browse the many CD shops in Berwick St....
T Shirts are bought from GAP by Anne while I'm making my first CD purchases of September – The Orb, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Berlioz, Alice Martineau and Erin McKeown ...in total I paid just £10 - (on Amazon they'd have cost £62 - I know, I just checked).... of course I have no way of listening to them at present...
People are spilling out onto the streets from the pubs, pints in hand, as England v Wales fills many a large screen...a ground-out 1-0 win by all accounts for lucky England....
I have only brought enough T shirts to last the number of days we’re away and at this rate I will be using two a day, so I too head to Oxford St and pick up a few T Shirts then we walk thru Chinatown to Leicester Square in hope of finding a seat but to no avail...
So we decide on an early tea and head back to Frith Street to an Indian Anne spotted earlier which is next door to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club where, incidentally, Jamie Cullum is doing a week’s residency and it’s about £30 to get in of an evening – unbelievable...
There’s an Italian café opposite called Bar Italia – in a house where Mozart once lived and where Logie Baird first demonstrated television – they are showing Scotland v Italy on their big screen TV and, as a cheer and then a groan go up in the first couple of minutes as Craig Gordon saves point blank, I realise the people in the café are Italy supporters to the man....
Suffice to say, we are both a little distracted from our food as we try and catch the action thru the window of the café opposite...and while well known Irish Comedian and TV star Dylan Moran (Black Books anyone?) sits outside drinking a beer (or two) at the café next to the Italian one...
Amazingly, Scotland take the lead after around a quarter of an hour thru what looks like rather an impressive header from Kenny Millar...of course thereafter it seems to be one way traffic from where we’re sitting...
The meal is excellent and we head back outside and decide to go back to the hotel to watch the rest of the second half there.
At half time Scotland are still one up.
After a long hot journey back from Tottenham Court Road to London Bridge and then a walk back to the Hotel, we find the game’s not on any of the channels on the TV in our room...but it’s showing upstairs in the restaurant on the top floor...
Soon after we arrive and order our drinks, the inevitable happens and Italy equalise with around 15 minutes to go...so a draw it is but a pretty good result and one the team and supporters would no doubt have taken at the start – but to have lead for so long and then lose two valuable points at the end was very frustrating...
We watch a bit of the following Poland v Austria game – up until Poland score I am watching the game under the misapprehension that Austria are in white and Poland in red whilst it’s actually the other way round...
So having had enough of watching football on big screens but from just too far away, we head to bed at just 9.45....
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