This A319 is a very minimal affair. It seems to have been fitted out to a very low price. No screens to help the crew with getting us to pay attention to the announcements. Most of us don't as we are almost word perfect with them. I sometimes pay attention not because I need to know but just so as the crew don't get to depressed.
I have almost completed my second kobo book by touchdown, in between my short naps. LHR goes smoothly with my RFID UK passport I sail through. I really do mean sail through as it's so fast I almost don't break my step. The UK could show the yanks a thing or two, as I pass through I remember the 45 min queues at LAX!
Baggage claim is fast to, how Heathrow has changed. Then I need the HEX, otherwise known as Heathrow eXpress. There is a direct connection to the platform and by direct I mean a lift. That's the way to do it, at the top of the lifts there is a guy running around waving an EFTPOS machine so you don't even have to use the ticket office. I almost make a mistake and bought a return ticket before I remember that I am here for more than 30 days. It's the first time that I try and use my ASB chip card and I am a but apprehensive. Still it works no problem though the way you use these cards is a bit different from NZ ones. More about that later. I have my ticket and it's onto the platform.
I knew everything was going much to smoothly. As I enter the platform the dispatcher screens go blank! What! It turns out that a train has hit somebody and services are indefinitely delayed. Could be 15 mins or a couple of hours, nobody is saying. The pa is telling people to take a taxi. I don't want to as my bag has lost it's wheels and after my HK escapades my feet are hurting. I elect to sit it out. Time passes and I talk to some others that have also chosen the same path. The pa announces that the guy who was hit committed suicide, it was not an accident. I decide that as it's been over an hour I will ask for a ticket refund and try for a taxi. I assume the hotel will hold my reservation but it is getting really late and I am not sure of their policy. I ascend back to the terminal to the main ticket office to be greeted by the announcement the the next train is due in 10 mins. Back down I go and true enough in pulls a train, packed of course but I get on. I have visions of waiting more hours with everything getting worse and worse with no toilets on this train when much to my delight we pull out on time.
Paddington.
Still busy even late at night. I have 5 min wait for a taxi (ah London black cabs how I have missed you). It turns out to be further from the station to the hotel than I expected. I expect that yet again my mental map of London has let me down. I was expecting of about 10UKP fare but it was 20UKP including a round up of almost 5UKP tip which seemed to surprise the driver but after all the excitement I really needed to pee and did not want to wait while he made change. Must tip less next time. 22:30 into the St. Giles hotel.
I was not sure what I was expecting to find. I had chosen the hotel for a combination of rate (98UKP a night) and location ( tottenham court road tube station). What I did not realise was that most of the world made the same choice! The place is heaving and it's just off midnight. There are five staff on reception and I still have to wait ( doing a sort if Scottish jig now). Then into the room what joy what relief. After that I have a look at my room. It is the size of a double bed with a single bed in it. The space between the bed and the desk is about the size of a tea tray. I have seen larger walk in wardrobes. Still it has power, a very small (though given room size that reasonable) CRT TV, no air conditioning, a desk and a bed. The toilet is in a cupboard that is also the shower. Still it will do I have arrived!
I decide to look around the hotel. There are three terminals in the lobby with coin slots, 3UKP an hour, an ice machine (free) and wifi which is 1UKP per 15 mins or 8UKP for a day. I will examine other options for that me thinks. I see the breakfast room which reminds me that I have not eaten since my flights. Outside of the hotel is or rather was theatre land however there does not much seems to be going on. What is with all the piss? The streets are covered it in! It's almost 1 in the morning and I find a small sausage stand or cupboard that is trying to close. I have a real UK sausage in a roll for the first time in how many years? I look around the outside of the hotel but it's all dead and I really should check out my small bed in my small room, for tomorrow will be exploring London, wahoo!
I was not sure what I was expecting to find. I had chosen the hotel for a combination of rate (98UKP a night) and location ( tottenham court road tube station). What I did not realise was that most of the world made the same choice! The place is heaving and it's just off midnight. There are five staff on reception and I still have to wait ( doing a sort if Scottish jig now). Then into the room what joy what relief. After that I have a look at my room. It is the size of a double bed with a single bed in it. The space between the bed and the desk is about the size of a tea tray. I have seen larger walk in wardrobes. Still it has power, a very small (though given room size that reasonable) CRT TV, no air conditioning, a desk and a bed. The toilet is in a cupboard that is also the shower. Still it will do I have arrived!
I decide to look around the hotel. There are three terminals in the lobby with coin slots, 3UKP an hour, an ice machine (free) and wifi which is 1UKP per 15 mins or 8UKP for a day. I will examine other options for that me thinks. I see the breakfast room which reminds me that I have not eaten since my flights. Outside of the hotel is or rather was theatre land however there does not much seems to be going on. What is with all the piss? The streets are covered it in! It's almost 1 in the morning and I find a small sausage stand or cupboard that is trying to close. I have a real UK sausage in a roll for the first time in how many years? I look around the outside of the hotel but it's all dead and I really should check out my small bed in my small room, for tomorrow will be exploring London, wahoo!
No comments:
Post a Comment