The Bank Holiday Weekend

Yesterday marked my two week anniversary here in London. It’s been quite a hectic two weeks in some ways, and not so much in others. Overall, I’d say the experience hasn’t been bad, although it has certainly been trying at times. Since I actually was able to get the keys to the house yesterday, I spent the afternoon in going to Redhill to sign the contract, get the keys, go through the house, coming back to Chelsea, getting my luggage, and then riding back down to Merstham, this time in a cab. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Sunday was a reasonably good day. The weather continues to be anything other than rainy, generally, although it is variably overcast. Overcast in the morning, clearing in the afternoon, and possibly overcast again that night appears to be the norm. Still, not bad. I elected Sunday to go to the British Museum. I must say that it was the most impressive thing I think I’ve seen so far. The pictures below really fail to capture how impressive it was. Unfortunately, a good number of them came out blurry, but still – among other things, it had parts of the gates of Ninevah, a record of the tribute paid by Hezekiah to the King of Assyria, parts of the old Acropolis, and parts of one the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the Mausoleum of King Maussollus, once at Halicarnassus. The mausoleum was destroyed by an earthquake, but you can still see how impressive it must have once been. I spent most of the day there before coming back to the flat.

Monday was rather dull. It was a bank holiday here, so there was no work for me. I spent the morning packing my bags as best I could to prepare for moving out on Tuesday. After that, I opted to take a walk, and my failure to purchase a “brolly” finally resulted in my getting wet. It wasn’t a significant downpour, but it was a good rain, so I headed back to the flat, and then dried my clothes. The flat had a combination washer/dryer, which was very interesting to me. Fascinating, the way they find a way to work in both in such a small space! Afterwards, the rain cleared up, and I went back out for a bit, however, while it was not raining, it was rather windy, and I ended up going back in after a brief walk to the green in front of the Museum of Natural History.

And then there was yesterday – I finished packing my bags in the morning, and then headed to work. I had booked a room at a hotel for the night, and it looked as though I was going to have to stay there, when I got the call that I could come and pick up the keys to the house. So, reference top paragraph for details after that. What the top paragraph doesn’t say is that although the house is furnished, it did not have any linens, towels, pillows, etc. I had a towel and washcloth in my luggage, as well as some kitchen towels, but nothing else. As it was already 8 by this time, and the Merstham rail ticket office had already closed, I determined that for the night, I was just going to have to deal with it. So, I went up the street and got some Chinese from a place called “The Oriental”, about a quarter-mile or so down the road, and then attempted to make myself as comfortable as possible given the circumstances. I slept better than I expected, considering I used the towel as my pillow, and one of my suit jackets served for covers. Even with the cold shower this morning, I’m still glad to be at a more permanent residence.