Back in London

Posted on 2007/02/05 07:59:48 (February 2007).

[Sunday 4th February]
So the flight from SFO landed some time around 11. As is often the case it took quite a while to get out of the airport - the plane had landed at a remote stand (something to do with it being foggy) which meant a bus journey and then a long wait at baggage reclaim. Still, by some time around 1 I was in central London (got the Heathrow Express into Paddington again) and from there set about finding the new temporary apartment which my company had arranged for me for the next couple of weeks.

Recently I don't seem to have had a good run of locating accomodation. The first place in London was a bit of an ordeal - not so much in finding the right area, but in finding the entrance and how to get in. Similarly in the US I had spent a good hour or two driving up and down the same road trying to find my hotel, made more difficult because that road was at least 30 miles long and the numbers kept on resetting. Today was a continuation of that theme - I got a taxi to what I thought was the right address, but it turned out the details I had been sent had the street name subtily wrong. London streetnames often seem to have an XYZ road, XYZ place and XYZ gardens all within the same area. So again I spent a while wandering about, tired, slightly agitated, and with big heavy bags, until I did eventually find the right place.

The new temporary apartment is a lot less impressive than the place I had stayed in for the first week - most notably no internet access. Hard to believe in this day and age, especially considering it was chosen by my company. Back in Silicon Valley internet connections where everywhere and often free - it was a bit like stepping back into the dark ages to come back to London where connectivity is comparatively rare (and certainly not free).

Anyway, on the plus side I guess the fact that this place is not so luxurious will be something of an incentive to find a more permanent place to live ASAP! Moreover it is better if the permanent place is a step up in the world rather than a step down.

I actually popped into the office in the afternoon, because I just wasn't sure what to do with myself in the absence of any internet connection!

Then on leaving there I decided to try and find something to eat - I particularly fancied a Sunday roast type meal (vegetarian of course). A quick consultation on the web pointed me in the direction of a place called "Eat and Two Veg" near Baker Street. Again I had a hard time finding the place, probably made worse by how tired and jetlagged I was. They did indeed have a vegetarian Sunday roast on the menu. It was OK I guess, but I didn't really have much of an appetite, and there were a number of areas needing improvement - e.g. consistency/quantity of gravy, and general lack of "umami". I think they really could have done better for the price - another downside of exchanging California for London!

I headed back to the flat after that, and tried in vain to stay awake for as long as I could, but by 9 I found I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer - fair enough really - I had been awake around 28 hours by that point.

So, where abouts in London are you, old boy?

Posted by Rob Lang at 2007/02/05 09:51:27.

For the first couple of weeks I'm staying in a temporary apartment near the Natural History museum. Could be pretty much anywhere after that!

Posted by John at 2007/02/05 11:30:29.

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