Court Appearance

"To travel is to take a journey into yourself. "
Danny Kaye

At long last I'm making the trip to London for my Christmas present, more of that tomorrow.  Today it's a case of getting there, a straightforward coach trip to Victoria during which I manage to make some more progress reading "Mort", one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series [loaned to me by K2 in the forlorn hope of educating me no doubt].  Sat next to a teenager from Cardiff heading to Finsbury Park for some event during the day.  He's in a bit of a rush and asks if he can tag along with me from the coach station to the Underground as he doesn't know his way around.  Sounds like material for a  bit of a film script really - he slept through his alarm and missed his bus, then had a two hour wait for the next one and had to pay full adult fare.  As we head for the tube and I'm pointing out the sign posts he confesses he's left his contact lenses behind and his eyesight isn't that great at distance.  We make it to the Underground without mishap, then he checks his Oyster cards before attempting the journey - both have negative value on them! I didn't realise it was even possible.  Top up made I steer him to the underground map and suggest he gets on the Victoria Line, straight through to Finsbury Park - the pale blue line.... Yes, he's colour blind too!  I last saw him heading through the barriers down to the Victoria line; lovely friendly guy, hope he got there ok...

I leave my backpack at the left luggage at Victoria - too hot to be carrying that around London - and head for the British Museum; there's an exhibition of the Japanese artist Hokusai [the Great Wave] and I'm keen to see it if there are any tickets available [it's sold out online for the next couple of weeks].  Bit of a "senior moment" Thursday night in the rush to arrange my weekend; I hurriedly booked online when I saw some limited availability for Friday afternoon, then I printed out the confirmation and realised I'd booked for July 21st! Oops.

The Great Court at the British is just such a fantastic space, always impresses me.  At the Ticket Desk I cancel my booking and get a refund, I'm told there are some tickets available on the day but they are on first come first served basis.  There are some available today at 6pm, but I'm meeting K2 and the gang for dinner so tonight is out.  No worries.  Do what I always do at a time like this, chill out and find something to eat.

Cafe area in the Great Court is busy but there are seats, so I grab a small snack and settle at the end of one of the long tables.  Plenty of people coming and going, general background hubbub is absorbing.  As I'm finishing eating an Irish guy appears in view and seats himself diagonally opposite. Before long we're talking and swapping stories about all sorts.  He's planning a visit to the Imperial War Museum to follow up some information about a cavalry Colonel from WWI, this in connection with a family history connection.  Usual thing, suddenly two hours or so have passed and it's time to get back to Victoria to meet the rellies.

I retrieve my bag from the left luggage and settle down next to Platform 7, still have about 20 minutes before I'm due to meet K2 so decide to catch up on Mort.  Text message asking where I am, next thing she's there having left work early.  "Oh it was ok, I just explained that you were here and if I left you too long with all these trains coming and going I didn't know where you'd end up...".  Embarrassing thing is of course, with my track record it's probably not far from the truth - and her manager went along with it too!  Word has got around.

A really enjoyable evening with the rellies, also meeting B for the first time, and an unexpected invitation to join R and S for the Lions game in the morning.  Time for bed said zebedee...