The Ruffled Crow

After three hours at Sea-Tac airport, 10 in the air, and another half hour in an actual Black Cab, we have arrived in London!

A side issue to this is that I’ve been up for 24 hours now and will be trying to stay awake for another six or so in order to try and muscle into the time change of plus 8 hours. That is getting quite difficult, though the preponderance of coffee shops nearby is a definite help. That in itself is something I wasn’t expecting.

An even further aside is that the US vs UK women’s soccer (nonono, football, you’re in England, get it straight) is at 8pm (noon at home) so we’ll likely be down in the pub watching from a quiet corner.

We have been here a few hours already and to work out the kinks from the long flight and not fall onto the bed in a deep, snoring slumber as soon as we got in, we took a good ramble up to the Eye which is probably just less than a mile from the hotel. On the way we passed a flat that was once inhabited by William Bligh. Yes, ye olde commander of the Bounty.

We also took a wander through Waterloo Train Station and I must say that I knew the Brits took their trains seriously, but this was the first good look at a train station we got and it was quite impressive! I’ve also been rather fascinated with the architecture – everything abutting it’s neighbors, lots of brick and stone and iron fencing.
One thing that we will have to really pay attention to is the mundane task of crossing the street. Not just having to look right instead of left, but just where and when to make the attempt. We’ve seen green man signals now and again, but much of the time we just follow a local as they charge across the street and hope for the best. Being dead tired didn’t help our learning curve so we’ll have to keep practicing.
Sightseeing, at least my self-directed version of it, begins in earnest tomorrow!

(a cautionary digression; it appears that this keyboard likes it’s e’s. it double enters them every other e it appears. I would say be wary, but the occasional shift in pronunciation can be ratheer funny. I’ll leave that last one as an example)