I've been to London before, but only on family vacations. Which probably explains why it was SO much better this time.
Angie, the girl I met in the Calgary airport, had made it back to England after backpacking Europe, so I decided to go down to London and spend the day with her. We powered through London and got to every major tourist attraction that we both wanted to see that day.. Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London. The London Eye held some incredible views of London, and I'm just glad it was such good weather, and also glad that my crippling fear of heights wasn't too obvious. The crown jewels completely floored me at the almost obscene extravagance of it all. Bonus attractions of the day included the Millenium Bridge, which I instantly recognised from Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (it's the metal footbridge that gets ripped apart in a ruthless Muggle killing by Voldemort.. just so you know) and a glimpse of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Angie was sad that the performances had ended only two days ago. I was sad that I'd neglected to take a photo of Henry VII's enormous armoured codpiece.
After London I set off for Adrian and Kat's place in Oxford. At this point my legs had become made entirely of sawdust after a day of striding around London with a backpack for seven hours. Three greasy train rides later, I was greeted by a jovial man with a patchy ginger monstrosity on his face who I soon realised to be my brother and his alleged "thesis beard". I stayed over and had dinner with Adrian and Kat, but I didn't have much time over at Oxford because I had to take a train back to Leeds early the next morning.
My criminal record check has finally come through, which means I can teach soon! I have an orientation meeting for a potential job as a Freelance Induction Facilitator for FilmClub in two days! Sheer optimism floods me.
