Day 7 – F- you Rainy London

Battersea Power Station

Some time around today my “unpleasant sore throat” migrated to something closer to flu or bronchial pneumonia. Ah, good times. The original plan for today was to meet up with my old pal Simon in London and then maybe stick around to hit some shops. I had to walk to the railway station today and rather than go the correct way by making a right and a left, I went the wrong way and made a left and then a right. What’s the difference? About half a mile of extra walking I would guess. By the time I realized the mistake, it was too late to turn back, so I had to run much of the way to the station, which included going uphill. Let me tell you, when you are poorly and have to run under duress, it is going to mess you up bad. I did manage to make it to the train on time (barely), but spent half the train ride recovering from the unexpected exercise.

I arrived in London Victoria station and took the bus to Marble Arch. I used to take this same bus to HMV on Oxford Street when I worked there in the 1980s.

Simon at Marble Arch tube

I met Simon at our pre-determined destination: Marble Arch. It was the location for a video short we shot in 1986. One day, I’ll digitise it and put it on Youtube. I did scan “behind the scenes” photos taken on location and they are here.

I had not seen Simon in at least 10 years, but of course we instantly recognised each other and it was like no time at all had passed. We looked around Marble Arch looking for where we shot the video, but in the intervening years, parts of it, including a long corridor have been blocked up.

Beer and bloody marys at the ready

After that, we took a tube to Oxford Circus and wandered around the area near “Liberty’s” – a department store. We used to go to the pubs around that area. We eventually we to “The Clachan” which was a pub we went to several times before. For some reason, we used to order bloody mary drinks to kick things off. We ended up doing that and having a pint each of “Doom” ale. Along with some lovely crisps, which we ate pub style, e.g. open.

fried seaweed

After that, we wanted around soho and ended up in Chinatown. Soho in London includes the famous Carnaby Street as well as a lot of porn shops, although not as many as I remember. Many clothing stores and fancy restaurants. We ended up eating at the Golden Dragon and we had some very interesting food including fried seaweed (!) and something with chicken. It was packed and was very pleasant.

After that, we wandered over to Piccadilly Circus and close to Leicester Square, home of the large cinemas. Due to the rain, we had to dive into a few tourist trinket shops, but at least we were able to stay (mostly) dry. I think its about this time that my body got hit the hardest due to cold, water and exhaustion.

Simon demonstrates his chopstick skillz

Sadly, Simon had to leave as he lives about 3 hours north by train, so we went to the station together and parted ways. Hopefully I won’t have to wait 10 years to see him again. He’s a great laugh and a very bad influence. That’s probably why I like him so much.

I was actually glad I had to go home early and headed back home by train and walked the correct way back home where I immediately lay down for a few hours to rest. On the way I stopped off at a Boots (pharmacy) to get some cough medicine.

A very rainy Piccadilly Circus

After a couple of hours Stephen popped by and we decided to hit Nando’s. Nando’s is a chain of chicken food restaurants in the UK and much of Europe. Despite trying to start up in the US, they failed and only managed to get some of their sauces into the supermarkets. They have stores in Canada though. I wish they had stores in the US. So what is so great about Nandos? Well, its chicken breast and wings and even whole chickens, but cooked in a great sauce which can be anything from mild to super hot. Delicious food and considerably better than the bland offerings from the likes of KFC.

Nando's chicken, with, what else? chips.

After that, I was happy to head home and get some rest. Hopefully the cough medicine will help.