While the departure was traumatic, the flight from Joburg was easy, my first expedition aboard British Airways. Meals were slightly different which made them slightly more exciting than those on Qantas. The wine was South African, yum. And the small two-hour time difference made it comfortable, I managed to dine and fall asleep at appropriate times. I also watched the all-American-dream movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" -if you have money you can be happy- yes, and despite feeling financial fretting of the pound vs oz dollars coming on, I slept solidly for much of the 11 hour flight.
Collected from Heathrow airport at the ungodly hour of 6.30am by my wonderfully generous (hungover) big brother Lawrence, I was driven back through London with an abridged commentary. The first obvious contrast from my homeland Australia (don't mention the weather!) was the architecture. Lawrence described the difference between Georgian and Victorian styles which encompassed the vast majority of London buildings. And I have promptly forgotten it. Hotels only differentiated from personally-owned townhouses by signage. Lots of repetition here in whatever style it may be!
Arriving in Kennington, my first impressions of Lawrence's flat are that is just what I imagined a London flat to be, though I wasn't really prepared for the tall narrow stairs and VERY cosy living. An adjustment after the luxurious lifestyle of the Brisvegas Mason manor! Not much storage in these quaint townhouses. But I am very grateful. My bedroom is small and snuggly, a perfect size to suit my purposes: a futon bed with room for me and my books to lie beside me (or human company, of the South African variety if I get lucky!), a wardrobe and clothes drawers with just enough space for my excess-luggage apparel and 12 pairs of shoes (I swear they bred in my bags on the way here), and a window overlooking a little green park speckled with roses and English wildflowers. And children playing. In the rain. Under a cloudy-grey sky. London. And I saw a squirrel!!!
Overcast. Still very early. Felicity, Lawrence's girlfriend stumbled out in her pjs to say hello before going back to bed...a little sad having said goodbye to her parents the day before, after their short holiday from Australia. I unpacked, showered, decorated my room with Shakespeare books. Then Jacobie came over around lunchtime and Lawrence produced a pre-chilled bottle of champagne to celebrate her birthday and my arrival. Joy. As the afternoon progressed we moved on to Amarula coffees over a catch-up on all the news (gossip).
At dusk we met up with friends Kate, and Jac's flatmates Steve and Reece, at The Three Stags, where we sat in Chaplin's Corner.. a small designated non-smoking cubicle in the pub. Charlie Chaplin senior, an alcoholic, apparently drank at this very pub. Regularly, one assumes. Felicity and Lawrence joined us there for a drink, then we progressed to the local thai restaurant for dinner, which was very tasty, especially after aeroplane meals.
Later, we said goodbye to Jac and went to my new home. I met the absolutely lovely, cheery, also Australian, flatmate Troy (if you thought I was chirpy...!), then I realised I was jetlagged, or simply exhausted from the day's (and previous week's) excitement, and proceeded to sleep for 12 hours.
Today all I have managed to do is to veture through the park and down the road to a convenience store (which also sells alcohol, now that is convenience) to buy some vegetables to fill a need in this household. Didn't feel like exploring much in the cold and damp. The weather here is not exactly conducive to, well, anything much at all really.