In London

Mate! I'm no longer 'in Kawasaki' but writing this from my friend's couch in London!

I've been here two days so far. So far haven't had much in the way of jet lag (it's wondrous what coffee will do :)) and have been enjoying myself immensely. It's the first time I've left Japan in six months, there were a few minor re-adjustments to make:

In the coffee shop in Heathrow airport, the girl in front of me asked 'what kind of muffin is that one?' and the answer was cinnamon. I thought - wow, I can actually ask that sort of question in this country! I can ask questions about food or menus, and understand the answer!

I keep expecting the train announcements to say things like 'tsugi wa Earl's Court. Earl's Court desu.' And I look at train lines and see the colours and think of the Japanese lines - like I'll see the Jubilee line and think 'okay, I have to take the Hibiya line...'

I was surprised when toilets didn't flush automatically... haha...

It's so multicultural here (frankly, anywhere would be after Japan) that I found myself frequently wondering 'can I speak to this person in English? Can I ask this person a question in English?'

I like being able to be polite again and say please and thanks very much and excuse me at appropriate moments. In Japan I (still) never know if I'm supposed to say 'arigato' or 'arigato gozaimasu' or 'sumimasen' or 'shitsurei shimasu' or 'otsukaresama desu' or 'gomen nasai' or 'hai' or whatever else in basic situations...

I was really happy to see my friend again. I'm very much enjoying staying at her place and she is being super hospitable. Best of all, she loves to cook, and is cooking me nice meals every night. :)

I'm located in an area of London called the Docklands, it's in the east. The main station I connect to the Underground on is Tower Hill. I feel pretty lucky, every time I go in or out of the city proper and change stations, I get a marvellous view of the Tower of London.

Yesterday I did the following:

went to the Tower of London where I had a mah-vellous rich lamb casserole and almond orange polenta cake (two things I could not get in Japan), did a tour, etc

went to St Paul's cathedral

weather was quite nice so sat in Russell Square reading all the bits in '84 Charing Cross Road' where Helene is in Russel Square... :)

walked all the way from Russell Square down to Trafalgar Square, via Bloomsbury Street, Piccadilly Circus and Charing Cross Road... sadly 84 Charing Cross Road is no longer an antiquarian bookstore, but a Pizza Hut! But Charing Cross Road is still lined with bookstores...

came back and enjoyed a nice evening with my friends :)

Today:

I went to South Kensington station to see if they still had the donut shop I used to patronise as a 7-year-old. And it was still there! Exactly the same store, same sign! I bought a vanilla-topped donut. It was quite nice, though my tastes have changed since I was a child.

Then it was off to East Putney to see the neighbourhood where I used to live. My mum had given me detailed directions around the area. As the train went down the District line by Fulham Green, Putney Bridge, it was all I could do not to bounce up and down on my chair.

Walked around East Putney. My old house was there, some of the streets even familiar... it rained quite a bit (the weather is about what you'd expect from London, very changeable - today was about 12 and intermittently raining and cloudy, but with periodic bits of sun).

Got slightly lost looking for the park and shopping centre I used to go to, so stopped for lunch in a pub. Very nice.

Found the old park and shopping centre and pottered about; it's now a much larger and more modern complex called Southside, I bought a book there. :)

Went back to South Kensington to the Natural History Museum, had another coffee and really really enjoyed the museum. I think I shall go back tomorrow.

I read somewhere that Tokyo has the fastest walking people in the world. After two days' worth of anecdotal evidence I can say this is ridiculous. In Tokyo I spend the whole time dodging and weaving around the slooow people. In London I'm about average.

Actually though when I arrived at Heathrow yesterday morning I envisioned long queues and bad bureaucracy/organisation, but I was lucky. Our gate was a looong way from the arrivals hall, and I was in the last 10% of people to get off the plane, but I set a brisk pace and overtook virtually the whole plane. :)

London is a very beautiful place. :)

Anyway I'm kind of tired and rambling on, so should probably post this and go have dinner. :)