Thank you for your visits and comments. Guests from France, Great Britain, Canada, and Germany have been a nice surprise. I’m not able to see anyone’s name or email address, but I can see what countries we have visitors from and how many.
Here in this house, we have a no ugliness, no aggression, no creepiness, no politics policy. The site is meant to be a kind place where we can enjoy ourselves, feel safe and comfortable, and talk about interesting, beautiful, creative things.
Because I don’t anticipate any issues, I’ve turned off comment approval.
Should there be a problem, I’ll know about it right away. Comment notifications are sent to my phone; and any breach of our kindness policy will be deleted instantly and the user will be blocked, no questions asked.
It was a very good trip. I’ve seen the few London sights that were still on my list, and I talked to some very nice people – It was so nice that Mark in the antique shop remembered me. He explained some antiques to me when I didn’t understand what they were used for, and we chatted about upper class fascism.
I had a nice chat with an elderly couple on a bench in front of Saint Mary le Strand. I had complimented her dress and scarf — in our baggy, drapey clothes, she and I looked like twins. LOL
The commuters that stopped to help me out at Victoria Station were so lovely, so kind. Last night, a mom in the airport emptied her shopping bag and rushed over when she saw my crappy paper bag from the store had broken and everything fell out.
And with these pleasant memories, it’s time for me to retire from major international travel. Although my insides are perfectly operational, my outsides don’t carry me around as easily anymore, especially in a marathon situation. Walking with the stick (which I actually enjoy) makes it hard to carry anything. Even just the air travel. It’s too much — 14 hours door to door with no sleep, lots of walking, waiting, chaos, carrying, confusion, crowds.
Assistance & disabilities services at the airports might be even more humiliating and unpleasant than trying to walk it, dealing with the pain, and falling. It’s appalling that people are treated this way under the guise of an airport appearing kind and helpful. I’m working on a separate post about this.
It’s lovely to be home with Jonathan and my pups, and it’s awfully nice to have my comfortable routine back.
Have a great sleep!
Peekskill Waterfront — photo via Miss Bonafide, TripAdvisor
I left my hotel on time this morning, hopped on the tube at Monument, and wended my way to Victoria Station to catch the Gatwick Express.
Victoria wasn’t crowded — rush-hour had passed. Nice! As I stepped onto a short flight of steps down to the station floor, it hit me. Or rather, they hit me.
A family with two running children either knocked me forward onto the stairs or kicked my stick out from underneath me. I’m not sure which. I landed a step or three from the bottom, breaking the fall with my hands and rolling down the last few steps.
The contents of my tote bag were all over the place, my phone and stick scuttled across the pavement, the juice I was drinking was now all over the ground (and me).
Many stopped to help — gathering my stuff and putting it back in my bag; retrieving my suitcase, phone, and stick. Two helped get me up.
People really are generally very kind when someone needs help. Except the family that knocked me over. They kept moving speedily to their train. (One of the helpers told me.) I’m not going to get into it, but you may refer to the list of “worst tourists” I posted earlier in the week.
Paramedics showed up and insisted on checking me out. I argued, but they talked some sense into me. Good vitals, nothing broken. A bone-bruised hip; and I hurt my wrist, something short of a sprain. I missed two trains and took the third.
By the time I got to the airport, my plane was already boarding. No way on earth I was going to get through security and to the gate at an international airport before this plane took off.
Now I’m a bit panicky. The awesome Assistance Center sorted me out. I explained what had happened. They gave me a comfortable place to sit down, hooked me up with good Internet, and explained I should switch my flight before it took off so I would still get the credit. JetBlue wanted $1600 extra to switch my flight to tomorrow. I said, “no thank you,” went to their website, cancelled it myself. I got 40,000 points and a few hundred bucks back. Which otherwise would’ve been gone along with $1400 more. Jerks.
I booked on another airline for $400, and checked into the terminal hotel I like. It is literally ten feet from the Assistance Center, at which I will present myself tomorrow morning. Why?
They insisted they put me in the buggy and drive me through luggage drop, security, and to the gate.
I decided to take it a bit easy today — favorite soda, comfy hotel bed, home renovation shows, old British movies, the park downstairs, and happy laziness. =)
I felt my usual iffy this morning, with the usual improvement. (It’s not a bad thing. I’m used to it.) It’s warm outside today, so I decided to go out early evening — I need to pack tonight and be on a train-to-a-plane in the morning.
I knew there would be lots of fun pictures in the immediate neighborhood, so a cappuccino and cooler temps sent me on my way by four this afternoon. =)
We’ll start with the Lloyds of London building. I took several photos, and it’s the kind of thing people either love or hate. You’d think I absolutely loathe it, but for some reason I enjoy the Lloyd’s building.
And some less futuristic pictures from around the neighborhood. I think I was probably only out about two hours.
My coffee spot — that’s my cup.
Leadenhall Market, the classic photo
Leadenhall Market, main corridor
I had a nice rest on this bench with new friends. They didn’t have much to say. Although I probably won’t have much to say when I’m 200 years old either. (They’re not in the wall, they’re under the pavement.)
A favorite place — Leadenhall Market — is just up the street. Since it (and other things I’ve taken photos of) appear in the Harry Potter films, I thought it would be fun to have a Harry Potter Post.
I was (am?) a big Potterhead. (Hufflepuff — I even have the socks!) I think I can talk about each of these things without doing too much Googling.
Australia House was used as the interior of Gringott’s.
The Millennium Bridge was smashed up by flying bad guys!
Lambeth Bridge is where the Night Bus got skinny.
Borough Market was used as the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron in the later films.
Harry flies along the River Thames and over Tower Bridge in The Order of the Phoenix.
An enormous spiral staircase inside St. Pauls was used in The Prisoner of Azkaban.
And finally, this shopfront in Leadenhall Market was used as the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron in the early films. A photo from the film is below.
Sit Still Phill 