Day 24 - Getting Educated

Tuesday comes around and so does the time to pack and leave the house.  I am noticing that my packing is getting later and later, today only starting to pack about 20 minutes before I left the house, and that is probably why I have forgotten my Gillette wet razor only having my Wilkinson sword razor in the bag and that normally cuts me to ribbons so fun for tomorrow morning.

It was another late morning on the trains with all trains to and from London delayed quite a bit by some poor sole who had decided they had suffered enough in this world.  It really does make me think when you hear these stories just how lucky I am, I may think sometimes things are tough and it can get me down occasionally but overall I have never succumb to feelings that bad and for that I do thank God.

I arrived down in London a little late and made my way through Kings Cross.  I noticed that the Festiniogg Railway stand had gone and had been replaced by something to do with Hilton Hotels which was basically a big telly screen showing something I am not sure what and a couple of chairs next to a bar type thing.  No idea at all what they are trying to pull off there.

As I walked to the office I noticed the next office building had big lights and TV cameras outside and an awful lot of people around but again could not see what was actually happening and as I was late already I thought I better get into the office as I am sure all of my colleagues would be missing me.

It was soon time for a walk and as my Selby colleague is back I walked around the stations with him but made a bee line for the stand in Kings Cross which is being run by Hilton Hotels and I now know what it is all about, basically it is an advertisement and people are queuing to click onto a giant mouse which is part of the exhibition and then on the tv screen a fruit machine starts to spin, while I watched, a lady won a one hundred pound gift voucher to spend at Hilton Hotels, I have a suspicion that there will be a few of those handed out today.

So on to tonight and it has been quite a hectic evening so here goes trying to describe it all

Firstly I left work at 4.30 p.m. allowing me to get to the hotel and checked in by 5.00 p.m.  A quick wash and brush up and I was ready for going out by 5.20 p.m.  The plan was to go, along with my Chorley colleague to a lecture at the London Museum.  The lecture was on the final play by Checkov, the Cherry Orchard and I wanted to do it as it is something I have not done before, so a kind of first.

My colleague arrived back at the hotel and was ready for out by 5.40 p.m. so it was going to be touch and go if we could get there by 6.00 p.m. when the lecture started.  It was amazing but as we caught the tubes to the Barbican it could not have gone better, every tube turned up just as we arrived on the platform, even when we had to look for the place we found it reasonable quickly and we were in to the auditorium just a few moments after 6.00 p.m. and the speaker had literally just started.

It was different and certainly gave food for thought, the only other thing I would say is that it would have been good to have been familiar with the play to fully appreciate the lecture.

We left the museum at bang on 7.00 p.m. and the plan was to meet up with my Liverpool colleague and several other colleagues as this week is his last in the company and we were having a celebratory drink to say goodbye.  We decided to walk from the museum to near Euston where the drinks were being held and we did that in good pace in around 30 minutes.

On route we managed to find a couple of interesting titbits to muse upon.  Quite near Barbican is Smithfield market and it was nice to see something that I have heard about in the past.  And likewise as we walked back toward Bloomsbury we ran into Hatton Garden which of course has become infamous due to the recent Hatton Garden Robbery.  So obviously I was there snapping my camera like a tourist, which of course at this time of night I am.

Smithfield Market from the North End which looks quite pretty with the lights

The scene of naughtiness a little while ago at Hatton Garden

We finally met up with my leaving Liverpool colleague and a couple of drinks and very overcrowded pubs later (mainly due to the football being shown) and we were in the pizza express having food and as we stayed there talking and eating for over two hours it was now 11.00 p.m. and everyone decided to go back to the hotel so it wasn’t as late as I feared it would be.

So with me in my room, with 15,763 steps registered and a cup of tea at the side of the bed and me about to start my crossword, I will bid you all

Good night