Day 47 - No point really

One good thing with this hotel was that it does include breakfast and for a treat and to give me some energy after such a poor night I treated myself to a sausage and scrambled egg on a slice of toast with a couple of glasses of fresh orange to make it a healthy breakfast.  I was now ready to hit the tube and the morning commute into the metropolis.

The short walk to the tube station at Finchley Road was easy and I hit the platform with about every other Londoner.  The platform was so packed that the first train had to go without me and half of the people on the platform as it was soon too full.  The second train was one minute later and that was so full that no one could get on, although some did try.  The third was a further minute behind and I was getting close to getting on but it still looked too full.  It was a case of fourth time lucky as one minute later another arrived and I got on with almost enough room around me to swing a very small mouse.  My commute began four trains and four minutes late.  You have to admit this public transport in London is blooming good, you really cant complain how efficient it is with so many people wanting to use it.  Up North you have a bus with 10 people on and it is a mess or at least my experience of it is.

Back to the tube and it was filling up by the time we hit Baker Street and I was next to a guy or rather almost stood on top of him and in the crush he was trying to use his phone, when I looked over at what he was doing he was there playing a tennis game on his phone.  It is amazing what people will try and do when in the crush on the underground.

My walk was a little different today as my Wigan colleague wanted to visit a specialist Astronomy shop in Baker Street and so I went with him to keep him company, whilst he was getting his advice I had a look at the telescopes and it is like anything when you are browsing cool stuff, you think, I want that, no I want that one, no I want that one and the thought of taking pictures of planets and things like that seems so awesome, unfortunately so are the prices so I will accept it is a hobby I will take up if I win the lottery.  Still it is nice to browse and see all the gadgetry and dream.  We left there and made our way back to Baker Street tube station and to get there we took a thing called the Wonderpass which is an underpass but nicely decorated and with display cases with bits and pieces in, for example one has some Sherlock stuff and another underground stuff which I took the picture below.  But a nice thing to see.

On the way back my colleague wanted to drop something at the hotel so we alighted the tube at Euston Square and walked back to the office via his hotel which gave us another 20 minute walk.  We also walked through the grounds of the British Library and here is a photo of some dude's statue and for good measure a random person posing in front.

So the plan for tonight to save time is not to go back to the hotel but to get changed at the office and then go out with my colleagues, I  Plans were made that I would meet my Liverpool colleague in a pub in Piccadilly at around 5.30 p.m.  A bit early for me and I would be doubtful about being able to get out of the office at 5.00 p.m. to be there on time.  As it happened I didn't get to leave early, the usual fires needed putting out and I didn't manage to get away until after 6.30 p.m.  I rushed over to Piccadilly and met up with him just before 7.00 p.m.  By the time I arrived him and his Melbource friend were ready to eat so we vacated the pub as soon as I arrived and headed into China town as that was there preference and as I hadn't been therefore the decision it was tough luck on me.

They must have also decided to head for the most chinese sounding place in china town and we ended up in Geralds.  I know, you don't have to tell me.  The food was delicious and my lemon chicken with chicken fried rice was very nice.  I like chicken if you hadn't noticed.

I didn't want to be too late as it was a fair way back to the hotel and as if my colleague and his friend read my mind at 8.15 p.m. they declared it late enough and we parted for me to head back up the Bakerloo to Baker Street and then onto the Jubilee Line to Finchley Road and then off to my hotel and time for some rest and relaxation.

The downside of all this is that I have done no walking whatsoever in the evening time and therefore my step count has been disastrous, barely 5000 steps for each day.  My plan for next week is to sort that out and get out more.  At least next week my hotel is in Camden so I am hoping for some time around Camden Market and will have to check the opening times.

Again with very little walking time I was hardly tired and another bad night of sleep ensued.