Day 1

Our touring party was greeted by Craig at Heathrow, and we all boarded the bus (despite crankiness from some over who was actually in charge of the group!). Interesting fact: British tour buses now require that passengers wear seatbelts on board! We were given our Oyster card, which works like a Pay As You Go travel card that can be used on the London Underground, London buses and ferries on the Thames. The bus first stopped at the Chelsea Cloisters (the more "salubrious" accommodation) in South Kensington, then followed by the St Paul's hostel accommodation. Neil met the touring group upon arrival at Chelsea Cloisters, and helped unload luggage. There was some confusion about the room reservations and some of us (me included) were told that our rooms wouldn't be ready until 2pm that day - very annoying, as the first thing I wanted to do was shower and change my clothing, which I'd been wearing and sweating into for more than a day. The Nowickis kindly obliged me by letting me use their shower, and I felt much refreshed.

Keryn Ward, Mark, Di and I adjourned to local cafe/restaurant Brasserie for breakfast, and it was here I discovered the truth about how much everything costs in this bloody country! I ordered some Crepes Americaines (blueberry pancakes with maple syrup for you common folk!), and was charged something like £6.95 for thepriveledgee of eating what were essentially burnt offerings (no incense of rams though!).

Some friends from Oxford decided to come to London, so we caught up, and they showed me around a little of the south bank of the river. We had lunch in a pub near the Tate Modern, and then wondered back to be "observers" at Evensong at The Abbey. What a stunning building it is, both inside and out. A visiting choir sang Evensong (Vox Ecclesiastae, I think, or something like that) - Byrd Short, with the Coventry Carol as an anthem. Unfortunately, this will only be one of a few opportunities to hear choirs of this country performing. Following Evensong we adjourned to one of the local watering holes near the Abbey (we have discovered two so far - The Sanctuary, and The Westminster Arms). Jason Groves had kindly invited us to dinner out in Islington, with drinks at the house where he is a lodger. A group numbering about 8 (!) descended on his house, where we were kindly treated to drinks and nibbles. We then went to S&M (sausages and mash, not some dodgy sex club, thank you!), where yet again we paid exorbitant amounts for food (not your fault, Jason, in case you're reading this!). We were all pretty much falling asleep at the table, so following dinner, we pretty much went straight back to the hotel, apart from one minor diversion. Sam Blanch and I were the only two people at dinner who were residing at Chelsea Cloisters, so we caught the tube back together, promptly falling alseep, and missing our stop. We ended up somewhere near Ealing, I think, but we jumped off, crossed over to the opposite direction, and caught the tube back safely, without any more attacks of travel-induced narcolepsy! More anon...