Flat-Hunting, V&A Museum, and Greenwich Again

So, by the end of last week, Kate and I had decided to move out of our flat. We spent the early part of this week looking at flats. We at one point found one by where GP was living, but Kate and John found one they decided, after much debate, that they liked just a bit better. I continued looking, but was not finding anything really exciting. We didn't do too much after work this week other than look for housing or update things online, etc., in efforts to save money and also to figure out what the heck we were doing after we moved out. Thursday night, Linsey from work and I went to dinner and for drinks since her last day would be that Friday. After work on Friday, the office went out to celebrate Alex's birthday, Linsey's last day, Paula's work anniversary, and our winning a major travel industry award earlier in the week (Best Travel Recruitment Agency from the Travel Weekly Awards, hosted also by some well-known British tv star whose name I forget). I left once John, our MD, started "breakdancing" and headed into town to meet Tyler, my friend from UofM in town for a few days, for a drink as well at the Cheshire Cheese before heading home farely late.

Saturday I was finally able to sleep in and it was wonderful. I got a letter that morning from Contiki, the tour company that I was going to travel with for over a month to 17 countries, that my tour was cancelled due to a lack of people for my particular one. Hmmmm... I began looking for new options for travel, though was indeed a bit frustrated upon recieving the news. I then got around to looking at a flat in South London, though it was farely underwhelming, before heading to meet Tyler, Trace, Kate, and John at the Victoria & Albert Museum. After many delays, I missed meeting Tyler but found the others and we wandered around the unusual yet fascinating museum. We saw a display on fashion, got to design a textile, try on an 18th-century-like skirt frame (v. hilarious picture!!!), and even oggled at a massive display of ironwork (i.e. blacksmithing stuff and hearth tools!). At that point dying of hunger, we all went into SoHo to catch a fabulous noodle dinner and then head out to some pubs. We finally went to the Canadian pub, The Maple Leaf, and Trace about fell over from excitement at about 8 different tvs all showing hockey. We also vowed to return for food sometime once we realized they have poutine. We ended up walking around more than sitting and chatting in pubs, and again returned quite late. (photos: me in an old skirt; some of these ironwork pieces may look a bit familiar to some; and these too; and St. Pauls at night (my favorite!))




Sunday I slept in again but also started the day looking at flats, seeing some of the shadiest, dirtiest, and dodgiest that I'd ever seen before. Frustrated, I met finally with Trace, Morgan, and Anna in Brick Lane, then heading to the Petticoat Lane market and another near Liverpool Street after I had come from Hyde Park and Speaker's Corner (an area of the park where there's a lot of freely-speaking people, mostly preaching/debating religion). However, we apparently were going through Greenwich withrawl after only a week and decided to go back for a big group Tex-Mex dinner. Anna, Trace, and I went to the observatory and saw the laser marking the Prime Meridian that, on a clear day, can be seen for 15 miles. Finally Kate and John arrived and we had a ton of time to wait for GP and his roommate (which some people remaining nameless found a way to blame on me). The dinner was ridiculously tastey and we went back to the PM for those that hadn't yet seen it before heading back to town and looking at more flats, etc. that night. (photos: Speakers Corner; and looking up at the Observatory and the PM laser)