Back in London

Safe and sound here at Murphy's place, complete with 2 new housemates! Murph is still in Ireland, probably until mid-September so he has rented the place to two lovely English girls, Vicki and Charlotte. Both are just out of uni and in their early 20's and really sweet. It's weird being here with girl energy, but I like it! It smells nice and the place is spotless!

Had a fairly easy travel day, my friend Ben took me to the airport via the brand shiny new Hoptbanhof to the airport express and then Shoenefeld Airport. The flight on Easy Jet was pretty uneventful, save the annpying pushing of crap perfume and gadjets. Oye, let me sleep! I arrived in Luton, which I thought would be closest to Bernie's house, but I discovered that just because an airport's name keep coming up in the train schedule, it doesn't necessarliy mean that it is close. £11.25 and an hour and 20 minutes later, I arrived in Streatham, where I promptly dragged my earthly possessions into the Pied Bull and enjoyed 2 frosty pints of Foster's on the back terrace. I have to admit, it was music to my ears to actually be able to understand the conversations around me.

After about an hour, I grabbed the keys to Murphy's flat and headed down Streatham Common, dreaming about a cup of tea, a couch and a session in front of the telly. As I walked up the steps, I noticed that the plants had grown tremendously in the last two months and thought "oh, I should trim those tomorrow," and fumbled for the keys. Of course, as my luck with European keys dictates, I couldn't get the damn stupid lock open! Now, you can imagine that after a long train ride and two frosty pints, my bladder is screaming at me to open the door but to no avail! I looked at the overgrown plants and thought "okay, you have two options, you can make a fool of yourself by wetting yourself or you can make a fool of yourself by wetting the plants!" As it was dark by this time, I went for plan B because, well...I just did. Key still not working, I chucked my luggage into the other bush and tried not to panic. I thought about the two families I had met when I was here last and decided to find them and knock on the door for help. But, I couldn't find the houses and the address was in my luggage so I went BACK to the door and lo and behold the lights were on and there was giggling coming from within and I was saved once again. Vicks was on the phone with Bernie and they were laughing and I was kissing the ground and then we all went into the back garden and had gin and tonics and smoked cigarettes and probably woke up every neighbor on the street. It was brilliant!

So, here I am still missing Berlin and Prague, but ready to move on. Vicki is going to take me to Canterbury on Monday for a little English country excursion and probably we will all go out tonight for a girls night in Covent Garden, but otherwise, I am lying low, taking vitamins, eating vegetables and drinking tea. I'm going to run out to the market to buy some supplies today and then probably just rest up and look at a map to see what lies ahead. I'm also going to try and give an overview of the cities I visited with photos this time. I can't see to figure out how to go back and insert photos with stories, but I have plenty of time for this in the next few days. It's a million degrees here, so I will keep outside activities to a minimum. LATERS!