Off to London and then back again

I had been invited to a meeting in London the following day and since I was in England any way, I decided to go and miss the second day of the conference.  Off I went on the train at a very civilized hour of 1030 after saying a big bye-bye to Gill.

I arrived in London 2 hours before the meeting.  After checking my luggage at the train station, I headed off to this vintage watch shop I look at on web. 

It was cloudy, but dry so I decided to take the tube to Westminster and walk the rest of the way to the meeting.  I had received a warning from the state department about being in London as Margaret Thatcher's funeral was going to be going on.  

It took me a couple of days to realize I was going to be in London at this time, and when I came out of the tube station, I was a bit confused wondering what all the fuss was about then I remembered - I am such a dork sometimes. 

There were protests going on and the police were out in force, but this did not ruin my walk.

The meeting was fairly uneventful and ended promptly at 1630.  I took the tube to Selfridges and got my eyebrows threaded, did some shopping in the food hall and then sat myself at the champagne bar and had a snack.  At about 8 pm, I headed back to the train station, collected my luggage and got on the Caledonian Sleeper Train.

I had a first class cabin, which meant I did not have to share with anyone.  I squeezed myself down the hall and into my cabin - handbag barely fit in sideways.

Pajamad, I settled into bed and was asleep by 2230 as the train trundled north.  I slept through the night, but did wake a couple of times as the train started and stopped.  

At 0700, I awoke for real just as we were stopping in Aviemore.  I got cleaned up and changed for the day and spent the last hour of the ride in the lounge watching everything go by.

Once in Inverness, I had breakfast in a cafe and bought some spices at my favorite health food store.  By then, it was raining and time to get the train to Thurso.  This train has 2 cars, and it makes at least 23 stops - sometimes more depending because some are optional stops - like does anyone on the train want to stop.  

I read the newspaper, two magazines and all of my work reading.  This took about 4 hours, which is good because it only left me with a few minutes before we arrived in Thurso.  I walked home from the station, showered, got some dog love and then headed out for a public meeting.

Hard to believe it's only Wednesday - Have I mentioned that life is good