Visiting London and a Londoner!

Finally, finally I am back after having a crash-holiday in London for 5 days, from 12^th till 16 August. When I reached my home in Ireland at 9 pm on 16^th, I thought my limbs have stopped working. It ached and ached and finally it cut off my circulation giving way to numbness. I had so much planned to see in so few days time that in order to squeeze at least half of what I wanted to see into the travel plan, we had to run from one tube station to another, like most of the working Londoners. Fortunately the (in) famous London weather didn’t ditch me. Thank God for that!

It’s almost impossible to post all the photos, because I have nearly 1000 photos spread across three digital cameras. Still, I have to say that the most wanted photos didn’t turn up good. That includes the one I badly wanted to post here… my meeting with my blogfriend from London – Mina.

I messaged her as soon as I reached London and gave her my hotel number and room no, so that she could call me. She called and we talked and talked and talked. She had such soft and polite voice that suddenly I thought that may be all Londoners were as soft and polite as she was, whereas I sounded like the good old loud Irish/Indian! LOL…I think I talked with her thru phone for nearly one hr, the first day. Honestly it was non-stop talking from my side. We planned to meet up on Tuesday, Aug 14^th.

The things that happened on Aug 13, Monday includes, me getting lost in Victoria tube station in the mad rush. Next thing was I slipped and almost fell on the never ending 60 mph speeding escalator. The weird thing was that in that escalator you have to stand always on the right side. Else others who are running thru that over-speeding escalator will push you in the rush and before you know you will be lost in the stampede, fighting for your dear life. I thought this desperate rush was the most ridiculous thing I ever saw. There were trains every single minute to all stations in central London and people were running as if they were chasing their lives!!

First day I really couldn’t accept the mad rush of the people all around me. When I almost wanted to go back, my husband and later Mina sworn on their lives that London is not as bad as Mumbai, in terms of rush. That made me a little calmer! LOL…

As this blog is only about my meeting with Mina, I am skipping all my other (mis)adventures. Anyway we planned to meet up in Russel Square underground station, as it was only 5 mts walk from Mina’s office. One of the best things in London is that with a single travel card for 24 hrs(6 pounds) we can travel anywhere in Central London thru metro, national rail and bus, without any additional charge. After meeting Shail aunty, my husband had started trusting my blogfriends. So, it was easier this time to convince him, about meeting a stranger-friend.

Mina was the first one to identify me. She came running and hugged me and only then I found that it was Mina. (Some times with my eyesight I can’t even say whether my husband is laughing or scowling at me!). We chatted and chatted like long lost friends. She wanted to have tea with us. But with just 2 more hrs for the London Aquarium to close, we didn’t have much time with the tickets already taken. I told her that I came there “just to see her”. I promised that I will be visiting London soon, most probably in December when we have almost 10 days holidays. (Mina, yes, I mean it).

My husband took our photo. I don’t know what he did with the camera, despite the sunny sky, warm weather and high resolution cameras, my husband somehow managed to turn night vision ON, and that too in 3 pm broad light…and that explains the quality of pictures.. Also he made us pose for a life time, that finally I got fed up, and managed a frown when he snapped!


Manju, thanks for asking me to meet Mina. She was one of the nicest women I have ever met! Soft, polite, and soo… soo… nice!!!