A day in the life

I spent 14 glorious days in the U.K. with my father, primarily in London but with day trips to Cambridge, Oxford, and Stratford-upon-Avon. We arrived at Gatwick the morning of Tuesday, August 8th about 8 am. Took the Gatwick Express into Victoria Station and then a black cab to our flat at 102 Great Russell Street (yup that's a block from Tottenham Court Road Tube one way and the British Museum the other. After checking in and unloading baggage did a quick bit on the Net. Then a long walk along most of Oxford Street down to Marks & Spencers for the feeless bureau de change. Walked halfway back to Oxford Circus tube to pick up a 2 week Oystercard BT pass. Like MARTA now you simply place card against scanner and the gates open if you have a positive balance. Tubed it to Covent Garden for a looksie then hoofed it back up Charing Cross Road, stopping in here—a temple to the written word and now much better organized and run since the younger generation daughter has taken over the family concern.



They also saved Ray's Jazz Shop, a London institution where I first bought some Blue Note vinyl in 1986. It used to be on the triangle between Shaftesbury Avenue and Monmouth Street off Seven Dials, but the rent became exorbitant and that site is now an extremely bad Italian chain restaurant.



After a quick bite at the Rock and Sole Plaice, the third chippie opened in London in 1874, and a sitdown watching Countdown, we got ready for the evening's main adventure: the London Walks Jack the Ripper tour, something to keep us awake until a decent hour to avoid the problems of jet lag felt when heading eastward.






That's day one down, 13 more to chronicle though surely in not such detail . . .