The Holiday Inn has no soap in the bath. It has a squeeze bottle of hand soap by the sink and a squeeze bottle of shampoo in the shower (both wall-mounted) but I really don't think you're supposed to carry a handful of soap into the shower with you and I hope you're not supposed to drip across the bathroom to get soap in the middle of your shower. I just used shampoo for soap, since I have normal hair pretty much everywhere.
Feet still throbbing. Changed shoes. Now ready for the last day of the UK tour, as feet are throbbing in different way than previously. I am beginning to see why one musician said he isn't paid to perform, he's paid to travel.
We're going into the city, method unknown at this point. Taxi, Tube or Train + Tube are all options - and all have their good and bad points. I will have no opinion - I'm not falling for that again.
8:48am. Taking the tube. Train arriving in six minutes and only 19 stops to go.
Have a Zone 2-6 ticket, per colleague. Going to Zone 1. Exiting the station may be interesting. I was trying to get a Zone 1-6 ticket when he told me what he had. Figured we should argue with the transit police together.
9:23am. We're at Barons Court, still in the 'burbs, basically. Colleague on the phone - sounds like we may be late. Train is going underground, so it was a short call.
9:52am. Waiting outside Waterloo for our host. That was actually a quicker trip than I thought.
Turnstiles at Waterloo locked on my colleague's tube pass. "Seek Assistance." Bored guard let us through. It looked like she was considering explaining that we had the wrong pass, and decided against the bother.
Made the meeting on time. An hour-long discussion - I think it went well.
Had a ham, cheese and tomato panini, a bag of cheese and onion crisps and a metric Dr Pepper for lunch in the IBM cafeteria - in other words, a traditional British lunch. Added a Mars bar since sweets seem to be mandatory.
The IBM South Bank cafeteria doesn't take cash, only smartcards (or IBM badges.) We had to each get a temp badge to buy lunch. We also have to remember to cash it back in before we leave - or have to eat more since there is still money on the card. Wondering if IBM thinks many guests will forfeit the £2 deposit to keep such a magical card as a souvenir. Me? Notsomuch. (IBM Hursley had them at one point, but on my next trip were taking cash, as well. It's great if you have a badge, but a pain otherwise. My US badge didn't work in Hursley, so I had to get a temp card, anyway.)
Some of the trash bins are color-coded. This is very useful unless you don't know the code (or are color-blind, I suppose.) Left all my crap on the tray - let the professionals sort it out. (I was not alone in this.)
The smartcard machine only takes bills, but it only returns coins. Fifteen pounds in coins can be heavy.
One more meeting to go. Pre-meeting at 1pm, real meeting at 2pm. This was a long way to travel for an hour to ninety minutes each.
Never try to help two salespeople meet. It is more effort than you would expect, since neither is on time or paying attention. Stick to herding cats.
Meeting was actually at 2:30pm. Very interesting customer. I think we were learning from him.
Done with meetings - off for my own personal adventures in London. I managed to find Porter's English Restaurant by going to Covent Garden on the tube and walking in larger circles until I saw the TGI Fridays, which is hideous but right down the street from Porter's. (When traveling, I always think I should just stand outside random TGI Fridays and Starbucks and apologize to any natives that go by.) I get lost so often trying to find the same places, that I have landmarks.
I was going to go back to the hotel and change, but decided I didn't have that much time to waste. Besides, rush hour was starting and I would have been standing most of the way. Best to have a couple of pints down first to prepare.
Just hit with an amazing feeling of relief that the week is done. It may have been the bitter. (Note to Spousal Unit: you are no longer the only one who can drive me to drink.)
Steak and Cheddar pie with chips. Tremendous. Porter's has amazing puff pastry for their pies. However, chips of the week goes to The Chequers whose chips tasted like battered mashed potatoes. Double-amazing.
So, I started the week with haggis, and ended with Spotted Dick. I noticed that pie, pudding, cappuccino and a bottle of bitter I ordered was four pounds cheaper ala carte than the fixed-price pie, pudding, coffee and half-bottle of wine.
Suddenly wondering if I can find a cricket bat.
Two words I never thought thought I'd say to a taxi driver (or anyone) without the Spousal Unit in tow: "Harrods, please." Where else would you go for a cricket bat on a Thursday evening? Harrods not only had cricket bats, they also had green Harrods bags shaped like a cricket bat to carry it home. (Note to Spousal Unit: I did not choose the £189 professional model.)
Harrods can also charge you in US dollars so they can give you a bad exchange rate instead of having to wait for the bank to give you a bad rate. (They also had a £12,000 foosball table but that made my head hurt.)
Now, back to the hotel to see if it fits in my suitcase, since cricket bats are on the "specifically forbidden carry-on items" list. How many cricket bats are being carried around the US, anyway?
An older couple standing by me on the train is getting frisky. Smooch, smooch. Ick. If a couple publicly kissing is younger than I, I think "Get a room!" If they're older, I think "Viagra commercial?"
I took the infamous bus from Heathrow to the hotel - and found the proper stop, just outside the airport. It's not a short walk, but it's shorter than yesterday's.
The cricket bat fits in my suitcase. Hurrah! Thank you, Harrods!
Someone from the hotel read this before it was published, because there is now a bar of soap in my bathroom.
It's time to go home.
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