We decided, Tim and I, to take an exploratory jaunt around the high shopping district in the middle of London on our first real day “in town”. We took the train – actually, three trains, from just down the road from where we’re staying in Mitcham, Surrey. We travelled via Victoria station, stopping so Tim could get some fries from Maccas and we could get our first espresso-based coffees in two days. That was overdue.

From Victoria station we cruised via underground right into Oxford Circus. This is smack in the middle of the biggest shopping street I have ever seen. It’s no mall – there are mad black taxis and madder red buses screaming past you everywhere. The jumble of one-way streets makes for interesting pedestrianism (look out for it, it’ll be in next year’s Macquarie) but what really takes a deal more concentration is navigating through the thronging mass of people. It was ridiculous, even on a Monday morning at about noon, in 5 degree weather!

Every big brand and almost big brand has a presence on Oxford street. The stores themselves are huge status symbols, establishing a weight of marketing-driven necessity to fund their exorbitant outgoings in maintaining operation.

For lunch we found a little hole in the wall selling kebabs. For the Melbourners, this is no yiros. This is real deal, Turkish kebab. Oh yeah.

We continued on what fast became a tour of the [go to] jail corner of the Monopoly board. We visited Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent Street and just saw Picadilly across the road. For $320, Bond Street is a steal. It’s interesting to note how the demographics change in these areas. One moment you’re in middle-west Oxford street with middle-upper class Brits and a handful of tourists, and then you’re further east on Charing Cross in the middle of Chinatown and tech central.

There are a few extra photos in the gallery. It’s late now, so I’ll add captions where needed sometime later.