Since Mum didn’t care too much for the cold open-top Big Bus company ride around the sights in London, I took advantage of the second day of her ticket to join Dad in a hoon around the east side. Victoria and Regent, Trafalgar and the Thames. Fortunately I managed to hit the shutter on my camera at just the right moment when passing the [clock tower commonly known as, and containing the huge bell called the] Big Ben, and despite the postcardish look of the shot I’m glad to have been there and captured it myself. Tower Bridge (yep, the one with towers on it) was an enjoyable sight too, as was the London Tower. I got a decent couple of pics of most of the sights to see.

Our tour guides on the buses were absolutely hilarious. The first was just funny and laconic, but the second was a one-eyed sold-out born-and-bred London monarchist. He was loud and abrasive and indignant, heaping scorn on dispassionate tourists when passing quintessential London landmarks and attempting to incite some emotional display. Quite informative, he was, and listening throughout enabled me to have a better understanding of the sights and sounds around the place. I now feel satisfied that I have been a tourist in London.

To be in London and not visit Harrods would surely be a cardinal sin. Furthermore, my idea of what Harrods would be was totally incorrect. I had assumed it was a boutique niche store serving only the most exorbitant of tastes. Nope. It’s huge. You pay a premium to buy anything with the Harrods brand on it, apparently up to 20% over normal prices. Fortunately I was wearing my good jeans (yeah, I know), because visitors have been known to be turned away if their dress was deemed inappropriate. As it was I was asked to carry my backpack in my hand. Didn’t buy anything but had an average quality coffee at Illy on the top floor for £3 (about AUD$7.50).

The younglings who live here at our accommodation – my cousins, aged five and nine – manage to rise every morning at an unearthly hour. I have not slept past 6am in my time here so far, and the prospects of this actually occurring but once during my time here are bleak. Add to this the unfortunate reality of totally destroying my body’s perception of regular sleep cycles and you have a red-eyed zombie each day at about 4pm. They eat at about 6pm and retire at about 7pm, whereas the rest of us don’t eat until 8pm. This is odd. My mind gets it but my exhaustion says otherwise. It is remarkably frustrating for this choleric that I can’t function half as well after mid afternoon than before midday.

Perhaps we are becoming accustomed to the cold. It seems less piercing and it’s too much of a hassle to remove jacket and scarf at every indoor location. The heating here is as prevalent and effective as Australian cooling, allowing us to wear only one layer inside.

Today we managed a couple of hours of solitude while the rest of the crew were at a school breakup do. Tim and I were totally overtired and we were laughing at both our languid attempts at normal motor skills and the hilarity of a hopping international calling card. To celebrate Tim’s success with his SACE/TER we visited the local delimart called the Co-op and a chip shop for typically British hot chips.

Thereafter we visited Wimbledon, which is a thriving mall centre not far from the tennis mecca. First time to try a Quiznos sub, and while it wasn’t insubstantial, I didn’t find it worth the 4 quid I paid. Tim got an eminently British Big Mac meal for not much more.

There’s a cafe at the Plaza in Wimbledon called Costa Coffee. The coffee was, surprisingly, outstanding. Not only in quality but also in quantity too – we got medium drinks which would have easily been 600mL. My additional macchiato was delicious and I was only sorry that I quaffed it so quickly. I may have mentioned that coffee is everywhere, with no shortage of independent and other franchises in addition to the green-branded mermaid.

I like Wimbledon. It’s much less frantic than Oxford Street and the focus seemed to be more authentically social than the need to be seen in the right place wearing the appropriate ensemble of brand apparel.