Nivi's Adventures: September 2007

Hometime!

Dunno about you, but 'hometime' still conjures up images of school for me... Anyway, school's been out for me for a couple of years now, but it's definitely the end of another phase of my life.

After 5 months in London (the most time I've spent in once place since leaving NZ in March '06) I'm off to help prepare for my sister's upcoming wedding in late October - flying outta here in a couple of hours (and only arrive in NZ on Mon arvo - eesh).

Thanks for checking my posts over the last few months, rest assured there will be more to come - not least of all wedding pics! :D

One strike to rule them all...

Those of you who live in London, or have visited, probably understand just how critical the underground or 'tube' is to London life. It's not always running without a hitch but it is none the less used by over 3 million people every day!

So when Metronet (tube maintenance people) decided to issue strike action I don't think anyone quite expected them to do it quite so comprehensively. They did however issue plenty of notice which meant that people had time to figure out alternative methods of transport. In many cases this meant buses, which was REALLY annoying cos I usually catch the bus to work and had to put up with it being as crowded as tubes normally are - the very reason I started catching buses instead of the tube!

I wasn't kidding about it being a comprehensive strike!

OK Waterloo station is quite busy at the best of times but this was really something special!

Looking west over Waterloo Bridge. Another reason I started catching buses to work - looking out on this every morning is much better than getting up close and personal with someone's armpit!

Sigh, still not quite over the sights of London :)

Afternoon Tea at The Ritz

I decided to join my cousins Sivani, Janani (J was visiting from Sydney) and their friend Thet for a classy evening at the Ritz.

For £40 we had unlimited tea, scones (warm, with cream & jam - to die for!) and a selection of sandwiches. A lovely evening, but really quite expensive – nice to have done it I suppose, but not sure how highly I would recommend it to others…

As the tube strikes had just started (I will moan about that later) I took advantage of working in the central location of Holborn, as well as the last of the summer warmth and decided to walk to The Ritz from work.