London – The Arrival

Belle arrived at Heathrow to pick me up just after 8:30am and we made our long and complicated way back to Greenwich. It was all a little complicated as I had no idea where we were, which way we were going or how far from our destination we were. By far the coolest thing was leaving Charing Cross station on the overland and going out over the river Thames with Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye all right there. Before that it was all subways and noise and people, but going over that bridge, it finally felt like I was in London.

Upon arrival at Belle’s flat, we pottered around for a few hours before heading out to look around Greenwich. It’s a nice little area, kinda like Mount Lawley as far as demographic goes, I think. We went up to the prime meridian, where I got a photo of me looking at all the tourists waiting in line to get a photo on the line that marks 0’0” on the longitudinal. I was not prepared to wait in line for that photo. We walked through Greenwich markets where there was heaps of really cool art and if I was settling here, there is definitely some stuff I would buy for my apartment.

After walking around most of Greenwich we went into the Gipsy Moth, a very cool pub in Greenwich that reminds me a lot of the Brisbane. We stayed there for a few pints before making our way home.

I was desperately trying to remain awake at this stage, as I didn’t want to go to bed too early and let my body clock wake me up too early. It still looked like about 5pm outside but upon looking at the clock I realized it was 9pm, and I promptly went to bed.

The next morning Belle and I got out of the house at a little before 11am and went to catch the train, however it was not servicing Greenwich that day, as there were track works going on. Belle decided we should cat the ‘clipper’ which is the ferry that goes along the Thames into central London. It was a nice ride and we got to see a lot of the landmarks such as Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

We got off the ferry at the London Eye and walked back along southbank and crossed the river to get to Trafalgar Square, where I got the obligatory tourist photo, then into Chinatown and Soho for more touristy type stuff before making our way to Covent Garden to go to the Porterhouse where my “Welcome to the UK” drinks had been booked.

Some people were sick and some couldn’t make it, but it was great to see Scotty, Dimma and Teja again. It turns out Scott lives the next suburb over from Belle so I might get to catch up with him for a while before I go. We drank there for a few hours and then made our way through Covent Garden to another pub for another drink before we all went our separate directions.

Upon arrival back in Greenwich we met Jax for some noodles at the local noodle house and chatted about what she has been up to. She works for the football association here in London, which apparently I already knew, although I don’t remember knowing. A job with perks such as tickets to the FA cup sounds like something I would normally remember.

London has been quite overwhelming, with so much to process, and that is even with someone to show me around and prevent me from getting lost. It makes me a little scared as to how I’ll be in countries where English is not the dominant language and I don’t have a guide and I just have to wing it all on my own. I know it will be a challenge, but I wouldn’t have left Perth if I didn’t want to do something difficult.

By far the most difficult thing however, has been being around Belle and not being with Belle. I know that I had seriously underestimated how much this would affect me, and while this is not the forum I wish to discuss the complexities of this situation, suffice to say that as much as travelling around the European continent on my own will be hugely challenging and amazing, I am looking forward to it as a way to get my mind off Belinda as much as anything else.

Two more days in London town, which will likely consist of getting lost many times and cracking the shits at stupid tourists…