London - page 4

November 15-18, 1999

Page 4

Monday, November 15

Judy, Kris, Loraine, Denise, and I had breakfast, said some good-byes to convention friends in the hotel lobby, and headed into London together. We took the Hoppa to Heathrow Airport and then the Tube into the city. Heathrow is the end/beginning of the line, so the train wasn’t very crowded - yet. We had to change trains at Picadilly Circus, and that’s where our first adventure began. We started making our way towards the doors one stop before our change. By that time the train was wall to wall people. With those of us trying to push our way off the train, others pushing their way on, and other passengers standing their ground, we almost made it. Four of us squeezed out, but the doors closed before Loraine could get her luggage free and out the door. We told her to meet us at the next station as the train sped away. Denise and Judy waited with our luggage while Kris and I went to the next station to find Loraine. We checked both platforms and no Loraine, so we get back on the train and go to the next station. Still no Loraine. So we went back to Picadilly Circus to see if she had made it back there on her own. She wasn’t there either so we gathered our luggage and found an ancient Station Attendant who was too old and too senile to be working there. After convincing him that we had a serious problem since we weren’t sure Loraine had the address of the Bed & Breakfast with her, he took us to the operations booth where they paged Loraine there and at other stations along the line. Eventually Loraine came strolling up on her own without ever hearing any of the pages. By this time, we were exhausted from dragging luggage around and decided to take taxis the rest of the way to the B&B.

We arrived at the B&B a little later than scheduled, between 12:30 and 1:00 and were greeted by Michael, the proprietor. He brought our luggage in and showed us around the flats. There were two flats side-by-side, each with about 9 rooms. The main flat held the kitchen and sitting room and our rooms were in the flat next door. Our rooms were very simple and cozy. Kris, Judy, and I shared a triple room with a private bath just outside in the hallway. Denise and Loraine were right next door and their bathroom was in the room. The kitchen was big with one long wall lined with cabinets and countertops. A large, curved table accommodated all the guests for breakfast each morning. Michael, Liz, Lynn, and other helpers made sure we had plenty to eat and would even wrap up a little snack for us to take along for later in the day. The sitting room was on the first floor of the main house. (The first floor in Europe is considered the second floor in the U.S.) The room was furnished with lovely antiques and a small room off to the side, equipped with a sink and coffee/tea machine. There were three couches, books and magazines, puzzles, and tins full of biscuits (cookies). Staying there felt like staying at a friend’s house rather than in an impersonal hotel.