Day 4 - London

Distance Walked : 12km (approx)

Stayed up until almost 10pm last night but still woke at 5am this morning.  Tried wearing my ear plugs but they were just uncomfortable and didn't seem to make much difference to the noise level.  Just hope I sleep more soundly at the Old Bakehouse at Chipping Campden tomorrow night.  This is getting old.

A new couple were checking in when I got in yesterday afternoon.  They are in the room above me and appear to be related to elephants.  I wonder if I make as much noise for people in the rooms below me Assuming there is anyone below me.  I've not seen the couple I encountered on the night I checked in again.  Perhaps they are gone or just better sleepers than me.  There is another American couple (elderly) I've seen both mornings for breakfast, as well as a business man yesterday morning.  Hope the place is doing OK.  It deserves to have few vacancies but it is not on any booking site which can't help.

It feels rather lazy but very comfortable to be holidaying somewhere where I can speak the language and where they drive on the correct side of the road.  It makes life so much easier.  Mind you, crossing the road isn't as easy as you might expect.  Drivers here are severely allergic to using their indicators and there are a myriad of one-way streets so it is not always obvious where the traffic will be coming from.  Most road crossings in the central area  have "Look right" and "Look left" along with an appropriate arrow painted on them, presumably to deal with this.

Schedule for today is brief visit to the BM this morning (doesn't open until 10am and I want to be gone by midday) and then R&J at the Globe at 2pm.  Turns out the Globe is a bit of a nuisance to get to.  It is a good 15 minute walk from stations on any line convenient for me. I'll head over there and then lunch in the vicinity and check out their museum before the play starts.  I'll do another quick visit to the BM tomorrow before I go.  Means I'll miss the Geffrye which is a shame.

A gaggle of (North) American college students were at breakfast this morning.   They'd obviously arrived yesterday as the breakfast routine was new to them.  The older American couple still here.  Turns out they are in Room 4 which is behind mine.  So they don't have to put up with street noise, just noise from me.  Hope I'm not being too much bother.

Have a dreadful itchy rash on my face and neck.  It  is either sweat+detergent from the sheets or my very expensive new Boots face cream.  Hope it is the former and not the latter.  Have left off all creams today and will get some cortisone cream from the chemist.  I have such cream at home, thought about packing it but left it behind. What was I thinking?  It isn't as if this is the first time this has happenned to me while travelling.  I'll have another go at the Boots face cream once I'm on the Way and this rash has gone.  If it doesn't recur then it was the detergent used here coupled with sweating in the night.  They do keep this place toasty warm.  

Must not scratch.  Must not scratch.  Must not scratch.  Must not scratch.  Must not scratch.

Went to Boots and told them my woes.  The woman told me to bring back the cream and they refund my money.  It hadn't occurred to me that they might do that.  That was good to hear.  What wasn't so good to hear was they can't sell hydrocortisone cream over the counter.  I need a prescription.  Who not only left their hydrocortisone cream at home but also their medicare card?  They could, and did, sell me antihistamine tablets which worked after an hour or two.  Definitely an allergic reaction then rather than heat rash.  Will give the Boots face cream another, more controlled, test once I'm on the Way.

Spent the morning at the British Museum but didn't really enjoy myself.  Full (*full*) of groups of shrieking school children.  Why are they unable to move other than in clumps or communicate at other than full volume?

Lunched at a place near St Pauls tube station called Itsu Dynamite which specialises in miso soup based dishes.  Had their Hoi Sin Duck soup.  Chunks of duck plus carrot, rice noodles, mushrooms and bean shoots.  Good value for money even in dollars.

Walked across the millenium bridge to the Globe.  They wanted a largeish chunk of money (> 10 GBP I think) for a tour of their museum so I skipped that and just loitered until the play began.  The actors were good and the experience was just great fun.  They often exited into the groundlings and played it with great verve.  The comic bits were very funny and the bawdy bits complete with very bawdy gestures. The main actors really made you believe they were lovestruck teenagers rather than doomed lovers you were supposed to idolise.

Could have strangled the 10 year old boy who became hysterical with laughter whenever one of the actors made a rude gesture.  His mother just put her hands briefly over his mouth to shut him up.  What a missed opportunity.

The only problem is that the theatre is open to the elements and it was a cold day.  On the plus side, no wind, but it never got over 14C.  By the end of the second act I was shivering uncontrollably. Mercutio was dead by then (he had been my favorite actor) and it wasn't as if I didn't know how it ended so I left.  I just wasn't enjoying myself any more.  When I got back to the hotel I crawled under the bed cover to warm myself up.

Dined at Spaghetti House which is part of a chain.  Expected it to be dreadful but it was quite decent.  My waiter, whose native language was clearly Italian, kept calling me "Lady" as in "Lady, here is your wine" and "Lady, would you like some cheese".  It was quite amusing because he was clearly trying to be very polite but it came across as New York aggressive.  I wonder how it goes down with the Amerian tourists.

I had a "glass" (175ml) of an Italian red with spaghetti carbonara, good bread, tiramisu and espresso.  Total cost including tip of 22 GBP.  Good value if I don't convert, outrageous if I do.  

Went to bed early (8:30pm).  Know I'm going to wake at 5am so I might as well get a decent night's sleep before hand.  Hopefully I can sleep later once I'm in Chipping Campden.

I was supposed to call Sarah Gabb of the Old Bakehouse at Chipping Campden to talk about my arrival time tomorrow.  One of my favorite things, calling a stranger.  Well I called about 12:30pm and got an answering machine - which I dislike even more.  Left a message saying I'd be arriving about 4pm and my phone number.  Tried calling again 5-ish but just got the machine once more.  Wonder if I should try calling tomorrow morning about 10-ish so she is bound to be at the B&B (I assume she doesn't live on site) or just show up?  

Walked 16.5K steps today but knees a bit happier than they've been.