No Place Like London

So, a few lovely days of recharging the batteries in my favourite of cities just about complete. It is my first time through London since last March, but it remains as I remember, with the added good fortune that my buddy Tim has just moved into a decent-sized bachelor apartment that I can use as a bit of a headquarters as I use London as a base for the cheap flights to come.

Got a taste of many of the simple pleasures over the weekend - sitting in the pub on a Saturday afternoon over pints and newspapers, watching the football and catching up with various old friends, popping in to the Walkabout for cheap drinks, heading to a club in West London, then sleeping in the next morning and grabbing a Sunday Roast at one of the multitude of classic pubs. Got the special treat of attending a Premiership match between Arsenal and Chelsea on the Sunday, total attendance at the match 60,075 (a few pictures here). Very tough defeat for the home side, but simply spectacular to get a chance to watch professional sport at the highest level up close and personal, and mingle with the devoted fans.

Spent today running some errands: mailing postcards, picking up a new travel clock, batteries, sunglasses, notebooks, as well as a series of cheap novels at 2 pound each and a guidebook for the Greek islands (the so-called "bible" for island hopping). I so enjoyed reading Moby Dick on the Camino and I have decided to use the time afforded by this trip to delve into the classics. Great stocking up on some Dickens, Kipling, Twain, etc... Errands done, I wandered a bit around Trafalgar and caught the matinee of Star Trek at the Empire in Leicester Square (verdict: lots of fun and great performances, but by no means a classic). Now just waiting for Tim to return and it is off to the pub for supper to watch the Newcastle v. Middlesborough football match with a potential place in the Premier League on the line. As great as the time spent on the Camino was, it is also great to be back in the hustle and bustle of a city as dominant as London.

Off to begin packing my bag for the early morning flight tomorrow to Athens, where I look forward to being picked up at the airport by a classic Greek friend, first met in Halifax at a New Year's levee in 2007, for what shall certainly prove to be a classic month on the Aegean. As good a place to turn 30 as any, I guess.