22 August 2011...

Today was a day wholly dedicated to shopping. Our destination: Oxford St. Our preferred shop: Primark. Our shopping accomplice: Miss Kindergarten Cop.

It was a lovely and (unusually for London) sunny day. As we caught the train to Oxford Circle, we decided to take a trip to Poshville first, aka Harrods in Knightsbridge, and admired the high society fashion and beautiful food hall. The food hall is superb. A more ornate and flamboyant version of David Jones Food Hall with ushers moving around and telling people (like Man from Mars) off for taking pictures indoors.

Harrods in itself is a masterpiece. Rooms like “the Ralph Lauren room” announce the store’s expense and desired clientele. I took tonnes of photos because being in Harrods can be like being in a museum. You completely forget you’re in a department store that sells consumer goods.

After we tore ourselves away, next stop was Zara and H& M while we waited for Miss Kindergarten Cop to arrive. She actually lives in London (and is originally from Melbourne) and teaches Year 1. She’s been here for 18 months already and has assumed a tiny British accent; each sentence prefaced with a gentle “Ehrm” and the rhythm of her speech subtly affected by that staccato that British people speak with.

Eventually she found us at Paul’s- a bakery just off Oxford Street. While we were there, we ran into three Japanese girls- one of whom was sitting in front of me on the plane. I warbled a big “Hiii!” when I saw them and they stared at me bewildered, waving uncertainly. I kept saying “Korean Air” and then they remembered- the recognition dawning, as the one with long bangs and big hair hurriedly explained in Japanese that Man from Mars and I had sat in front of her on the plane. They were glad to see us and we exchanged funny photos.

Afterwards, Miss Kindergarten Cop, Man from Mars and I shopped til we (I mean, I) got stroppy. We went to H&M, Zara, Boots, House of Fraser, Primark and many more. I got two jumpers for 8 pounds each. Man from Mars got a shirt, a jumper and also came *this* close to buying a full on trench coat for 9 pounds. All in all it was a stupendously successful day.

Afterwards, we had dinner at a Greek restaurant. We were so tired that Man from Mars couldn’t stop saying “This food is so sour!” while pulling a “ridiculously sour” face. Meanwhile, I found everything so incredibly hysterical and couldn’t stop laughing. We were a bit of a disaster and the owner of the restaurant looked a little concerned. It was lights out at 9 pm, as we got ready for our final day in London.

21 August 2011...

Today, Man from Mars and I started off the day with the biggest high five ever. He slammed my hand so hard I needed to ice it.

We bid Korea adieu and took a 12 hour flight to London. The Korean stewardesses are pretty adorable. They all have this aqua bow headpiece that they pin over their buns and that, teamed with a camel skirt makes for a fashionable uniform (sorry I can’t help scoping out their outfits). They’re super accommodating and even though they’re incredibly short, they still try and help grown giant men take down their luggage from the overhead carriages. Such troopers!

The flight was long and mildly painful. I was sitting next to a stern Korean man who had a dripping nose and a raging cold. He kept sneezing and blowing his nose and I kept telling Man from Mars “He has such a bad cold man” to which he’d helpfully reply “You want to swap seats?” We didn’t end up swapping seats because the man regularly fell into long bouts of dozing, which generally appeased the germaphobe in me. I watched Suckerpunch and forced Man from Mars to watch Thor. He said it was “Álright...” but I caught him snoozing in the first half hour, so I don’t think he thought it was alright.

When we finally landed, my pins and needly feet caused me to promptly trip over my sneakers as we walked through the tunnel from the plane to the lounge. Clumsy me, I clutched the air, caught Man from Mars’ bum cheek (he was strolling ahead of me) a little too late and skidded on my knees. I got up quicksmart (because I always do that when I trip—as if to say to everyone “I’m fine, it’s all okay, no need to enquire!) and we waited for an eternity to get through customs. The line was literally 7 queues thick, and 20 people long. But once we were out, we were on our way to our hotel in Aldgate East- hurruah! Or so we thought.

When we got to the underground, it turned out that there was trackwork being done on our line. Two different cranky stationmasters gave three different sets of options and we all but gave up in favour of a London taxi.

[The sign says Yay! Banana!]:

We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant before passing out for an awesome ten hour sleep.

Tripping!

And so it begins!

This morning, Man from Mars and I unglued our eyes at 3 am, wolfed down some breakfast, before heading out to Tullamarine Airport to embark on our European Adventure. We huffed and hurried, yawned and mumbled-- slightly concerned about the orangey fog that enveloped the streets as we approached the Airport.

Looks kinda like a bushfire, I observed.

Man from Mars and his dad looked on and the closer we got, the more we sort of realised that heavy Mars on Earth fog isn’t the best way to start a flight. Concerns were confirmed when our 12 hour journey to Korea was delayed by about an hour and a half, as the Authorities waited for the fog to lift.

We rode around in play red cars, used our free food voucher (courtesy of Korean Air due to the delay) and finally lifted off at 10 am.

During the flight I watched Thor (go Chris Hemsworth, so muscly and mythical warrior!) and Water for Elephants. It was a pretty nice flight. We got Bibbinbap for lunch (complete with instruction booklet) and touched down at 8:30 pm Korean time.

[On a Korean coach- complete with Korean curtain trimming:]

Our room is so modern and the hype on TV is the finale of Korea’s got Talent. They had an E! Special on it, and now the actual finale’s on. It’s a contest between a blind young girl with phenomenal vocals, and a bowl haircut lad with Pavarotti depth. Riveting stuff J Tomorrow is London, and I can’t wait to hit the street and the shops running!

City to Surfin

On Sunday, my work mates and I either sprinted (Miss Irish Eyepatch), power walked (Miss KC) or strolled (yours truly) the 14 km stretch that is, the City to Surf.

Our finish times varied from 75 minutes (Miss Irish Eyepatch) to 180 minutes (yours truly).

I walked with RidinSoloSallySolo and we had a grand time. We bought homemade lemonade off some entrepreneurial little boys, took tonnes of photos like tourists and every so often exchanged:

This isn't so bad, is it?? Not bad at all!

all the while walking at snail's pace and hardly exerting any conscientious effort at all.

What a splendid day.

Was it the furthest I've ever walked in one hit- like, in my whole entire life? For schizz.

Was it the first medal I've ever received (albeit souvenir)? Absolutely.

Will I do it again? Definitely.

[Get ready to rumble:]

[A fraction of the 85,000 people who participated:]

[Dancing to Tina Turner with the Ladies in Pink:]

[Business minded kids:]

[Heartbreak Hill:]

[Elmo- the poor girl in the costume was really hot and her Elmo feet were tearing up- what a trooper]:

[Sydney's famous skyline:]

[Cancer Council lego:]

[Mr Funky Glasses and his lovely lady:]

[Spiderman and Batman]:

[Almost at the end, here we go, Bondi!]:

[RidinSoloSallySolo and I are so happy to be near the end:]

[We did it and got our souvenir medals! I know, my bib number has a certain, you could say, connotation to it...total coincidence:]

[Miss Irish Eyepatch- all fresh after having gone home following her super speedy time. We hadn't even started by the time she finished, she was that quick!]:

[The Gang after some food and rest:]

[While we were Eating:]

[My picture on the official site- walking really slow:]

Meanwhile:

MELBOURNE TOMORROW. THEN KOREA THE DAY AFTER. THEN LONDON THE DAY AFTER THAT!!

UH-HUH!

Clever!