Carry the Bags

The jet lag is really killing us this time. I don’t remember it ever being this bad. Today both of us slept until midday- very unusual for Chris.  We finally dragged ourselves out of the house  and walked to Greenwich.

The sleeping problem has not been helped by the fact that it is HOT! The heat wave seems to be following us. Today we retreated into the National Maritime Museum to get cool. Yesterday was even worse. We went to Hammersmith to see the bike shop where Chris used to work. When we got there, the heat was relieved by the fact that a water main had burst in the main street and everything was knee deep in water. This of course led to traffic chaos.

<>The tube line we needed was closed because of a fire so it took us two hours to get back to Deptford on very crowded, overheated trains. People were actually shouting at each other with the frustration of the probably 40 degree heat underground. But thankfully, we are still able to put this all down as another travelling experience without too much bitterness.

One thing we have noticed all over the place is the smell of the cities. I don’t think we realise in Australia generally how clean it is. We must have become used to it when we lived here but the smells of garbage and the habits of public urination are everywhere. Of course this is also enhanced by the heat. Each city has its own distintive aroma though. Given enough time, you could probably distinguish one from the other.