Saturday, September 8
Clapham Common South, 10:10
I woke and showered and went to Tesco to collect the final food-like gifts: tea and Vegetable Oxo for Irma, candies for the girls and a packet of cat treats for Sunshine. Then I packed and checked out.
I am on my way to Waterloo to try to get tickets for Auo and I for next Friday, when we are going to Legoland. I will queue to be told that I can only buy tickets for today or tomorrow – or collect advanced tickets that I had ordered yesterday online. I will leave baffled.
Next I will get the tube to Kennington Oval and walk to Russell’s to see him and Sara. This will be a much longer walk than I expected in a boiling hot sun. I will arrive sweating to find that Sara is in Palermo at a conference and we are going to walk halfway back to Kennington to an Italian restaurant that makes great breakfasts. I will have scrambled eggs on toast, and we will talk about SmartMonkey and the future of publishing.
This is the next to last day of the Paralympics and the tube system is in near-meltdown. Russell will recommend that I grit my teeth, get the tube to Paddington, and pay a small fortune to get to ride on the Heathrow Express. I will realise that this is highly useful, if expensive, advice as I sit on the tube through the centre of London where the station platforms are packed so tightly that people cannot move their feet enough to actually get on the tube.
My time at Heathrow and in the air will be completely uneventful, and Irma and Auo will meet me at the airport.