Hello Kitty in London

The weather has changed in London and everything is in full bloom! I managed to get some air in the tires of my bike on Saturday. What is it with the Schrader valves? Those things are pain in the butt. I bought a pump and new helmet a couple weeks ago and finally put the pieces together. My friend and Cerner associate, Annette, came over to my neighborhood and we took off for Hyde Park. We were nearly run over in the first block by a taxi. The taxis here HATE bikes and we were pretty challenged early on trying to figure out if we should be on the sidewalk, left, or right side of street. It’s pretty much a free for all with the bikes you see around London, lots of weaving in and out of traffic and such. Annette arrived without a helmet so our first stop was the bike shop. I told her I would deal with any injury except her head. Annette is also a nurse and was easy to convince that a helmet was in order.

We navigated our way to the bike shop through the mania that is the Portabello Road market on Saturdays. After a successful purchase and a bit of fitting we were off to Hyde Park. I don’t know how big Central Park in NYC is but Hyde Park is HUGE. The flowers are amazing and Annette is quite the botany buff and was able to educate me about many different trees, bushes, and flower varieties. We settled on a spot in the rose garden to eat our yummy sandwich, salad, and side dishes from Ottolenghi, a fab food spot in Notting Hill. After our ride we stopped at the Victoria pub and had a pint followed by desert and a diet Coke. A great afternoon in London.

Sunday evening was a little bit different venue. My friend and Cerner associate Steve just arrived from KC and is going to be in my clinical workstream group. He had quite a funny story about getting to his hotel. Steve is 6’4” and most things in London seem to be made for people about 5’4”. Many hotels have these incredibly narrow hallways and I could just picture him dragging three suitcases down the hall on a very warm day in London. I think everyone has some of those moments in international travel. I remember the day I was dragging my 60 pound suitcase up steps in the tube. Oh…not so fun.

I called Steve on Sunday afternoon to see if he wanted to go out and about a bit. My chosen excursion was Gauche Chic - a DJ party with the latest in ragga beats and electro nonsense (direct quote from TimeOut). So we took the bus to Oxford Circus. I had a pretty good idea where the place was so we walked in the right direction. As we were walking we noticed people in tuxedos and evening gowns. I thought…looking at Steve and me in our jeans…mmmmm…we might be a bit underdressed. But you never know so we went up to the door and were told the normal venue (as mentioned above) was not on this week due to a formal backgammon party. Well…that’s not something you see every day…ragga beats and electro nonsense replaced with a formal backgammon tournament.

The backup plan involved taking the tube to south London to the Horse Meat Disco, an alternative lifestyle club. The first tube car we got on stopped for an unattended bag but then just as we gave up and were walking away, it started. I think Steve hit his head in the tube about three times...I don’t think the tube is meant for anyone over 5’10”. By the time we got to the club it was about 10:30 and was PACKED with half naked men gyrating to really loud techno dance music. It was great! Steve was the tallest guy in the place. We danced and hung out till about midnight. Alas, Steve did not find his soul mate…maybe next time. We took the tube back to central London with the intent of taking the bus the rest of the way. We waited and waited for the N7 and I was tired and getting a little whiny so suggested we get on any bus that came going in the general direction. Not such a good idea. It started out OK but typical of streets in London they sort split off in different directions and this bus split off in the wrong direction. I think we ended up in South Kensington. By now my feet are just plain worn out and off we go walking again. We finally came to Kensington High St so at least I knew were I was even if it was going to be a long walk home. Then I saw the N28 bus and I said to Steve…RUN! We caught the bus and made it home by about 1:30. That was the first night I have been out past 11 p.m. A wild ride indeed. Note to self…when all else fails and your feet are killing you…take a cab!