24/10/2011 London

London
24/10/2011 Monday.

I travelled into London by Underground; District then Northern lines. The northern Line is very deep and somewhat claustrophobic compared to the newer lines. I had to use a multi-person lift rather than stairs or escalators to get down to the Platforms. There were stairs but the signs said 137 steps and "only to be used in an emergency". Apart from that, it took a 30 mins less to get to my destination today, a weekday, compared to the weekend.

I met up with James Taylor, the Westall guru, and I went over what I had found so far; basically a similar conversation to that with Sarah Thomas. We went to a nearby Spanish Tapas-bar/restaurant and overspent on lunch. I had allocated 40 pounds to pay for our lunch but that was only half the bill. We ended up going halves; nice lunch, good wine, but a high price. [As a consequence dinner was a TESCO "value trifle" and a cup of tea].

I got some tips from James with regard to the MoD art collection at Admiralty House and also that Brown's published journal is probably the best resource for where specimens were collected on the Mathew Flinders voyage. I will look that up on Wednesday when I visit the London NHM.

James also suggested that Hammersmith Station was the best for a changeover from the District to Piccadilly Lines if you are dragging luggage. I had come to that conclusion despite the advice from the Barking Station attendant. The Hammersmith Station has disabled access to all platforms, which means well marked lifts/escalators. For my purposes the lifts are what I need.

My check-out time at the Hotel is now a negotiated 12 o'c so if it takes an hour to get to the Heathrow airport from Barking then I will have about 7 hours to get through the security/baggage drop-off/check-in then wait for my flight (hopefully in the Qantas Lounge). Based on my last experience with Heathrow it will take about 3 hours just to get through all the security checks, leaving about 4 hours in the lounge. If everything goes to plan.

One possible complication is that my Qantas Club membership runs out in October (again hopefully on the 31st not the 1st). London is not critical but I really need to be able to have a shower in the Qantas Club at Changi Airport. I always pack an extra shirt, underwear etc in my day-pack on the return run to Australia. I only have 4 hours in Singapore but last time I went through they would not let me into the Club Lounge until 2 hours before my flight (London was the same). This time all my tickets are QF (Qantas), compared to mostly partner airlines last time, so I am hoping to negotiate my way through as a long-standing, loyal customer. In any case it is only an hour or so in a cafe or transit lounge, but the shower is important.