8-8-2015 London

8-8-2015 London

Saturday, NHM closed and there is no longer any point in the Cambridge Uni Library research (as the Westall drawings are at the Australian National Library).

Lazy day just doing laundry, tidying my room to allow for the weekly cleaning/linen supply, shopping for food supplies, and shifting kitchens as they are systematically renovating various parts of Pembridge Hall, (even with paying guests in place). You are politely told to shift and that the noise will stop at 5.00 pm.

I am well ahead on my research schedule, given the Royal Commonwealth Society archive Westall drawings has been sold to Australia, so can plan some tourist sight-seeing.

As part of my personal "house keeping" I checked my bank accounts and the debit card is not making excessive charges but my Qantas cashcard account shows a second ATM fee of 2.60 pounds. It seems I cannot withdraw my own money without paying extortionate fees! Traps for new players.

I also dipped into the Portebello Market crowd, which is two streets down from Penbridge Gardens, but was totally intimidated by the crush. I did find a Local Library in the next street and signed-up so I could read the newspapers and use their Internet. I still had all my ID on me from the Cambridge Uni Library so the procedure was straightforward and easy (to the surprise of the Librarian).

I tossed up going to the Proms but chose an early meal and watching TV. The Portobello markets means crowded public transport and badly behaved street-crowds so getting to and from London proper would be a pain.

[Good news, just got an email saying that the multi-authored ecosystem model, that I had to send extra data for last week, has been submitted to Science!]