I've arrived!

It is 8:35 PM London time, Saturday June 22, and I am definitely feeling jet lagged. My plane landed in London this morning just before 8 AM, about half an hour late. But customs was nearly empty, so I breezed right through. I probably should have paid the 17 pounds for the Heathrow Express, because the tube took well over an hour. But the real time waster was when I exited the tube station one tenth of a mile from my flat and went the wrong direction, which ended up adding about a mile to my walk, lugging two heavy suitcases. But I have to give kudos to Londoners for kindness. I chose a tube line that had no lifts (elevators), which meant dragging my heavy suitcases up several flights of stairs. Each time I started to do so, however, someone offered to carry the larger of the two up the stairs for me (once a man, and once a woman). Does that mean I’ve started to look old? Or is it just that I’m so small? Either way, it was welcome.

Our apartments are quite spacious for two people, but on the spartan side. Everything seems to be in good repair except for the mattresses, which are pretty bad. I may have to buy something to put on top. We live at 203-209 North Gower Street. I’m in apartment 2.  

203-209 North Gower Street, Apartment 2

And, for Sherlock fans, we are about one hundred feet away from the apartment used for Sherlock’s Baker Street digs in the new PBS version of Sherlock.

Baker Street flat on North Gower

Hello, Sherlock?

I think I must have slept OK on the plane last night, although it didn’t feel like it, because I’ve been feeling quite energetic up until the last half hour or so. Once I got to the apartment, I had a meeting with my co-director, Kristine, and George Chittock, a former stake president who does all the arranging for placing students in local wards. Dad and I will be attending the Mitcham ward, which meets from 1:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon—a bit later than I’d like, as Dad and I were hoping to have students over for Sunday dinners. We’ll see how it goes.  

After the meeting, I took the tube over to the National Portrait Gallery to see the George Catlin Exhibit of American Indian portraits, painted in the 19th c and put on display in London the first time in the 1840s and 50s. I met a fellow Native American historian who is in London this month and we went through the exhibit together. The gallery is in the heart of London, right off Trafalgar Square, and the place was just pulsing with tourists. There was a big stage set up right by the column where various headliners from current musicals were performing.

I did some minimal shopping at Sainsbury's. Best buy:  2 pints of "English raspberries" for just two pounds!

It's Sunday morning now, and I just figured out that, by turning off the heat, I also turned off the hot water. So no shower for me--brrrr!