Falling Down

#39: [Day 11] In London
Oxford Street, London 4:00pm

We arrived from Calais, Paris to Dover, England the other day. After an hour and a half, we found ourselves at Kensington Hight Street in London and getting dropped off at the Hilton. Yes, from Paris to Hilton. How bizaare is that?

Hmm. I have nothing much to say about London apart from the fact that among all the countries we've visited, it's the one that has fallen below my expectations. I don't know if it's just because I had previously had romanticized notions of this city that I found myself saying, "And this is London?" or if it's just the fatigue settling in after x days of travelling.

5 Things I don't like about London:
1. The gloomy weather. Skies are always gray and on the brink of bursting into a fullblown shower.
2. The bricks on houses are always damp. And they always seem to have moss. Ick.
3. Englishmen aren't as dashing as they are made out to be in movies.
4. Store attendants, ticket sellers, bus drivers and conductors aren't too pleasant. They don't answer. They either bark or growl. (Heck, if I had this kind of weather all year long, I'll end up growling a lot too.)
5. There's a smell I can't put my finger on. It's like some damp piece of clothing sprayed on with some cheap deodorizing spray to mask the smell. I don't know. Maybe I'm exaggerating. Maybe that's just my nose. Maybe that's the smell of my nose now that moss seems to have grown in it too. (Eew. Now that's disgusting.)

Anyway, since I'm making it a point to always see the positive side of things, I'd like to say that seeing a lot of Boots stores all around at every turn makes me smile. Not many people are exposed to this corporate brand back home so when they ask me where I work, it's always a mess trying to make them understand that I work for BOOTS. No, we don't make shoes. And no, it's not spelled as B-U-T-C-H. Come on.

I actually set out to shoot a fabulous photo of a Boots storefront here in London to make the base for the mural I've been asked to do for our new office lobby. Honestly, I haven't got one decent shot. Know why? It's that horrible weather. (On top of the heavy foot traffic.)

London Bridge isn't falling down here in London.
It's rain. Heaps and heaps of rain.
They should change the lyrics.
(You know, just to manage expectations.)