Wuthering Depths

The picture behind me, I swear to God, is the first thing you see as you walk into the Grange Strathmore, which is where I and Bill are staying. Did Da Vinci invent x-ray spex too?

Had a very short day yesterday. Plane landed at 3 after a 10-hour flight, then it was two hours getting through immigration. I did the best I could, trying to flirt with women in the line maze, but it still quite a slog. I noticed that a lot of Asian women were wearing fliter masks, an indication that the Swine flu is still taken seriously in coutries where there haven't been any infections.

Anyway, then it was a pleasant tube ride on the Picadilly line to Grosnevor Station (other terminus: Cockfosters, though if my fellow passengers weren't smirking at the announcements neither would I) and then just a short hour and a half stroll as I attempted to naviagate to a hotel which I now know is 2 minutes away. I was going to count on my GPS device, but it had discharged somehow so I had to rely on, you know, MAPS. And helpful locals.

Incidentally, almost nobody who has a service job in this town is English. I'm really visiting Europe.

Anyway, after separate ordeals just getting to the hotel, combined with the jet lag, Bill and I managed a little dinner and got to bed.

Today we took a walking tour through Mayfair (like Beverly Hills with more history and less bad taste) visted with Justine our high school drama teacher, and finished up the day with our first big show, a Bollywood Musical version of Wuthering Heights. That's how they're selling it anyway, though I missed the crazy amped-up energy of your typical Bollywood offering. On the other hand, that would have been a pretty bad choice for telling that particular story, so maybe it all works out for the best. I was happy enough with the result; though maybe it was the jet lag or maybe it was the pacing but that first act could be a lot snappier.

Tomorrow, I make a pilgrimmage to Canary Wharf, known to tourists as a nice shopping area and to Torchwood fans as the location of a convenient trans-dimensional rift. In the future, everything changes!