Day 71- London

Today was an early start as Steve needed to get away to the Gatwick area to sort out bike cleaning and packing ahead of his flight back to Australia.

I waved goodbye to Steve after breaking at about 8.00 am. It was sad to see Steve go but there were things to be done ahead of me leaving this coming Saturday.

I first needed to get a bike box to pack my bike. I had sourced a bike shop not far from The Generator at St Pancras station but this proved to be useless. They recommended another bike shop which proved to be satisfactory.

After getting the bike box, bubble wrap and tape I was ready to sort out the bike clean and dismantling which was done late in the afternoon.

Early this morning I was contacted by my friend Ian Dalton who lives here in London with his wife Liz and their family. We arranged to meet at Ian’s office at Lloyd’s of London for lunch. It was great to see Ian and Liz and enjoy a lovely lunch in the Lloyd’s office. It is in a unique Norman Foster building in the so called “city of London “. Ian showed me around the office where all ranges of insurances are underwritten throughout the world. It was very impressive and reminded me of the days at AECOM where the insurances program was negotiated in London each year…

We did a small tour around some of the “haunts “ that Ian knew from his full time working days….

It was great to catch up with Ian and Liz after such a long time and see that his family is growing with grandchildren!

After leaving Ian and Liz I made my way back to the Generator and started cleaning and dismantling the bike ahead of boxing it up tomorrow.

I am starting to look forward to get home to see the family again and enjoy the comforts of home!

The pictures today are as follows:

Steve leaving this morning

St Paul’s cathedral on my way to meet Ian Dalton

The cucumber (or is at gherkin) opposite the Lloyd’s building

Ian Dalton and myself on the trading floor at Lloyd’s… there is a bell behind us which is rung whenever there is a major issue which might effect the insurance market

Liz and myself