Day 72- London- getting ready to go home!
The day started later than normal as I was feeling very tired after walking around London for the past 3 days and I was feeling the effects of the numerous weeks of riding pretty much constantly.
So up for breakfast at about 8.00am….
After breakfast I put together the bike box which I purchased from the bike shop…. Yes I had to buy a box as the 2 bike shops I went to did not have used boxes to take! The cost of the box was AUD 39 which is terrible really and I guess it really sums up the costs here in the UK. The only positive out of all of this was that the box was new and it was unassembled which made it easy to transport back to the hostel.
The bike was then taken apart and wrapped in bubble wrap and I then tested its fit for all the gear…. All good thankfully!
The box itself requires a fair amount of taping to ensure that the plane travels do not destroy the cardboard… I used one whole roll of tape on the first assembly task and will use most of the second roll of tape in sealing the box when fully packed.
I have found that airlines are very variable in looking after these boxes and the baggage handling can be troublesome when bags are moved on transfer so there need to be a lot of taping!
After this it was off to Oxford St to do the final gift shopping for the grandchildren….I hate shopping at the best of times but with a warmer day with some sun it was an enjoyable walk!
I think the gifts will be ok for the grandkids!
I arrived back at the hostel to see that the Dees had lost their last home and away game against Collingwood. Seems that we have had real problems with injuries and our forward line has no connection or consistency in performance. The good thing is we have taken the opportunity of playing some young players which might be part of the future.
I believe Steve Seymour is now on his way home from Gatwick and Chris Jones is making his way towards Wales as the initial plans to travel to the Lakes District did not eventuate. I hope each have sake travels.
To be frank, I will be glad to be out of the UK as it is horribly expensive and I think lacks a real work ethic. Yesterday in the afternoon on the way back to the hostel at about 3.30 pm most of the pubs were full to overflowing with workers in suits who were having a big afternoon ahead of travelling home! It seems that Thursday is the new Friday in the post Covid world as most work from home on Fridays! I think part of this malaise has come from the years of leadership from the Conservatives which has been heavily criticised by a lot of people I have spoken to. There seems to be some hope that the new PM and his team will do something to fix this….. time will tell.
Anyway tonight will be an early night for me as I will need to be “on my toes” for the plane flights back home. I fly from Heathrow to Los Angeles and then from LA to Melbourne… all up flying time of 28 hours with a lay over in LA of 4 hours
I only have 1 photo today of the bike box … not fully packed yet!
