17 Aug 05: Farewell London

17 Aug 05 (Wednesday):

So the time had came, for me to leave London.

I did not look forward to return to Singapore. Maybe it was because I had yet to experience enough of London? While I had not a single friend in London, I had enjoyed the space and privacy London had given me. However, I wonder if I would be able to survive long-term alone in a world without friends or family? How ironic this may seem. Maybe it might have been better to have not a single care in the world? Leaving might have been easier.

***

For breakfast, I decided on having the full English breakfast. I savoured every moment of the breakfast.

After breakfast, I walked about the neighbourhood. I decided not to travel too far that day. I walked past the Russell Square Park towards the British Museum.

That day, I must have been fascinated with public amenities. Please pardon me, I took a picture of a public toilet. SH told me before I left for London that the mobile public toilets in London are timed. Firstly, to use it, one has to put in money (I don't really know how this works because I did not wish to use the mobile public toilet). Next, one could use the toilet. As best as I could remember from SH, after about 20 minutes, the door of the toilet would automatically open. While not many would stay in a toilet for more than 20 minutes, the thought of a door that would open automatically did not sound safe.


Public toilet.

****



London's telephone booths have also caught my attention. In many souvenir shops, one can find miniature models of London's signature red telephone booths available for sale. But I must have had been holding myself from entering into one of the telephone booths to use the facility. Maybe this restraint has sometimes kept me from turning each moment of life into simple pleasant moments of adventure for myself?

***
Soon I reached the British Museum. I spent some time there. Hopefully I would still have the chance to return?

Thereafter, I returned to the hotel room to pack up my belongings. I must have been wanting to feel prepared to leave, although my flight was only due to leave for Singapore at about 9 p.m., I bought my tube ticket to the airport even before lunch.

I checked-out. I was told I could leave my luggage at the Concierge, so I happily did. I walked to a supermarket nearby to buy lunch. I decided to buy sandwiches and milk and then have lunch at a nearby park. This, I read, was the lifestyle of many of the people of London.

That day was a bright and sunny day in summer. I could see a few people sun-bathing themselves in the Russell Square Park. They simply lie themselves down on the green grass, had bikinis or simply shorts on, and there they go, sun-bathing.

I found myself a seat in the park, which was not easy at that time of the day. As I ate my lunch, I looked about, watching the world go by. That in itself can be a delight. It was as if the fast-paced city had no effect on me. I remained at my pace, passing through life at my very own pace.

While watching, I found myself amused at how the pigeons flock together. When a few pigeons sighted food, most of the time, the rest of the flock would follow. I realised someone was feeding the pigeons. As for the pigeons, they followed where the food went! One moment we find pigeons at one end of the park; the next moment they are at another end. The lure of food on the pigeons seem amazing.



***
It was not even mid afternoon, but I decided to play safe and left early for the airport. First, I was worried that I might be delayed by unforeseen circumstances on the tube. That morning in fact, while I was purchasing my tube ticket, the staff told me that there was a delay to one of the lines because an unknown item was found. For that, the police had been mobilised to investigate hence causing a delay.

Next, I was uncertain if my flight back Singapore on British Airways would be affected by the Gate Gourmet dispute, so I decided to play very safe by leaving early for the airport. Furthermore, it would take about an hour journey to reach the airport from the hotel.

By about 3 p.m. London time, I was at London's Heathrow Airport Terminal 2. I spent some time and money to use the internet facilites, but the non-user-friendly keyboard made me gave up on using the internet facilities more than 20 minutes. It was quite expensive, 2 pounds for every 20 minutes usage on a keyboard so hard to type and a system that may hang at certain times.

Since I was very early, so I began my long wait in my airport. I was so early that I have to wait till 6 p.m. before I could have my luggage checked in. I used the waiting time to write post-dated entries in my travel journal.

I must have been lucky, I was told that my flight would fly as per normal.

For the photos, visit: 17 Aug 05: all I want is peace found on my other blog.