Day 77: How I get through my 7+ hour flights

I've completed the second of three major flights this week. The first was BOM-LHR on Monday, and I think the flight time was 9.5 hours. The second was LHR-JFK on Tuesday, which took 8 hours or so. And the third is Friday from BDL (Bradley International) to CDG (Paris Charles de Gaulle). I find my indispensible tools to get me through these flights are some reading material, the iPod, and some stationery. Today at LHR I bought some gorgeous writing paper and envelopes at Smythson of Bond Street; it's in the lovely blue bag tied with a ribbon. I can't wait to use it!

Day 68: Goodbye

Things I left behind in London:
my camera case
my cloche hat
my heart

Day 67: Saturday night at the Pigalle

Saturday was a manic day. I first had to finish packing up the house in the morning, which would have been alright except that I slipped in the shower and found myself on the floor with my head against the wall. It wasn't pleasant, and I still am a bit traumatised by the experience. Anyway, so my friends Tracey, Rudi, and Gigi all helped me get packed up and sent on my way to London. After travelling through the pouring rain to Harrow, and then back out to Central London, I finally ended up an hour late for dinner. But it was alright once I finally sat down and relaxed. And following dinner was dancing at the Pigalle. Which, like the rest of the night, was amazing.

Day 64: My last train journey from London to Edinburgh

After a wonderful Diwali dinner last night, I woke up quite early so that I could reach Kings Cross for my 8:00 AM train back to Edinburgh. It was a nice journey, but I must admit I was a bit sad when I pulled into Waverley Station for the last time. There will be a number of 'lasts' over the next few days!

Day 63: Happy Diwali

Today was Diwali! After my late night yesterday (okay, how about very early morning today), I was up quite early to get to work for two meetings during the day. I had a harrowing experience dragging all my luggage across town and to my aunt and uncle's place (with Nimesh who helped me greatly). But it was worth it! Lovely dinner, lovely company, and the perfect excuse to wear my new sari from Pune. I wonder how many more saris I can buy when I'm there next week...

Day 62: Monday night Stompin'!

The highlight today was I was able to attend my usual Monday swing dancing event in London called Stompin' at the 100 Club on Oxford Street. I didn't know what to expect but one thing I did know was that there was meant to be a huge big band playing. Well, they fulfilled my expectations as they were truly amazing. During the break between sets, Simon (the organiser) DJd a special dance called a jam where everyone makes a circle around someone and people keep dancing with that person through the whole song. This is usually done for birthdays but as I'm leaving the UK they had one for me tonight. At one point I think I had two men dancing with me! It was just an altogether fabulous night, for many reasons, but most of all because of my wonderful friends.

Day 58: Farewell dinner at Lahore Kebab House

We held the third annual Diwali dinner at Lahore Kebab House off Commercial Road. As I am leaving in a few weeks' time, it was also my farewell dinner, and I was honored to have my aunt and uncle, my niece, my friend from Chicago, and our global director of consulting attend. It was good fun and I have posted the best photos on Facebook. This is one of the handsome men who turned out to send me off!

Day 47: Rhythm Lounge

Saturday was spent enjoying a gorgeous day on Christopher's boat Firefly, and Saturday night/early Sunday morning was spent dancing non-stop at the new and improved Rhythm Lounge near Angel. We started around 9pm and left at about 1am. This handsome bloke is Niall Oates, our talented DJ for the evening.

Day 46: Cruising on Firefly

My friend Christopher very graciously let me stay with him over the weekend and we took his canal boat from Northfields to Islington. This took six hours and we maneuvered through four locks. Despite my never having done this before, Christopher allowed me to take the tiller and I was not terrible at it, in his words. It was one of the most amazing days I have had in a very long time.

Day 45: Farewell tour of the UK kickoff

London leaving drinks!

Day 42: Let the thing swing, son

I took the train down from Edinburgh to London on Tuesday and decided at the last minute to go to one of my old haunts, C Jam at the Bedford. This is one of the places where I used to swing dance when I lived in London. Martin Ellis, the bloke in the photo, runs this and other nights of lovely dancing all around the city. I didn't have a manic night of dancing like I usually do but it was still great to dance a bit and see everyone. And I'm glad I had a warm up before Rhythm Lounge this Saturday! I'm happy to discover I haven't forgotten everything. Extra credit to anyone who knows which song the title of this post comes from (no Googling, of course!)...

Day 37: SW1

Today is the day of three meetings. I have never had three in one day! And yet today I do. Two down, one to go. This was taken following the first meeting, near Westminster. You can see the Eye and the Abbey which I quite liked.

Day 36: Dinner with the girls

I am in London for the next two nights and I tried to find some company to go out with tonight, but all my spare gentlemen were busy. Hmpf. So I turned to the girls, who I should have just asked in the first place! We had a lovely dinner near Bank and they graciously posed for this glamourous photo.

Day 34: The Apollo Victoria

I had a meeting near Victoria today and as I walked from the hotel to the office, I went past the Apollo Victoria, where Wicked is playing. Now I have seen Wicked, but the real reason I posted this photo is because the first time I went to the Apollo was in 2004 when I was living in India. I had come to London to take a course for a week, and I wanted to see as many theatre shows as I could. Bombay Dreams was playing here, and I remember thinking it was really far to travel and feeling very lost and confused by the tube, but I walked out of Victoria Station and saw the huge theatre and was really glad I made the effort. Little did I know back then that I'd be living in London someday.

Day 24: London from my office

I had a lovely early breakfast with my friend who will be staying in my flat next weekend and this is the view from our canteen. It's a gorgeous view across the Tower of London over to Tower Bridge. I really miss London!

Day 23: London!

Today was a really manic day (okay, most of my days are manic, but today particularly so). I woke up very early due to my cold, studied for many hours, and went and took my exam at Holborn. After that, I went to the office and got ready for a work event, which was nice. But THEN! Nim and I took the tube from Liverpool Street to Harrow, where we had an amazing dinner of paneer, paneer, and more paneer. Yum. Now I am exhausted and very lucky to be staying at my aunt and uncle's home for the night.

Day 22: Kings Cross St. Pancras

Trip to London today and this photo was taken from the back of a taxi from Kings Cross St. Pancras station on the way to my hotel. I travelled by train this morning rather than flying and it was quite a pleasant experience. Although I must say, first class by train isn't nearly as nice as first class by airplane! The train leaves from Waverley Station in Edinburgh and travels through Newcastle, York, Doncaster, Peterborough and then arrives at Kings Cross in London. St. Pancras is the lovely station in the foreground of the photo and Kings Cross is seen way in the right-hand corner. St. Pancras is where the Eurostar leaves when it travels to Paris.

Day 15: Day trip to London

I found out at the last minute I needed to be in London today. So I flew down in the morning and back again in the evening. I spent a fair amount of time sitting in taxis, hence this photo. I took it in the second taxi ride of the day from London City Airport to my office. The traffic was horrid this morning, so I had a lot of time to waste. Also, these are my favorite blue suede shoes that I'm always on about. Once when I was in Chicago, a woman stopped me on the street to ask where I got them from, and when I said London, she was crushed. :) And wow, I suppose I should have known this, but I didn't realize how disgustingly dirty the floors of taxis are!