MONDAY. Linda and I caught the tube into Oxford Circus and went shopping. I bought a new pair of runners and a pair of Levi’s and we spent hours just browsing in the shops as we made our way towards Covent Garden. We bought some maps of China, Southeast Asia and India from the map shop and looked at tents in the YHA shop, and had a greasy lunch at a KFC on the Strand.
After lunch we caught the tube over to Kensington High Street and went to the student travel office to find out about cheap flights. We met Lydia in the Trocadero at 4 o’clock and went down to New Zealand House where we bought a sticker for the car and looked at the books in the Kiwifruit shop. After a cup of hot chocolate at a cafe we caught a bus out to Fulham and walked back to the flat.
We set round at the flat for an hour or so then caught the tube back round to Embankment Station and went to a pub called The Griffin where we met Lydia’s sister Avril and a bunch of her friends for drinks then tubed it back to the flat, said goodbye to Jenny, Juliet and Lydia and set off to drive back home to Corton.
I drove out of London and must’ve taken a wrong turn as we found ourselves lost amongst the tangled mess of motorways leading south and west. We ended up on the M25 and followed it’s brightly lit and empty path back to the M3 and finally were able to head home
Linda took over the driving after Basingstoke and I went straight to sleep. Just before we changed drivers we passed an accident, my tired eyes mixing up the flares, police lights and fire engine lights into a blue red and orange blue.
Later on, out in the wild blackness of the Salisbury Plain the rain pissed down out of the sky as we passed the ancient shape of Stonehenge, silhouetted against the burnt orange glow above Devises. We arrived home at about 1AM and crashed out exhausted.
CurseOfTheTraveller 