The Missing Screw - revisited

Hooray, I finally managed to fix my skates. I know, took some time, but after the last screw disappointment I was kind of unmotivated...
I looked up a hardware store on the web and was thinking if I should give them a call before going there, but then I thought, "Are you selling screws?" is a stupid question, it's a hardware store. When I arrived there, the shop was shut down. Of course! Next time I'll call. Luckily, next door there was a similar shop, but they didn't sell screw. However, the guy behind the counter was very helpful and drew a map for me to get to a bike store called "bike fix". And I had luck, they had the missing screw. Yeah!! Spent 20 min in the shop to fix it (was a bit tricky) and they girl provided me all the tools. Very nice, although she thought I was Dutch ;-)

On my way back, I passed the Post Office near Russel Square station. That made me realise that I (or men in general) never pay attention to their environment. I was looking for a Post Office this morning and ended up near Oxford Street. The one in Russel Square I passed for about 5 month nearly every morning when I arrived with the tube and it's much much closer!! Damn.

Unfortunately Londonskate was cancelled today due to the rain. As we were already in Hyde Park we decided to skate a bit. Nice skate-stroll through the park including getting lost near Kensington. We skated through Kensington Palace Gardens. Nice street, many really posh and expensive houses there.

Are we lost?

I was invited to a BBQ party on Saturday evening so I met Stef and Max at UCL at 5 pm to get some stuff from Tesco for the party. Spending about 15 min deciding if we should bring beer, wine or spirits we went for spirits and wine. Took another 15 min to choose the right vodka. With the cheap one you can only clean your car and risk to become blind. Too expensive and no money for meat left... After we chose one, we dropped it. Of course after we paid it, but the lady at Tesco was quite nice and gave us another one.

Since Stef doesn't like the the Tesco wine selection, we had to walk to oddbins. 15 min walk from Tesco, just around the corner. Heard that quite often... Anyway, we walked around the area of Marylebone High Street and I have to admit, it's a really nice area with lots of shops, restaurants and bus. We took the Jubilee Line from Bond Street to Cannary Wharf station. Nice view there. Out of the tube with the station 10m behind us, Max' first question: "Are we lost?". "Yes, indeed, we have absolutely no clue where we are, let's light a bonfire and have the meat right here!" ;-)
Finally we arrived at the party, which wasn't that easy. We had a map with street names, but the street had no names. The bonfire suggestion came up more than once. The party was really good. Many people there and everybody brought meat and drinks. Actually, we wanted to take the last tube back, but then decided to stay longer and go by bus, because we had a great time.

Guess we left at about 2 am and walked to the next bus stop to wait for the D-whatever. Busses starting with a letter don't have the best reputation in terms of reliability I was told. We waited fot quite a long time (at least it felt like this). The bus was for Trafalgar Square and passed Londonbridge. After about 15 min without a sign of the bridge I asked the driver: "Are we near London Bridge?", "bla grrr bla grr!", "I see, so I get off next stop then?", "bla grrr bla grr!". After this inspiring conversation, I found myself at 2.30 am at a bridge that clearly wasn't Londonbridge. I could spot the Tower, but very far away and my stupid brain told me that I was eastbound from the Tower, with Londonbridge westbound which of course wasn't true. However, with this distance in my mind, I took a cab to Londonbridge. Still a long ride, but not as long as I expected it. Stupid brain! After I waited 30 min for the 43 bus I spent another 45 min in the bus before I finally arrived at home. What a journey! I hate taking the bus when I had drinks.

19,53 £

I was at Saintsbury's to do some shopping yesterday. After the cashier started scanning my items I realised that I forgot to draw some cash before. Ok, actually I thought there was enough left, but apparently I invested to much money in pints on Friday. However, I checked and had 19,32 £ in my wallet. Hmm, not too much. Quick check, yes, another 21p in my pocket. That's 19,53 in total. Shit. I didn't have my credit card with me, only my German debit card and they always charge me for using it here. After the cashier scanned the last item I saw the total sum: 19,53 £. Not kidding! I should have played lotto this day!

TfL hates me

I decided to use TfL this morning to have some pints this evening after a long week. Two options: walk five minutes and take the bus for 1 £ or walk for 15 minutes, pay 2 £ and take the tube. The bus usually takes ages in the morning, so I went for the tube. I topped up my Oyster Card, walked 15 minutes to Bounds Green Station and waited 15 minutes for the Piccadilly Line to arrive until they announced that the there's currently no service. Great! So out of the station again, hopefully they didn't charge me for my joyful time in the station!
I was not in the mood to walk 20 minutes up to Muswell Hill again, so I took the bus. I tought as I wanted to spend 2 £ anyway and they (hopefully) didn't charge me, I can spend the money on the bus. When I touched my Oyster Card on the reader in the bus, I could read that they did in fact charge me for this fantastic stay in the hot, smelly station. 1 quid! Grrrrr. With the bus from Muswell Hill to central London I spent 3 quid in total for a journey of about 90 minutes. Of course that's quite good concerning money/minute, but that's not what I was looking for!

Not a fucking problem

On my way to uni this morning, a motorbike and a car collided slightly but not too bad. The car driver got out of his car and the guy with the dismounted. Then they started to shout at each other.

Bike: "You were using your fucking mobile."
Car: "Your fucking motorbike hit my fucking car."
Bike: "Fuck blah, fucking blah mobile"
Car: "Fucking bike blah, fuck blah."

After exchanging several arguments, all including at least two forms of fuck, enough was said and the problem was solved. Both guys continued driving.