Dana's Trip to London
 

As Dana is currently being wined and dined in the Houses of Parliament, and I am stuck here at work because we're too busy for me to take a day off, I am jumping in first with my version of the evening.

I'm sure Dana will update you on today when she gets back home, but I'll tell you about last night.

Dana travelled down from Halifax to London mid-afternoon and made her own way to Greenwich. She stopped into my workplace and picked up the key to my house, so when I got home at about 17.15 she was there on the sofa, hurray! We both freshened up and were ready to go out and start the night by about 18.00.

First we went to the Pelton - my pub. We sat in the garden with a pint and had a quick chat with some of the locals. Then inside for another because D was feeling the cold. She liked the pub, which I was pleased about. It's a traditional "locals" pub - all dark wood and relaxed atmosphere. I'd told the guys that I had a friend coming to visit, so they were all interested in meeting her. Success.

Then we walked down by the Thames to HM's pub. I won't name it, as we got staff discount on the drinks ;) It's more of a tourist pub, larger and quite impersonal in some ways, but it has a gorgeous view over the river and an outside seating area. So we had our pints and decided to push on into Greenwich. I think both of us felt the effects of 3 strong pints on an empty stomach and didn't want things to get too messy.

So onto the Greenwich Wheel. It's nowhere near as big as the London Eye of course - just a temporary structure in front of the Maritime Museum. It gives people something extra to visit with the Cutty Sark under wraps. We walked up and bought our tickets, then waited for the wheel to stop. In less than 5 minutes we were on it, and they kindly let the 6 customers waiting into 3 separate carriages, rather than packing us into one. This meant we paid £14 for a £30 ride effectively. Inside there are just two grey padded bench style seats facing eachother. It didn't feel small because of the see-through top.

This is us. I don't really need to say anything else because you can see how much we are enjoying it. I think it's well worth it for £7.


Then off for pizza! I had a Buy One Get One Free voucher, which made it well worth a visit to Pizza Express - a place I hardly need dragging into anyway. Dana made the sensible choice to have a soft drink with her meal, so I followed suit. We were served quickly despite the fact the place was rammed. We started with dough balls (quickly dispatched, nom nom nom) then Dana had
Parmense:
A classic combination of flavours, asparagus, Parma ham and grana padano, then finished with a free range egg
and I had
Diavolo:
Devilishly hot with spicy beef, pepperoni, onions and Tabasco, plus extra fire with hot green peppers or jalapenos

We had to go to a little shop for supplies, and when we were there an woman with the haggard face and demeanour of a bride of alcohol staggered into the shop and tried to hand a bundle of cards and some keys to the shopkeeper. She claimed to have found them on the wall outside and was blorting about the poor little girl who wouldn't be able to get home.

Shopkeeper wasn't interested and just told her to take them to the police station. Dana and I leapt into action as Super Citizens and offered to take them. We rifled through (ostensibly checking for a contact number, but in my case being nosey) and read the little love note tucked in from her boyfriend. Ahhhh, cute. No credit or debit card, no Oyster (travelcard) no money. Hmmmm - Dana was suspicious of Lady Alcohol and suspected that she didn't turn in everything she found. Still, we figured she'd be glad to get back what we had. So we handed it in to the (apparently attractive) policeman and went on our virtuous way.

We headed back to HM's pub, which is on the way home after all. And got another discounted pint each. We were slowing down at this point, and had already vetoed a side trip to another pub to try their strawberry beer.

We sat and chatted and laughed and took a couple more photos.
Us & beers:

Me trying to retain my beer as Dana makes me laugh:

By now it was pretty much closing time.
I cheekily asked HM for carry outs, even though I knew Dana didn't want any. He came through with 2 half pints left outside for us, and I drank them while wandering home.

I have to say I only stumbled once, despite wearing my sky high shoes on cobbles. At this point Dana took the carrier bag from me, but kindly let me keep the beer.

And that's the end of the story really. She's gone off to meet the great and good, and will pop back in to collect her bag from me before going home tonight.

As always it was a pleasure to spend time with D. She's naturally funny, without the solemnity you would expect from someone with a passion for history and politics. She is always complimentary and makes you feel like you've laid on a big treat for her - I think this is from her appreciation of the simpler things in life, and always seeing the world as fresh and exciting.

I imagine she'd be great company on a long trip as she isn't scared of falling quiet, but will have something interesting to say on most topics you can raise and is a good listener.

Fingers crossed she'll come down in the Autumn and we'll do two or three of the two or three hundred things we planned last night!

most excellent, thanks for the pics!

this is the kind of thing you just can't get anywhere else. thanks Sundae, Dana.

Cool! Thanks for the on the spot reporting. :)

This is great! I giggled just thinking of you two laughing and having a great time! Thanks for this. :)

I felt like I was right up there in the Ferris wheel with you. Well done.

This brought an amazed smile to me this morning--a really good Cellar greeting! So lovely to see SG and Dana, to hear their voices. Very fun!

I must say, you're really raising the bar for Cicero and me when we meet!

What fun, I felt like I was there only slightly more sober since it is 11 am..

Just make sure it's fully documented :)
Anyway, just wait til she comes down next time - we'll have more time together and a chance to plan properly.

Oh I had forgotten Dana is out of the Cellar now until Friday.
I didn't kill her I promise.

Cool trip, great reportage, thanks.

You have carry-out beer? Whoa.

Hey, I watched that whole video, waiting for "the see-through top". :(

Wow, great job you two, love the video and the pictures. What a fun visit.