Flying in to LHR was very picturesque, with a few laps taken over the city. The eye, Big Ben, the houses of parliament, the Thames, etc, all spread out in the midst of this absolutely enormous city.

After a cup of tea with Granny, I headed to the Australian capital of England -- Clapham Juncton -- to meet Eva and Kieran, who have just moved to London from Australia, for a good few beers. Really good to catch up and see them!

Granny and I rose early in order to drive down to Eastbourne. Its a little town on the coast where my uncle moved a few years ago. (They mention it in Pride and Prejudice, so it must be good, right? :-). Uncle Robert had left two pages of instructions, and we did very well following them until we were very close, at which point I managed to miss one, which stuffed up the whole sequence! (The problem with stateful protocols I suppose!). At this point, Granny decided that she knew much better than U-R, and stated (over, and over, and over, and over) the we should go to the sea and work it out from there. Having previously been warned by my mother that Granny’s navigational ability was less than ideal, I proceeded to ignore said advice and find somewhere that was mentioned in the instructions. :-).

U-R’s place is fantastic! With 180 degree views of the sea (which is across the road). Some very good fish and chips, a good walk along the seafront, and a cup of coffee, and we were back on the road again. We dropped U-R’s girlfriend, Mila, off at her place, before suffering a little London traffic.

Running late, as always, I sheepishly SMS’d Kirsten, my surrogate cousin, who seemed strangely accepting of my horrible tardiness (I later discovered she was shopping! :-). We had a really great Thai meal, were joined by the new husband, Mark, and headed to a bar called “Jrinks” in Soho, where we met up with Jessamy, an old friend from Australia. A really good evening, which ended at about 1:00. Home by 2:00AM.

Less pleasant was forcing myself out of bed at 5:00AM in order to get to the airport by 6:00. Ouch. I’m now sitting in the airport lounge for American Airlines flight 115, which has been delayed. Sigh!