The 3.5 hour ferry trip from Dieppe in France to Newhaven in England travelled over remarkably calm seas for the English Channel. We disembarked in England with no hassles, and train trip into Victoria arrived around 6.30pm. I left Christine at this point, but not before receiving an invite to visit her up at her student pad at I had no joy in contacting my cousin Peter, so I ended up taking a room at OCallaghans, next to the Earls Court tube, where I got a shared room for GBP1.40. It was a pretty relaxing night just chatting to a group from NAT.
First job next day was a visit to the laundromat for clothes wash, which took over an hour. Then it was down to Sundowners to check out my mail – found a good collection there, included two posted to me in Iran. Then I almost got run over in the street by Ilga and Jane (a couple we had spent time with in Bali), and was invited over for drinks that night. Other business included enquiries about student flights to LA, banking and Amex travellers cheques, and AA re International Drivers Licence.
I took in a couple of travel centres for info on the Middle East before a late lunch. At 4pm, I checked out the movie The Exorcist (front stalls 70p), which was pretty horrifying but held everyones attention. Then it was back to Earls Court for a meal at the Hot Pot, before adjourning to the girls flat for a few grogs, a lot of travel talk, and the offer of a free cot for tomorrow night. I also gave a call to Barry Herbert, one of the guys on our Sundowners overland trip, and got an invite to stay at his place at Hastings for a couple of days.
I checked out of OCallaghans early next day and took my gear over to the girls flat. I chatted to Ilga for a while and also plotted my future travels, including a potential flight home via Los Angeles. I then got a lift into town in Ilgas VW – quite an experience in itself, with Ilga showing her true talents (and colourful language!) when a car broke down in front of us. I did a general round of the city, once again taking in all the touristy sights, as
well as visiting some more agents re Middle East options. I spent a while in Trafalgar Square, just watching the world go by, before making it down to Sundowners at Earls Court and buying a rucksack off Sally for GBP7. I was back at the flat by 6pm before taking off for dinner with Jane. We later caught up with Ilga and 3 guys after they finished work and adjourned to the Richmond Pub for many beers and a fascinating drag show until we were kicked out at 11pm.
This was a good nights kip for me, but not so I fear for the girls who were kind enough to share the other bed. Ilga left early but Jane and I yakked until she left for work at 9am. I stayed around the flat until around 11am, then took off for Charing Cross before I was on my merry way again. I picked up the midday train for St Leonards and reached there 90 minutes later. While it rained for most of the trip, it had cleared on arrival. I caught up with Barry and Paul again after the former had slept most of the afternoon after working the
previous night shift. We watched looked through around 600 Sundowners slides before dinner (a great toad in the hole, followed by bread and butter pudding) and then watched Barrys movies of the trip. It was off to bed around 11pm when poor old Barry had to go back to work.
September Black Friday started harmlessly enough, with my leaving the Herberts at 8am and catching the bus up to Dover. I reached there in good time for the ferry to Calais, which took just under 2 hours. The early morning rain cleared, but the day remained overcast. I had of the boat from Sandy, a nurse from Milwaukee, Wisconson, who then me on the train, ostensibly to Lille, but both of us missed the stop (no, not because of that!), and the conductor wanted to double charge me and fine me.
