21 July 2019
The last lap
The London fun run and a visit to the national library
Is this the end? Maybe, in more ways than one. Hypochondria has kicked in. Although I feel fine, my pulse has been inexplicably high all day. Science and fitness websites suggest this means I will certainly be getting a cold, soon. But thats ok, I did not get a cold during my trip, if I get one now quickly I will possibly give it to everyone on the plane, only time will tell.
Right now I am sitting in 'the house' which is the branding Etihad gives to its lounges, at London Heathrow terminal 4. I suspect I am the only person in here, who took the tube all the way from Kings Cross to get here, its just over an hour standing up crushed against thousands of people going to Easyjet. So I have been fed and showered, ready for my flight, which does not leave for another 2.5 hours assuming its on time.
Earlier, I woke up early and had a lot of time to kill, so walked two last giant laps of the city. Its the weekend when the city shuts down for a running race and picnics on the street. Somehow I have been here before on this very day where the same thing occurred. No problem for me, but opinion is divided on the disruption it causes, more harshly worded letters no doubt.
Will I post another update from Abu Dhabi in about 10 hours from now? I dont know, the airport here at Heathrow and in Abu Dhabi outside 'the house' is a zoo, so maybe I can take photos of zoo animals. Maybe something will happen in Abu Dhabi. Maybe we will get diverted to Iran. Anything is possible.
Now for the final set of same looking London photos.
First up, soon after the dawn, its a multi level umbrella shop. Terrifying.
A particularly nice pile of rubbish. I stood and appreciated it for a while.
Here we have Regent street, supposedly closed off for a picnic, however its filling up with paid advertising areas.
Then I found out theres a running race all around the city streets. A shame I could not enter.
These runners are late to get to the start.
Its the mall. The start of the running race is down there, near Buckingham palace. The Queen is hoping for a personal best.
This is an area where people torture horses. Everyone better appreciate how I got the ferris wheel to line up.
Trafalgar Square. Its quite underwhelming really.
I think I am faster than most of these guys. Its only a 10km race, go faster. Actually it was interesting to see the very different styles of the elite athletes out the front, some were slow and loping, some bent over like hunchbacks, but most have adopted a more African forefoot striking style, similar to me. Yeah they copied me.
A bit later in the day now, and this is the British Library. Its free apart from the exhibitions. The old sacred texts part is free, but they are strict on no photos. Also its very dark to preserve the old paper. By old I mean, they had the Magna Carta from 1215, they also had some Japanese texts from 700AD.
Phone booths stopped being about phones long ago. Now they are just for sex service advertising. Look at all the wires hanging down.
On my second loop of London for the day I headed over towards Paddington, the far west of the city. The buildings look less grey here, this could be a shitty old Australian street, perhaps in Geelong.
A filthy recycling station, enjoyed by pigeons.
Paddington station is quite old still. Most of the other main stations have had complete makeovers. Paddington station does have a brass version of Paddington bear on a seat for Chinese girls to hug while having their photo taken.
Nearby there is another bright green canal.
Now we jump forwards to the Etihad lounge at Heathrow. I took a seat in the a la carte area, but there is also a buffet as you can see.
I ordered zaataar chicken or something like that. Its small and a bit plain, but nice enough. I added some salds from the buffet, not pictured.
Because dinner was small, I could have a selection of tiny desserts. The service was too attentive, a guy stood next to my table looking at me. Judging me.
Now for the shower experience. I could not fit it in one photo.
BEHOLD! A shower. Have you ever seen such a thing before in your life? As I type this an Arabic guy who must not be able to read or write is talking to his phone in Arabic and getting answers on speaker phone. Very annoying. He is getting quite mad with it.