London, Day 1 - Thursday, which merged into Friday

On Thursday I picked up a poorboy sandwich for us at Schnucks over lunch. Then after work I picked Randy up at 4 and drop off car. We took the airport bus to the airport and had our sandwich for dinner while we were waiting for our flight. It left around 8:00 pm and we arrived in London at 4 am, their time. Then we took the Gatwick express to Victoria Station where Randy exchanged $100 to pounds, at 15.308 rate plus 9% commission.

Next we took a taxi to Kathryn's house. Unfortunately she has a bad cold. They have been in this house about 1 year and are redoing everything; currently they are plastering downstairs and the stairway.  Upstairs the plastering is partially done; I assume they are not working on it now because we will be there for a few days. She brought up tea and cookies and we unpacked. We walked to the corner and bought soda and subway tickets at an Indian shop, then went from Brixton to Marks and Spencer. Marks and Spencer usually has the best exchange rate; this time it was 14.97 without commission, so we exchanged more cash. We also bought some cookies and cheese for a snack with our soda, which we ate as we walked a long way to the Lebanese area. There we bought a lamb sandwich to share, then walked back to Marble arch to catch the metro home to Brixton.

We gave the family the presents we had brought from home; Barbie dolls and other toys for the little girls Florence and Teddy, and a bottle of wine for Richard and Kathryn. We  went out again and had a baguette sandwich – salami with olive oil, tomatoes, egg and bacon.  Back on the train to the bus and walked home.  Tea around 8:45. Randy went to bed and I read until around 9:30.