Right now, at this moment, I am nasty. It was a hot, humid, sweltery day in London and we were busy little tourists right smack in the middle of it. As I write this I’m sitting on our bed, trying to cool down.

It was nice when we left the house just after 10, warm but overcast and a bit breezy…perfect walkabout weather. By the time we reached Westminster station (nearly an hour later) the sun was coming out. Nellie got her first look at Big Ben, Parliament and The Eye as we left the station, and we rounded the corner toward Westminster Cathedral.

I’ve already been to this area, and all through Westminster, but Nellie hadn’t so she was constantly taking pictures. She took pictures all the way through, outside, up Whitehall, at 10 Downing Street, at Trafalgar Square, and all the way up the mall to Buckingham Palace. We stopped and had a lunch in St. James park, which was a nice relaxing little break.

From there we walked up Constitution Hill so that we can enter Hyde Park, but before we could a motorcade came past with Charles and Camilla in tow. This was (apparently) a big freaking deal. Looked like they were on their way to something. Anyway, on to more important matters: leaving the park we got some ice cream…yummm! Oh, and they were setting up for the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park.

After the park we took a stroll down through Mayfair. By this time it was well and truly muggy, and we were slowly broiling. Mayfair is beautiful (if under constant construction); it got more commercial and hectic as we walked east. I finally found Savile Row so that I could walk up it and drool (Gieves & Hawkes had a sale on, so their prices down 15% from insane to absurd).

I ended up getting turned round a bit (stupid curving streets), so we walked nearly to Piccadilly Circus before I realized we were going the wrong way. Eventually we made it to the tube station we wanted and the train we needed. Unfortunately it’s fucking hot on those trains, and so for the half hour ride home we thought we were going to die. The fresh air of Ealing, the fine bottled products of Evian & Pepsi, and the cool shower of my brother’s flat gave us comfort.

So now that I’ve written all of this I’ve pretty much cooled down. I’ll need a shower (and possibly a foot massage) before we go back out though.

British TV is very, very weird. It may even be more ridiculous than American TV, especially the “reality” series. Big Brother is huge here, and one channel just covers it live for most of the day. Seriously, live. Even if all they’re doing is sleeping. It’s nuts. Oh, and there was some horrible show called “ladette to lady” on where they take a bunch of boozy teenage slags and send them to etiquette school or some such. Honestly, the hideous matrons and taskmasters that the girls answered to were even more awful than the girls themselves. I suppose TV here is just more extreme than American TV…CNN and E! are just becoming the same bland mush, the BBC and E4 represent highly professional and batshit insane respectively.

We’re just now getting ready to head out for the day. A bit late getting going though, so hopefully we have time to see all we want to see.

I was able to upload a few pictures to flickr. We have over 200 to choose from; these are just a few samples. Check ’em.

Relaxing day so far, much to our feet & asses’ delight. We had some breakfast at a cafe, picked up some groceries & a new camera battery, and I’ve had some time to play with a computer. I’ve been half watching the fanfare on BBC1 (it’s the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar), and waiting for the promised severe thunderstorms to arrive. Nothing big for us, I think, until tomorrow.

My brother’s iPod’s been working overtime. It kept us entertained in the car from practically one end of Britain to the other, which was certainly better than carrying 1000 miles of CDs with us.

My biggest complaint: the Meatloaf + Cher duet. Ugh.

Got my first taste of Little Britain tonight. Man, that is one fucked up show. We watched an episode of the American version of The Office as well, and ordered pizza. A nice, relaxing evening, just what the doctor ordered.

Tomorrow should be pretty chilled too: get some groceries, buy a new battery for the camera, hang out in the park (weather permitting), try to upload some pics, and plan our next two days in London.

We’re home! Hip hop hooray!!

We’re in the home stretch now. About two hours away from London (provided the M1 doesn’t completely bugger up near the city), fully rest-stopped and ready to get out of the car. She’s served us well, the wee black steed.

We stopped for lunch about 90 minutes south of Edinburgh in Bamburgh. The pub was another from the pub guide, and it lived up to its billing. I had the steak and ale pie: very tasty. There’s also an enormous castle that dominates the town, so we drove up to the gate, took a few pictures and got back on the road.

Nothing else of consequence to report: a long drive, hot weather (it’s sunny and 27 outside), some Tornados flying formations near Newcastle…that’s about it.

As much as we loved Scotland and the English countryside we’ll be very, very glad to get back to the flat in Ealing.

One observation: it isn’t a cliche…Scotland really does have that many sheep. Another observation: my wife is now addicted to Thai sweet chili crisps.

I hope to put a few pictures up on my flickr stream tomorrow, if I can find a way to do so with Win2k native software. Stay tuned.

Ah, the sausage butty. My friend and my enemy.

A bit more of a stroll around Edinburgh this morning. Lots of pictures, a bit of shopping, and now we’re about to get on the road south.

After so much running about and eating in restaurants, it was nice to head over to the afore-mentioned (sorta-)cousin’s flat last night for dinner. Truth be told I’ve not seen her in about fifteen years, but living here in the UK she sees my brother every so often, so we spent the evening with she, her husband and their 9 month old son. There was much beer and wine, some fun conversation, and she prepared a great and meaty feast. She marvelled at how big I’d grown, I marvelled at the melange of accents she seems to’ve acquired over the years. But it was a wonderful time, just what we needed, I think.

After a cab ride home and an apertif in the bar (Aberlour and Tamdhu for us) it was time for more bed. Now we’re up and getting ready for long trek back to London. The great adventure continues!!