On Monday 7th March 2022 I made a journey south to London, a return to my spiritual home. The journey down itself was fine. The train was packed and I had a forward facing Aisle seat, this was good till Crewe when the person for the Window seat turned up, then it was a little cramped. But all good. There were loud-mouth scouse’s in the carriage and a family, with a young baby. Aside for the smell when the child pooed, and the occasional scream-cry, the main journey down was still good.

Arrived at Euston just after 3pm and then made my way down to the Underground. I thought I might feel a bit nervous when getting on the tube but that was all fine too. I got the Victoria line to Tottenham Court Road then changed to the Central Line to get to Bank. From there was the long walk inside Bank to the DLR Platforms, where the first train to arrive was the train I needed to get to London City Airport. – From there I got on a bus to the Hotel. Glad I did because by that point I was knackered. – Note to self, take a bottle of water for travel next time!

Got into the hotel, I am in a Travelodge, on the 2nd floor in room 219. More or less at the end of the corridor. My view out of the window is overlooking London City Airport and when the planes land, they are so close you can read the tail numbers. Will make a good Photo if I can be quick enough. (Edit: I wasn’t).

Shortly after arriving I made the decision to go out again, to a Supermarket to get some food and supplies for the hotel room. I went to ASDA in Beckton. Instead of getting the DLR, I decided to get the bus. It was fine, it got me there in under 30 minutes, and ended up easier in the long run. But I really do prefer the DLR or Tubes. – I think the shopping in my bag was heavier than it was traveling down, so when I got back just after 8pm I was shattered. So much so that I decided not to go down to the bar for dinner. Instead I had a sandwich and some sweeties.

I decided to chill out on the Monday night. I watched some TV, did some work on the laptop then fell asleep watching Netflix. I slept well I think, thought it felt like I woke up at least once an hour – Probably getting used to the new surroundings etc and not wanting to miss the alarm. Turns out I woke up an hour before the alarm anyway so decided to get up and start the day.

Tuesday 8th March 2022 – Today I have some events planned. First of all the Cinema in Leicester Square to see the UNCHARTED Movie, that’s at 3:30pm and the film is almost 2 hours long, so that takes me till 5:30pm. After that I have a bit of a double booking and a decision to make…

Run Lola Run Film at Barbican or the Kings Elliot gig at The Waiting Room. During the build up to traveling I had made the decision to go to the gig as I had seen the film before. But looking at it now, it’s a long way to travel. Sure, id get there, but can I go to a gig alone? That much I do not know. – We will see later what I decide to do.

Between the movie and whatever I choose to do, I will need to go and find somewhere to get some hot food from however, so we will see how that goes too. Sure, I won’t perish if I don’t eat, but it’s silly and I should do it. We will see.

Now, the question is, what do I do with myself till the movie at 3:30pm…  Well I made a list before traveling of the places I wanted to go and visit, but frankly after the journey last night, and the shopping, I was fucked, so at that point I started to question what it is I would be able to do rather than want to do, with my limitations while being here. So I may have to revise the list a little bit.

So I set out on Tuesday just before 1:30pm with an idea of where it was I was aiming to get to – Leicester Square and the Cinema being the ultimate destination for 3:30pm. Waited a few minutes for the bus then more or less as soon as it started moving, realised it was the wrong bus, great. Got off at the next stop, which was next to the Royal Albert DLR Station, so I changed and got the DLR to Canning Town, where the Bus I should have got would have taken me. At Canning town I had a change of heart and jumped on the Jubilee Line one-stop to North Greenwich.

Hopped off there and walked towards the o2 arena. Visiting North Greenwich was on my list of places to go so I walked down towards the Fountain (which has gone and is now some kinda art installation… Took a picture and went to sit down on a bench a little further down. – I’d sat on this bench some 18 years ago while I was there Directing Project_Raven. We used the fountain back then to shoot a scene in, so it’s a shame that it’s now gone. But to be honest, on previous revisits to the place, it was almost never turned on.

It was good to see that there are more places to go etc now around the o2, it feels much more ‘used’ than it did almost 20 years ago. I was saddened to find out the Cable Car line is currently out of service, so that explains the lack of seeing the cable cars running over it! I walked down to the riverfront and stood / sat for a few minutes watching life on the Thames before I made the decision to get on the Riverboat which I rode from North Greenwich all the way through to Embankment where I disembarked and headed for the Tube to Leicester Square.

It was 3:15pm by this point and I was starting to think I wouldn’t make it to the Cinema, but I did.. just, with moments to spare. No time to get a drink, which I really needed and to my horror, the screen was right at the top of the building – the lift was out of order, so the climb almost killed me.

You can read my full review post about the Movie, UNCHARTED here. But in general, I cannot say I enjoyed the film that much. I was so out of breath when I got there that I took the first seat I saw – I think it was the right one, not that there was anybody to ask or anything. Nobody came to shift me out of it anyway.

When the film had finished and I made the trek back down all the stairs in the world, went the toilet then started thinking about food. The table I had pre-booked was well gone by that point and it was getting on towards 6:15pm. I had a little walk around to see if there was a bar I could go to, and almost went to Brewmaster or something like that, but decided against it at the last minute, instead I went to the Angus Steakhouse on the corner of Leicester Square.

Sat down and browsed the menu… For a moment considered not having steak, but in the end, I went for the steak. Steak & Chips with Onion rings, and a Cheesecake for dessert. A pint and a half of Stella. Food was lovely actually. Nice and hot and cooked exactly as I asked for, medium, middle of the road. Meaty but with a decent amount of animal juice too. Yummy. (It’s stayed down so far)!

Just when I was getting my dessert, I was taking a picture of my food when this man walked in and started looking at me. I was like… what the hell, who’s this? – Jordan… “of all the gin joints in all of the towns”… Randomly he had been walking past, after being on a training day in the City, after having a drink with his colleagues, on his way to watch a match with a friend, he walks past and thinks to himself.. “that looks like our Kev”… and it turns out… It was me! So we got to have a drink together and a bit of a catch up before he got off to watch the match. What a hell of a coincidence for that to happen!! – A welcome surprise for sure.

After settling the bill I had another little walk and found a supermarket to get some more supplies for the hotel room and decided to start making my way back to the hotel. I had missed the second film of the day, my own fault for not working out the finishing times and travel times required to get from Leicester Square to the Barbican, and I am afraid that in the end, anxiety got the better of me in relation to the Kings Elliot gig. Thankfully neither of these events were a) expensive or b) the reason for me being here in London. They were to be a bonus if I could make them. In the end however, when I got back to the hotel, I was shattered and spent some time just laying down in a dark room, getting my breath and energy back as much as I could. I think, had I tried to go to the gig, I would have regretted it, as I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it so much, and then the journey back to the hotel would have been harder too.

So I don’t feel too bad about missing those events. I know I paid for them and never attended, but I can’t be too hard on myself otherwise. This trip for me is about firsts, and getting to London itself was the big one. Today it was about going to Cinema alone – which I enjoyed.. The film not so much, but the experiences.. Yes, more please. Also going into a bar alone again, and this time not just for a drink, but to purposefully eat alone too, that was another big step that I did achieve. On to Wednesday.

Wednesday started slowly. Seems I had fallen asleep unintentionally in the early hours and slept through till around 7am. I decided to take a few more hours sleep and stayed in bed till 11am. My only planned event today is the Lucinda Child’s Dance at Sadlers Wells and that isn’t till 20:30 tonight. So I got up about 11am and did some tasks I had set myself out to do. I think it was about 1pm when I thought to myself, you know what, I am gonna go back to bed. So I did. Slept till about 4pm when I started to get myself ready for this evening’s activities.

Getting to the venue was a ballache as of course the Northern Line closure affected my route. So instead of the DLR and one tube, I had a journey which saw me using a bus, the DLR and 4 tubes via 3 lines. All in all it took about an hour and I still arrived in plenty of time for the evening’s entertainment. I was early so I went inside and bought myself a coke with ice. £3.00. A bit of a rip-off and of course absolutely nowhere to sit. I really.. didn’t fancy any more stairs, so I sat back outside for a few minutes to cool down while awaiting the doors to the house to open.

I have covered the event itself in another post, you can read about that here. After the show had finished I was faced with the trip back to the hotel, I was determined not to go through the 4 tube hell of earlier, so I jumped on a bus from Angel Station to London Bridge and changed to get the Jubilee Line through to Canning Town. From there I got on another bus back to the hotel.

I hadn’t eaten anything hot today and to be honest I wasn’t hungry, so I decided to retire to the room and call it a night. I am tired, not as tired as yesterday, but then I haven’t been out for that many hours today. Still knackered though. Tomorrow – Thursday 10th, I have no plans set in stone, so I think I will sleep till I naturally wake up and see what kind of a day it is from there. I think at this stage, and at these levels of tiredness, that might just be the best option.

Oh what kind of a day it has been. Thursday. I had no plans set in stone today so I didn’t rush up. In fact after waking about 8am I closed the curtains and tried to go back to sleep for a few hours. I think I managed till about 11am before getting up. I took my time getting ready to go out as I really wasn’t sure where I would end up today. I got outside the hotel just before 2pm and almost immediately felt like returning to the room. It’s gonna happen, some days will be more anxiety filled than others. Today seemed like one of those days, but I forced myself to stay out for a little while anyway.

I made my way to London City Airport via the Bus and jumped on the DLR, got off at Poplar and changed to the other DLR line and went down to Cutty Sark (this being in my eyes less of a walk between the DLR and the Ferry. Having done the North Greenwich connection on Tuesday, I had remembered that there is quite a walk there, and I didn’t want to do it again. In actual fact the distance was probably about the same. But whatever.

Got off at Cutty Sark and headed down to the Ferry’s. Jumped on the first one, thinking it was only going to Canary Wharf but it went all the way to Battersea and I decided to stay on. I sat on the back of it this time, after previously sitting in a normal window seat and experiencing a hard time getting in / out of it, I decided to sit in the back section, outside, with the noise & the wind around me. It was really quite peaceful. I wanted to go and have a look at the new development now that it has its own tube station ‘Battersea Power Station Station’, and I wanted a look around… Er, it’s not.. finished yet. Sure there are developments around it, but the Power Station itself is all bored up. Fuck. I didn’t even make it to the tube station, instead I walked around for a bit then headed back down for the Ferry.

I was expecting to get off the Ferry at Bankside to go to a pub on the South Bank for some dinner, but by that time I was honestly knackered from walking again and I couldn’t be bothered getting off. I sat at the front of the boat this time, so I had a good view of everything in front. I stayed on till Canary Wharf again. I had a stroll at Canary Wharf and ‘accidentally’ found ‘my fountain’ in the centre of the complex, which had been on my list of places to visit. So checked that one off the list while looking around for somewhere to get a drink and some snacks for the night.

Jumped back on the DLR to Poplar again and switched to the LCA line but got off at Canning Town, which has become my normal root ‘home’ to the hotel. I got on a bus back to the hotel and decided that it was there I was going to get some hot food for the night. I went to order and they are out of cheese… would you believe it. So no pizza, no burgers, no.. loaded fries. Fuck. So I ordered some katsu chicken with rice and chips.. and a pint of Stella.

Almost a full hour of waiting later, and still no dinner. The beer was flat. The barman couldn’t be less arsed if he’d tried. The cook seemed totally overwhelmed in the kitchen. There were 7 or so tables occupied. 3-4 were before me and the rest were after me.

Took over an hour to get the food from ordering to eating, and 10 minutes or so to finish it and get back to the room. Ridiculous. It wasn’t even busy. Oh and to add insult to injury… while still awaiting my meal, they ‘found’ more cheese. It was a less than ideal way to end my day, so I retired to the room, thankful for the ‘nibbles’ I had hunted down at Canary Wharf.

In all honesty, I was probably ready to go home on Wednesday after the Dance, through the tiredness I was feeling. But I had instead already changed my train ticket to the 8pm train on Friday evening, to give myself more time in London. After the meal at the hotel on Thursday, I wasn’t feeling like staying that much longer. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed my time here, I am just tired, and it is starting to drain my mood somewhat. Time to get my things packed up (the night before) and relax before getting some sleep before seeing what I’d be doing with my time on the Friday.

Friday… I have no solid plans of what to do from checkout at 12 to 8pm. Just some 8 hours to kill. Cinema perhaps.. if  I can find something I want to see on somewhere.. Will I get to Ealing? Not sure. We will see… – Well we didn’t see a whole lot really. In the end after not feeling great on the Friday morning, I decided to make my way after checking out of the hotel at 12 noon, back into central London, to somewhere near Euston, and to see how I felt when I got there. When I got to Bank I didn’t fancy the long-ass walk through the maze of an underground station that it is, so I looked for an exit and made my way to street level. I checked google for a bus that would take me to Euston.. and the results were 3 busses… I walked to what I thought was the bus stop, which was.. at the end of an equally long street, and thought ok this is silly. So I went to Monument Station (which is where the Circle & District lines stop), but really, from underground.. it’s still a part of Bank station, so there really was.. no escaping Bank.

I headed down to the platforms and just sat there for a few minutes to get my breath back and decide what to do. Eventually I got on a Circle Line train through to Victoria and switched to the Victoria line, which would take me directly up to Euston. Arrived at Euston around 1pm, bought a drink and sat down outside for a few minutes, it had started to rain by this point. I had a look at what was on at local cinemas etc and seeing nothing I was interested in, I looked for a cheaper train ticket. Via ‘splitmyticket’ I found one which was half-price of what I would have had to have paid to make changes to my original ticket, and so I booked that. Some 20 minutes later I was already sitting on a train, some 7 hours before I would have been on my booked train.

Busy, but plenty of room, we arrive at Crewe where I have to change for the train to the final two stops to home, and I have a 45 minute wait here, so plenty of time to find a toilet, then the platform I needed for the connection. Hopped on that train and was back in Liverpool 3 hours before my original train would have even left London.

So in summary of the trip… I am so glad I forced myself to go and do this. I believe I found out what my limits are at the moment, in terms of traveling, walking, stairs etc and where my levels of confidence lay in terms of doing things alone and for the first time. I feel like if I get to go again, I would know more what to expect and how to handle myself. So I am super pleased I did it, and got to have the experiences I did in the way I did. Plus.. It’s London, there was never going to be a chance that I wouldn’t like it anyway.

– London… I’ll be back again soon.