Chris' Birthday & Driving Adventures

This week has given us two adventures, one of driving, one of transit.

First the driving, we officially drove on the left side of the road. In fact that was our mantra

 while attempting the strange crossover, "think left, think left". It was strange (more so for chris as i drove on the left is australia for a while), but still a manual transmission on these tiny swervy rainy streets was odd. The intersections were a particular challenge for me, while chris couldn't get over the fact that the gear box is the same, meaning first 

is where first is in the US, so it feels backward on top of backward, if that makes sense. We made it, destination IKEA, to pick up some things that make our world more comfortable, like a rug. That rug was/is transformative in our living room. I liked our first venture in a car - though note that google maps UK really stinks. And also note that when three roads all cross and wiggle at once, it creates a very confusing turning pattern.

Next up, BIRTHDAY. Chris got older yesterday (I guess everyday, but we celebrated yesterday). I met him after work - somehow the area he works in (Shoreditch) is where we find ourselves all the time for social stuff. We should probably, and may at some point, move there, but we haven't quite figured out a good park for the dog in that direction. Anyway, we are having part 2 of the birthday this weekend, but we couldn't let it escape without some sort of a celebration. We met for Pho and it was quite delicious. The server was an a-hole, and they didn't have hot coffee with condensed milk - for shame! But, the Pho was lovely and so were some other random things we ate. We headed back to catch the tube only to find that signal failure (which is a bit scary) meant that all trains were going one at a time through some part of the tube and it would be essentially a very slow boat on the way home. We decided that instead of hanging out in the inferno of bad breath and body odor that we would hop a bus. A slower endeavour, but one I appreciate for the sites. 

We picked up a bus that 

we knew would get us halfway home, but decided to "have an adventure" and hop out at a stop we recognised as another connection point. 

Here, we stumbled upon Somerset House - a fortunate discovery of cosy winterwonderland. We popped in for a hot chocolate and a cupcake while we watched iceskaters circle. The birthday cupcake was Tiffany blue with a white bow - very traditional, no? 

Off we went to catch the bus we intended only to find that it had been rerouted (annoyingly we had to call to get this information, thanks TfL). So we walked across the Waterloo Bridge and took in the gorgeous London skyline, or riverscape, or whatever, it was breathtaking. One of those "WE ARE IN LONDON" moments. We got back on track, literally, with a train from just over the bridge to our home station. An epic night without even intending for it to be. I think that is just the way things work here.  Chris clocked 11 miles on his pedometer for the day - who needs a gym?