Wednesday, July 16
I walked down to Morrison’s to get groceries. There are some interesting shops in that alcove.

I worked on my t&p quite a bit today. I’ve done 17 hours in the last 2 days.

Thursday, July 17
Ron took me down to the overground station to fill up my Oyster card, but I still had £30 on it, so I didn’t need to top it off. He left, to go to the Regis and work.

As I was walking home, I slipped off my shoe on the uneven sidewalk. I heard a crack, like bones. I stood there and prayed that it was a sprain, rather than a break and that the crack was just my arthritis.

I limped home. It hurt quite a lot. I iced it for about an hour.

Then I decided that I was going to go to the British Museum despite my foot hurting because that is what I had said I would do and Ron would think I was a wimp if I didn’t.

It was quite swollen, so I wrapped it in a scarf and wore my short boots. They were more comfortable than flats on my foot.

I walked about .5 mile—very slowly—and caught the 91 going to the British Museum. I had just passed the British Library when I got a text from Ron saying that he was on the way home… I ended up getting off the bus and going back to the flat.

He asked me if I was crazy, going to the museum with my foot all messed up.

He bought two fans to help make the flat cooler. Thank goodness! It is so hot. (I know it’s only about 81, but inside is about 10 degrees hotter.)

I went to bed early and slept a lot.

Friday, July 18
Ron went by to pick up his shirts at the dry cleaners and they’d lost one.

We went down to Morrison’s to find teriyaki as none of the three smaller stores I tried earlier had it.

We also went shopping for Ron some short-sleeved shirts. He bought one light blue one at Marks and Spencer. It was so hot in there, even though we went early, that we just went home after that.

We also went by the 99p store. We found two space guns, but nothing like what we originally wanted.

I made stir fry today for dinner. It was good. Ron even liked it. I made fried sticky rice.

He went to the Maker Space tonight and got some help with his costume.

Saturday, July 19
We went back to the 99p store and bought thread. We also stopped at the fabric shop and Ron found silver material. He needs to get his space costume fixed.

Ron had a lot of trouble threading his needles. He broke his threader. I pulled out my sewing kit. That didn’t help. He kept losing his stitches, as he was stitching a single thread without any knots. He got very frustrated.

We went around town to the costume shops. Thank goodness Mad World, which was very far away, had fans. I bought one, even though it was £7. There wasn’t much there in terms of numbers of costumes and very little to purchase. I did buy a light up space gun though. We now have 3 to choose from.

We also took the bus to Shoreditch to go to Retro Vintage. Ron was not happy when we finally got there and I barely looked at stuff. They were very expensive for second hand clothes and had very few in my size.

I worked on my t&p for 5 hours today. Ron thought that was plenty.

We ate at Benets on Brick Lane while we were out. We had a nutella crepe with marshmallows and a coconut milkshake (British milkshake).

Sunday, July 20
We started out to go to Mountain Warehouse, down near The Strand, because Ron needed a pair of shorts.

I suggested we eat lunch on the way and we ended up eating at a Mediterranean place. I ordered an omelette, which was quite good, despite looking terrible. Ron had the Greek chicken. It was apparently incredible. Oh, and I had fresh squeezed orange juice, a whole big glass, that tasted like you were sucking the juice right out of the orange yourself.

After that we continued down Holloway.

However, as we were almost to Old Holloway Station, we passed Vivien’s of Holloway. We went in. I tried on several dresses and bought an off-white halter top dress covered in cherries, single, double, and quadruple, with no leaves, one leaf, or two leaves.

We didn’t want to carry the dress around all day, so we took a bus back to the flat.

Then we decided to catch a different bus into town. We ended up on The Strand and Ron went into the place that is known for being a bigger Radio Shack, but for electronics only.

You can see Lyceum Theater from that corner.

Then we walked up to Mountain Warehouse. Ron bought a pair of shorts. We went next door and the cheapest shorts were £40. Ron did buy a shirt there, though. He’s been looking for nice, short sleeve shirts. This looked very good.

Then we walked around and around Covent Gardens. There were way too many people. You couldn’t see much and the shops (like Burberry’s) are out of my price range.

We left and there was a TKMaxx and other shops, but we didn’t go to them.

We decided we would go to the other Mad World Costume Shop. However, when we finally found it, it turned out to now be closed on Sundays.

Ron looked for a place to eat dinner and found Wahaca. It’s supposed to be the best Mexican food in London. They have several kinds of anejo tequilas (among others). They even had food I could eat—at least 3 different things. Yay!

After that we caught the tube home. Ron suggested catching a bus for the two stops to the house, but I thought I could make it.

I did, but by the end I was wincing in pain every step. Should have taken the bus.

Monday, July 21
Having overdone it yesterday, I decided that today I would just hang out in the flat all day. That is what I did.

We got up late, 10 am. Ron ordered us lunch from La Selecta about noon; then he went to get it. When he arrived they told him that they had seen the excellent review he gave them and so they discounted his meal. The food was delicious, though. I had the pita bread and hummus. He had the Greek chicken again.

Ron was waiting for his package from Lady Ada and for the delivery of groceries.

The grocery delivery was a bit odd as they sent us Vinto’s instead of DP Zero. Nothing alike, except for carbonation. We sent the Vinto’s back.

He got the package from Lady Ada. He asked for two 1-meter strips and they sent one 2-meter strip. He said it was fine, though. He’s going to use it for his costume belt, so it will light up and be cool.

I dyed my hair.

We may have gone for a walk in the evening, but I don’t think so.

Ron did set an alarm to get up at a reasonable time Tuesday morning (8 am).

Tuesday, July 22
I got up early and did the dishes. Ron got up when the alarm went off.

Ron wanted to get needles and red shoes for our Friday night date today. I had bought bus tour tickets, but those are good for six months. So, we ended up doing both. Well, I did the bus tours.

This morning he headed out to Starbucks or Nero (though he ended up at McDonald’s, which also had wifi and better chairs, he said).

I thought we were going to meet at 1 for lunch, but he thought we weren’t going to meet till dinner time.

I took the Original Tour yellow (person giving commentary) all the way round and then the red (similar sites but with recordings). The recordings were better than Edinburgh’s recordings, but I still got off after 4 or 5 stops to ride the Thames River cruise by City Cruises. It was a 35 minute cruise and quite nice—even though it was hot and sunny.

I thought I was going to be late, so told Ron that and he left at the time we had eventually decided on as a compromise (3 pm). I got to Trafalgar Square at that time, despite having to walk and gotten lost, because I caught a regular bus back to the square.

Because I then had half an hour, I went in the National Gallery and saw some Boticelli paintings and some religious paintings that I have pictures of in my iBooks.

Went back outside to wait for Ron and saw him wandering around the square. He had texted and asked where I was, but the phone hadn’t beeped (or I didn’t hear it).

We walked to Covent Garden to shop. It was less crowded than Sunday and we went in the Apple Store.

Nothing had red shoes in my size, so we caught the tube to Oxford Circus and then walked around a bit more. We found a China Town area which had lots of fans, from £1-5 for the same style, depending on the shops. I didn’t buy any more fans, though I thought about it.

We ended up at Debenham’s and my foot was about to give out. They had a reddish pair of shoes that Ron kind of liked and we bought them. I didn’t realize they cost £80! I hope they last forever.

We walked through the back of the shop and out the door to Meat Liquor, a restaurant with “real American style burgers and fries.” They were. I had the naked grilled corn with my meat burger. Then I had the peanut butter chocolate sundae. It was EXCELLENT. Very expensive cans of soda pop, though, £3.50 each.

Got home worn out and went right to sleep.