Why is it called an Oyster card?

So yesterday, my buddy picked me up at 7 am, after I'd already dropped off my little buddy Charlie with his foster parents, Auntie K and Uncle T. I was a weeping mess at that point, and the wonderdog didn't even want to give me a doggie kiss goodbye. I know he'll miss me. He's in good hands though, so I'm not going to think about it.

Except. Boy are there some good walks around here.


Okay, so I get to LAX early, after paying $8 for two carts to move about 100 feet from the curb to check in, and even then, I relied on this nice guy who helped me get my 5 bags (and one carry-on) to the counter. I go through security, which was actually snaking out the door and along the drop-off area, and then wonder what to do for the next two hours. No free internet at LAX, oh no. It's $7.99 for a day pass. So no posting there. I bought a $13 sandwich (with free chips and a soda!) and sat down to eat. No appetite. Yeah. Might have thought about that before blowing the cash, but oh well.

Not going to talk about my five-hour, and then seven-hour flights, or how we landed in terminal C at 9:47, and my next flight was in terminal A, boarding at 9:55, or even how those two terminals seemed to be 7 miles apart. Nope. I flew here, and it was good.


Y's dad and her brother's girlfriend P picked me up at Heathrow, and it turns out I'd just missed Posh Spice walking through. Ah well, there's more famous folks to see in London, right?

Got in, and was completely wiped out, but knew I needed to stay awake until dark; and besides, I'd been invited for dinner at Y's dad's house. It wouldn't do to miss it because I was snoozing. H. (Y's dad) had really stocked the fridge and larder well for me too. Pate, cheese, milk, juice, cookies, pasta with all kinds of sauce, and even three kinds of meat. Wow. I think I only got milk, juice, bread and a couple of yogurts for Y. I'm set for a while.

I went for a walk, down Blossom Lane and to Lavender Hill Road (cool, cool names, and there's so many more).

I walked down to the Barclay's bank, exchanged $150 for 83 pounds, and got a little depressed at the rate. I bought some "Mansize" kleenex, and some weird candies with "guess which one you'll get" written on the outside of it. Oh, and some super delicious yogurt; Chocolate praline fudge or something like that. It was dessert, but it was yogurt, so it's healthy, right?

Around 4 I thought it would be a good idea to take a shower, but could not figure out how to get hot water. Here, you have to turn on the hot water heater about 30 minutes before you want it, but it still wasn't working. I washed my hair and the important parts with cold water (now there's a way to wake up), and P, who is Y's brother's girlfriend, picked me up to go to dinner.

It was quite a spread. Both of Y's sisters were there, plus aforementioned brother and girlfriend, plus three other friends of H. We sat in the beautiful backyard, and ate all kinds of meat, and fresh veggies and fruit. We had a good time discussing the use of the word "quite." In England, if you say something is "quite good," you actually mean it was "just okay." It's not something you'd say to compliment someone on his or her cooking skills. Then we talked about "homely." Here it means "cozy" or "welcoming" or something like that, never "ugly" or "plain."

Got back home around 9:30 and we all had another go at trying to fix the water heater, but no luck. I was fading fast, so we left it, and I toddled off to bed. Slept like a zombie.


I never did get around to explaining the Oyster card now, did I?