Good, bad, then good again in London
"Yesterday" morning (in quotes, because time gets weird with timezone switches) started in a promising way, with Jeff dropping me at the airport. Two hours later, British Airways had launched a vehicle the size of my house into the sky and I was ripping towards London. Woo! I actually managed to get a decent amount of sleep on the plane and arrived, happy and mostly awake, at noon "this morning" in London.
I found my charming hotel (.4 mile from Paddington station, which is a quick jaunt by train from Heathrow) pretty easily, checked in, showered and then went down to ask where I could get a light afternoon snack and coffee. The B&B owner directed me to a coffee shop down the road and I went and got an espresso and sandwich.
This is where it gets not so good. Unfortunately, I didn't notice a sign in the shop warning about handbag thieves in the area and didn't keep a close eye on my purse, which was hanging on the back of my chair. At some point, there was a kid crawling around near my feet (and near my bag), that I frowned at, but didn't do much about. And I stepped away from my table for a moment to grab sugar, as the place felt/looked about as safe as my local Seattle Starbucks and seemed to be populated by locals rather than tourists.
I'm not sure when it happened, but as I left the shop, I walked out onto the street and reached in my purse to pull out my map. Realizing that my purse seemed surprisingly light, I felt around and discovered my wallet was gone. I ran back to the store, looked around my table (thinking I might have dropped it), and asked the guy at the counter if I happened to leave it up there or if someone turned it in. He seemed singularly uninterested in my plight and only grudgingly took my name and phone number for my hotel in case someone found it. Given my memory of events there, I think it's likely the wallet was either lifted by the child while he was crawling around, or possibly very rapidly by someone I didn't see when I grabbed sugar (I don't remember anyone passing me as I returned with sugar, though, and they would have had to go past me to get out). I feel really foolish; I know that tourist areas often have problems with pickpockets and I should have been more careful to keep my purse on my lap at all times. It's hard for me to be perpetually paranoid, though getting burned has certainly helped.
Although I lost my ATM card and two of my credit cards, I was wearing a money belt with a third credit card and 20 pounds. Unfortunately, ATM cards are by far the easiest way to get cash here. Fortunately, my passport, now my only form of ID as my driver's license was in the wallet, was not taken. I'm now a bit paranoid about where to carry my one and only working credit card (in my money belt where I can't reach it? Or in my purse where it's usable, but at risk?) - but on Monday, I can go pick up a temporary replacement of my AmEx card at their office in London, which will help my peace of mind.
After lunch, I met up with Chris and Camille, and it was really nice to see some friendly faces! While they were out, they had gotten tickets for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, so this evening we went out to Tralfagar square. While there, we ate at an Italian restaurant, where we sat with three really nice English women who were visiting from Brighton. After dinner, we saw the show -- it was AMAZING. I've seen the show done in a community theatre before, but never at a place with full tricked out props and costumes. (They had a singing and walking camel prop, a huge sphinx that had moving and lit-up eyes, and a giant extending platform for Joseph to stand on at the end - just to name a few.) The singers' voices were amazing, the dances fantastic, and the songs so much fun.
So I'm ending this evening on a high note.
I found my charming hotel (.4 mile from Paddington station, which is a quick jaunt by train from Heathrow) pretty easily, checked in, showered and then went down to ask where I could get a light afternoon snack and coffee. The B&B owner directed me to a coffee shop down the road and I went and got an espresso and sandwich.
This is where it gets not so good. Unfortunately, I didn't notice a sign in the shop warning about handbag thieves in the area and didn't keep a close eye on my purse, which was hanging on the back of my chair. At some point, there was a kid crawling around near my feet (and near my bag), that I frowned at, but didn't do much about. And I stepped away from my table for a moment to grab sugar, as the place felt/looked about as safe as my local Seattle Starbucks and seemed to be populated by locals rather than tourists.
I'm not sure when it happened, but as I left the shop, I walked out onto the street and reached in my purse to pull out my map. Realizing that my purse seemed surprisingly light, I felt around and discovered my wallet was gone. I ran back to the store, looked around my table (thinking I might have dropped it), and asked the guy at the counter if I happened to leave it up there or if someone turned it in. He seemed singularly uninterested in my plight and only grudgingly took my name and phone number for my hotel in case someone found it. Given my memory of events there, I think it's likely the wallet was either lifted by the child while he was crawling around, or possibly very rapidly by someone I didn't see when I grabbed sugar (I don't remember anyone passing me as I returned with sugar, though, and they would have had to go past me to get out). I feel really foolish; I know that tourist areas often have problems with pickpockets and I should have been more careful to keep my purse on my lap at all times. It's hard for me to be perpetually paranoid, though getting burned has certainly helped.
Although I lost my ATM card and two of my credit cards, I was wearing a money belt with a third credit card and 20 pounds. Unfortunately, ATM cards are by far the easiest way to get cash here. Fortunately, my passport, now my only form of ID as my driver's license was in the wallet, was not taken. I'm now a bit paranoid about where to carry my one and only working credit card (in my money belt where I can't reach it? Or in my purse where it's usable, but at risk?) - but on Monday, I can go pick up a temporary replacement of my AmEx card at their office in London, which will help my peace of mind.
After lunch, I met up with Chris and Camille, and it was really nice to see some friendly faces! While they were out, they had gotten tickets for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, so this evening we went out to Tralfagar square. While there, we ate at an Italian restaurant, where we sat with three really nice English women who were visiting from Brighton. After dinner, we saw the show -- it was AMAZING. I've seen the show done in a community theatre before, but never at a place with full tricked out props and costumes. (They had a singing and walking camel prop, a huge sphinx that had moving and lit-up eyes, and a giant extending platform for Joseph to stand on at the end - just to name a few.) The singers' voices were amazing, the dances fantastic, and the songs so much fun.
So I'm ending this evening on a high note.