The main purpose of my trip was to hand in the dreaded VISA application - having never completed one of these before I wanted to ensure it all went smoothly.
Well that was out the pan before it had even started - I arrived at Weymouth train station on the Thursday evening to catch the 7pm train to London Waterloo - CANCELLED! Due to delays at Waterloo and some issue on the tracks near Winchester all trains were cancelled or delayed until gone 9pm. I was promptly plonked into a taxi to Bournemouth with two other passengers and spent the next hour discussing with the taxi driver all my plans for the coming year - he had some interesting stories himself having been born in China and working there until 10 years ago when he moved to the U.K. By the time we arrived at Bournemouth trains were running again and because we had made some distance in the cab we ended up arriving in London not much later than intended.
So one hurdle overcome now it was all sure to be plain sailing, right? Well it was destined to be, until I chose the day after South Africa's most revered public figure died to travel to the South African embassy. I cannot claim to have a thorough understanding of Nelson Mandela's life and history, although it doesn't take an expert to realise the immense good he did for South Africa and the world in ripping down barriers and preaching forgiveness and acceptance between all people - a sentiment we can all relate to.
Having learned of Mandela's death travelling up to London on the Thursday evening I wasn't sure where this would leave my plans for the weekend given that I knew there would likely be some upheaval at this sad time.
Nevertheless I set out on Friday morning with my resident tour guide-come-friend Paul who escorts me everywhere when I'm in London (being a country bumbkin the city is all a bit daunting for me and much quicker for everyone else if I'm being led rather than left to my own devices!). So we arrived at the embassy in Trafalgar square amidst a maelstrom of news teams and vans and a heck of a lot of paparazzi outside the front doors to the embassy.
It was very moving seeing the turnout of people of all ages, races and creeds coming to pay tribute to such a great man and asides from the incessant hassling from the journalists the majority of people were stood in silent contemplation.
Whilst I would have liked to continue watching these tributes being made I had a job to do and so after walking around the embassy a couple of times we spied a goods entrance door open which I made a bee-line for and was promptly escorted away from - in the few seconds whilst I was being brusquely asked to leave I managed to get in that I merely wanted to hand in my VISA application and was met with the gruff reply of "15 Whitehall, now get out!". In context this is all perfectly understandable and thank God we got a few helpful words out of the bloke! We may have spent a long day waiting outside the embassy had we not.
With a new destination on the agenda I turned to Paul to ask if he knew where Whitehall was - showing how much of a London-a-phobe I really am he replied that it was a mere two minute walk away (luckily for us!) and so we headed off to 15 Whitehall which turned out to be the South African consulate and the destination for any and all VISA enquiries - had the high commission's website stated this address we would have had a much more efficient morning but ce la vie!
So we've made it to the consulate, I've explained why I'm there, given a number and told to wait. So we waited. And waited. And whilst I dreaded that we might be waiting for hours, in actual fact in a relatively short space of time I was called up to the desk and was handing everything over.
And what a lot you have to hand over! Passport, birth certificate, insurance details, medical report, radiology report, letter of acceptance, flight details, passport photos, VISA application, vaccination certificate, ACRO police clearance certificate you get the gist! Oh and to top it off a £600 security deposit which is, from my research, held in the eventuality that should you outstay your VISA and miss your return flight home they can extradite you using your own money - how clever! I am hoping this won't happen in my case and so at least in a year when I return to the U.K. I shall have something to fall back on.
Anyway everything seemed in order, it was all photocopied, stamped and receipted. I was told to report back to the consulate on Friday 20th December to collect my VISA and that if anything was found to be missing they would contact me before then - this was 6 days ago now so fingers crossed all is fine.
As far as planning for my trip goes that was the last major hurdle. I ordered a year's supply of contact lenses the other day
. I've got pretty much everything else. Having had a trial pack today I have come to the firm conclusion that I will NOT be fitting everything into one bag so will have to suck it up and pay the excess for a second piece of hold baggage - oh well, I am packing for a year after all!
The rest of my weekend in London revolved mainly around eating and drinking - from Whitehall we proceeded to walk to Covent Garden, then the South Bank Christmas food festival, then onto the Tate Modern to look at some "art" (call me old-fashioned but my kind of art revolves around paintings and pictures of things rather than abstract conjurings of the mind accompanied by a description of what exactly the blank canvas in front of me is supposed to portray - much to Paul's dismay). Anyway from here we ventured to the Borough Market and enjoyed the delights of Portuguese egg custard tarts and spicy Italian smoked sausages. Then it was a quick train journey to South Kensington and the British Museum where we ogled at a few mummies before returning to Paul's house in New Cross.
Friday evening we ventured out to the O2 arena (formerly the Millennium dome) somewhere I had never been. Well WOW! What a feat of engineering - it is HUGE! We went to the cinema and saw a really bad remake of the film Carrie - really slow to pick up and the finale revolved around lots of blood and then it was over - naff!
Onto the weekend proper then and Saturday morning saw myself and Paul travelling to London Waterloo to meet up with my uni friend Zoe. All three of us were heading to the Natural History Museum to catch up with even more friends (and friends of friends) before going to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards.
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These were as usual very visually appealing with a lot of shots that, as an animal lover, I could appreciate purely for the photographer's perseverance in capturing that perfect shot - such as the guy who spent almost three months camped out in -30 degree C to capture one shot of an Amur leopard! That's dedication!
Saturday evening saw our group reduced to four - myself, Paul, Zoe and another Paul. Off to Chinatown for some food and drinks. After gorging ourselves on aromatic crispy duck and egg fried rice we headed off to an underground bar called Smollensky's - very good cocktails but also with a very steep price of £9 a drink! I was once more reminded of my country bumbkin-ness and the fact that a drink for less than a tenner in London is good going.
Sunday morning came about quite slowly after the late night before and so by midday we didn't have too much time before I needed to be catching my train home. We decided to walk off the effects of the night before and headed to one of a few green places in London - Nunhead cemetery. Despite my initial reservations about spending my afternoon walking around a cemetery it turned out to be an informative afternoon as we tagged along on a free tour of the cemetery looking at all the ancient trees (nerdy or what?!).
By the time this was over it was back to the house, pack my bag and head off home. I got back to Dorset having had a very eventful and fun few days in London.
Now it's just a waiting game until the VISA arrives.
The countdown is officially on - 34 days until I fly out!
More to come folks.
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