Week 72 in London

Week 72: 15 - 21 August 2016

We returned to London on Tuesday, where the weather was a lot milder than Greece.

Arriving at Stansted Airport, there seemed to have been some type of miracle at the immigration desk. Usually when we arrive back at a London airport, we have to wait in line for at least half an hour. On this occasion we got in and there were only a few people in front, and we were through the other side within five minutes.

Collecting our baggage also went relatively smoothly. It all seemed too good to be true. Once we reached the train, we realised that it was.

Amongst poor organisation and miscommunication, we boarded a train and sat for around half an hour, and were then advised that trains were suspended and to get off for a rail replacement bus. We left the station and went out to the bus terminal but they weren't allowing train ticket holders on buses. Once we were on the bus, we were taken a short way up the road to get back on the train. All that time saved at immigration lost in trying to get a connection home.

Wednesday evening was the launch event of London's Autumn Season for Roslyn, at the Science Museum in South Kensington. The event hosted some key contenders such as new mayor Sadiq Khan and a live sketching by Quentin Blake, illustrator of Roald Dahl's books. The purpose of the event was to launch the Autumn Season campaign, highlighting the great cultural exhibitions taking place across the capital this autumn.

On Friday evening Roslyn went for drinks after work at The George at Borough Markets, for a combined farewell of two colleagues.

Planning for our trip to Morocco the following week, where modest clothes were advised and we were anticipating sweltering heat, we headed out to Westfield Stratford on Saturday in search of some more appropriate threads.

On Saturday evening we retraced the streets of East London that infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper once walked along with our Contiki friend Shaun and three of his comrades, Jasmine, Caity and Luke. One of the streets we walked down was also used in the Harry Potter movies as Diagon Alley.



Our guide explained that back in the times of Jack the Ripper, these areas of London were home to society's poorest and most dangerous, and were not places you'd want to be after dark. Although a lot has surely changed in the last 100+ years, even in 2016 many of these streets still felt creepy and eerie. The only people that seemed to be around were other people on Jack the Ripper tours, and yet we were in Zone 1 Central London on a Saturday night.

The approximate two hour walking tour took us past both the locations of the last known sightings of some of the victims as well as where they were discovered. There were actual police photographs from the 1800s displayed to us, showing the victims.

Although the identity of the killer remains a mystery ("Jack the Ripper" seems to be a name coined by a newspaper at the time), our guide had an image composed by modern technology, showing what they believe the killer probably looked like. The tour concluded revealing an unnerving similarity to someone only too well known in Australia.

The first thing Brendan said upon seeing the picture was "that looks like Ivan Milat". As it turned out, Shaun's friend Luke also saw similarities.

We ended the evening going for curry down Brick Lane.

Highlights:

- Returned from Greece
- Smooth sailing through immigration leads to transport travesty
- London's Autumn Season campaign launch at the Science Museum for Roslyn
- Roslyn at drinks for colleagues farewell
- Morocco shopping at Westfield Stratford
- Jack the Ripper tour
- Saw actual police photographs from the cases
- Walked down the lane way used in the Harry Potter movies for Diagon Alley
- Dinner on Brick Lane