Week 80 in London - Roslyn heads to Sin City

Week 80: 10 – 16 October 2016

A few months earlier Roslyn had received confirmation that she would be going to Las Vegas for the IMEX America exhibition. Once she’d found out that there was an optional 5 kilometre run for the exhibitors, Roslyn set herself the goal that she was going to complete this (hence our recent interest in jogging).

Working from home on Tuesday, she got in some final London practise at lunchtime.

On Saturday morning, it was time for Roslyn to fly out with her near 40 kilograms of luggage. Roslyn would be spending the week working in Las Vegas and we’d arranged to then both meet up in New York on Friday night. Her luggage therefore comprised partly work gear, partly her clothing, and partly Brendan’s clothing (his flight didn’t include sufficient luggage). Heading back from the drop off, Brendan’s infrequent use of the trains and skimming over of the signboards resulted in him ending up on the wrong train.

Whilst Roslyn was in the air, Brendan headed over to the tourist mecca of Covent Garden to visit the London Transport Museum. The museum is housed in a Grade II heritage listed former flower market hall and explores the story of London’s transport network over history.

There he learnt that the Thames Tunnel, which today forms part of the London Overground network, was the world’s first tunnel to be built beneath a river. London’s very first railway, a steam railway, commenced operation in 1836. By 1900 there were significantly more trains running and more than 100,000 people had lost their homes to demolition for the railways. Staggeringly, these people were not provided with any alternative options nor rehomed because the railway companies had no legal obligation to do so.

Construction began on London's first tube, the Metropolitan Railway, in 1854 and passenger transportation commenced in 1863. This heralded the opening of the world’s first underground railway. The routes of the former Metropolitan Railway now make up various lines of the current London Underground system.

With all of the escalators in some of the stations now, it is easy to forget just how deep underground you actually are. Apparently the tube lines throughout London are anywhere from 6 to 58 meters beneath the ground.

Roslyn arrived in Las Vegas on Saturday, where the temperature was a steamy 32°C and the time was eight hours behind London. On Sunday, she enjoyed a day to relax and explore. Walking up The Strip, she visited the Fashion Show Mall and for lunch went to In-N-Out Burger and ordered from the ironically famous secret menu. There was a team gathering for dinner at Smith & Wollensky steak house, to give everyone a chance to get together prior to running the trade stall in the coming days.

On Sunday Brendan headed over to Maltby Street Markets in East London, to try out doughnuts that rate number 21 on Time Out’s ‘101 things to do in London’. The Maltby Street Markets are in a bit of a strange spot, down a narrow alley way between council housing estates, and are brimming with an array of stalls serving street food.

Next he headed across to Greenwich to the land-mounted Cutty Sark ship, via the automated DLR (Docklands Light Railway). The novelty of travelling on this driverless service was an added bonus, given that because of where this train line is located Brendan had only been on it once before. Back in February this year, Roslyn had a breakfast event on board the impressive ship, a former sea hauler of tea.

Having seen and heard the advertising for “London’s largest car dealership” (appropriately named Cargiant) and with few other plans for the afternoon, Brendan headed over to the other side of the city. Cargiant is like an IKEA for second hand vehicles with thousands of cars parked row upon row either in large warehouses or out on the forecourt. There are no salespeople wandering around, instead it seems that you note down the stock number of the car you’re interested in and then go to the sales office where you join a line of countless other people. Eventually you'd be given the keys so that you can unlock the car, sit in it and start the engine. Appearances suggest that should you wish to actually take it for a drive, that’s a whole other process.

His journey back home was again plagued by a misinterpretation of train schedules, for the second time this weekend ending up on the wrong branch of the line.

Highlights for the week:

- Roslyn’s final London-based practise jog before the IMEX run

- Roslyn departed for Las Vegas

- Brendan got lost on the trains

- London Transport Museum
- Roslyn explored The Strip
- Fashion Show Mall
- In-N-Out Burger

- Maltby Street Markets

- Doughnuts from St John Bakery

- Journeyed on the driverless DLR

- Cutty Sark

- Cargiant

- Brendan got lost on the trains again