My day (so far)

Plan was simple: breakfast, shul, wash car, haircut, laundry, and a concert. This plan was actually predicated on moving my car to avoid traffic fines, and leave it in Ealing (where I used to live) because it was safe and free and I wouldn't need to worry about it being towed away.

Naturally, I arrived too late for breakfast, and had to sit through a 2 hour service on an empty stomach. Then I realised I forgot my ticket for the show, so I skipped the (badly needed and long overdue) car wash to go home.

When I tell you I've lived in London for 3 years but can only describe it from underground, believe me. Fortunately, I have sat nav. Unfortunately, the battery died halfway home, and my map book was in the trunk (because I was getting my car washed). I did know how to go, more or less, except for one turn off, which I missed, requiring a 15 mile detour that took over an hour. (I have no idea why traffic was so miserable on a Saturday afternoon.)

So I got the ticket, ate some lunch, and got back on the road. It was against traffic this time, and I arrived 10 minutes early for my hair appointment, so I went to start my laundry. Then I realized my plan was to leave the car there and take the tube to the show, so what was I going to do with a hamper full of folded laundry?!

The decision was made, however, when I looked at a tube map and realized it was a 15 minute drive to the venue, but an hour on the underground! By then it was time for my haircut, so I did that, and then did my laundry. So much for my super efficient multitasking!

The laundromat attendant would not speak to me, but just stared, freaking me out, so I spent most of the next two hours standing on the street corner just to avoid her. I packed the laundry while it was still mildly damp, just to get away from her. I then put it in my trunk for six hours. Should be interesting.

By this point, I really needed a toilet, and if there is one thing rarer than a free parking space in London, its a public toilet. Ice mentioned before that museums are wonderfully handy here, but Ealing is a bit short on those, I'm afraid. But the show was in Shepherd's Bush, right next to the Westfield Mall, the biggest covered mall in Europe, and with plenty of loos! So I drove over there, parking 15 minutes away because it was free.

So I got the shul, laundry, and haircut done, and I went to biggest mall in Europe to use the bathroom, and made it to the show to realise it was the wrong artist. (Anais Mitchell vs Antje Duvekot--anyone could make that mistake.) Anais Mitchell does have a few songs I like, none of which she played. (Fortunately it was only £13. I might have had a drink to help pass the time, but I was driving)

Technically I accomplished almost everything I set out to do, but it took 12 hours, nearly 4 of which were driving, and none of which I enjoyed.

And tomorrow I still have to move the car somewhere safe. (Maybe I'll even get it washed!)