Jamie and John in Brixton

We didn't spend the whole weekend in Brixton, but that was the scene of our first adventurous encounter with the Bus System of London. Saturday afternoon we went to The Ritzy Cinema in Brixton to see Brokeback Mountain. We took the bus. The trip there was well-planned and well-executed. The trip home, however, was a different story. We exited the theatre around 6PM and it was dark. We crossed to the side of the street that was opposite the side where we had exited our bus. Our bus arrived. It was a double-decker and I was thrilled! We went upstairs and sat in the front- we had a great view! About ten minutes into our ride we began to think we may have been going the wrong way. Five minutes later, we saw a bus that said "Clapham Common" going in the other direction. Silly us! We had forgotten that the bus system here makes no sense at all! We had to disembark and wait fifteen minutes in the cold for our bus- only to go back the way we came. Yes, it was a pain in the butt, but we learned to always check the map and make sure you are at the correct lettered bus stop and we got to know Brixton quite well. After that, we met Americans Myke and Drew and Australian Steve, all of whom work for Y&R in some capacity) at one of the oldest pubs in London, The Lamb and Flag. That was cool- it was sort of hidden away in Covent Garden and you could tell it was really old. They have a great tradition that we think we should get McKennas to start. When one of their regulars leaves London, they get a plaque with their name on it somewhere on the bar. We should totally have a plaque at McKennas! After a few drinks, we headed to China Town for some food and more beer. We stayed out until almost 1:00! And while the tube stops running around midnight, there's a bus that goes straight from Covent Garden to Clapham, so we hopped on that and rode all the way home (on the second tier of course!)

And for those of you keeping track: we finally got the screws for our kitchen table! AND we went to The Royal Oak Friday night. This is the place we were hoping would be our place. It was cool enough and worth another go, but we weren't blown away. So, the search continues...

Finally, our Ocean Shipment is scheduled to arrive in the UK today. That means we should have our bed and couch within the week. This is good news because I'm getting about ready to slash our air mattress into tiny bits! Keep your fingers crossed that all of our stuff made it and nothing extra went to storage- we'll keep you posted...