Wed, 27 Nov 2002

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 10:38 GMT 28/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

Nothing goes according to plan ( No photos )
(Continued from Lincolnshire)
You didn't really expect us to stick to all that planning, did you?
We set out with good intentions yesterday, motorway-ing our way around to London - note to self - make sure we do it in the middle of the day all the time. There was almost nobody on the M11 and M25, making it very smooth going all the way into Beckenham.
As Margaret said, we didn't expect to arrive back in London to sunshine - the weather is great again today, a pretty normal top of twelve or so degrees.
So Liz and wandered down to the local Internet Cafe to check out places to stay in Reading. We found the one recommended to us by Liz's friends there, got the details, lots of maps on how to get there, and came back to the B&B (the Goodwood, where we have stayed twice before) to ring them up.
After the phone had eaten plenty of our money, it finally relented and allowed us to talk to the recommended Inn in Reading. "Sorry, no rooms available tonight, and when there are, they cost £89 per room". Wow. That's a lot of money. So, we thought about it for a while, involving a trip down to the pub to think a little more over a pint or two. The outcome of that was that last night we stayed in the Goodwood, in their only spare room - a single room with a fold-out bed. The cost was somewhat more reasonable, at £25 for the room (not each) - that's the price of a hostel! So, we're going to stay here again tonight. When you are on a good thing, ...
So it looks like we may not end up in Reading after all. We wanted to be a little out of London, but in the end it may work out for the better:

• There's plenty more to do in London - the Lonely Planet doesn't even mention Reading
• Save £18 pounds or so train fare each day if I had to travel to London for work (which it seems is going to be the case)
• Wider variety of work choices for both of us
• Liz's nursing was proving quite difficult to organise in Reading - here she can go and yell directly at the Nursing Registration people and ask why a completely qualified nurse can't work anywhere when they are crying out for more nurses.

(customised)