"Sit back, relax and enjoy"

I had been looking forward to my trip to London for our UK Cafepress meet up.

Because of my procrastination I missed out on cheap train tickets so looked up Coach prices and managed to get a funfare on the National Express for £10 return. I couldn't turn down that bargain, However it meant a 4 hour bus journey there and back - A round trip of 8 hours.

I set off from home at 7am (After being up since 5) so as I didn't need to rush to get to the bus station. It was kind of peaceful walking through town at that time. I didn't realise there would be so many other people catching the bus at that time. I guess that's how they get people to ride the coach at stupid o clock by giving out these funfares. Sometimes if you are lucky you can get one for £1 if you are early enough.
When the bus came I helped a young mum get her pushchair on and got on to find a good seat. Apparently there is a new law now that seatbelts have to be worn by everyone on the bus. At the front there is some full seatbelts for children and the young mum was given a booster seat for her little boy. The rest of the seats only have lap belts so at least I didn't get choked. Before we got going, the driver did his little talk about fire drill and all safety stuff and ended with "Sit back, relax and enjoy"

I put my earphones in and listened to Will Young's album for most of the journey and played Tetris on my DS. For about an hour the little boy I mentioned earlier seemed to be having a paddy where he was just crying and squealing so I turned my earphones up to try and drown it out but I never quite managed it.

When we stopped at Milton keynes there was some kind of altercation between 2 passengers waiting to get on. I don't know if they knew each other but the man got on and security told the woman she wasn't allowed on. I couldn't hear much of what was happening so I don't know what the problem was.

For the last hour or so of the journey I listened to the Hairspray soundtrack although the only thing is I can't stop myself singing along and dancing in my seat so the person next to me must have thought I was a bit strange.

The first stop the bus makes in the London area is Golder's Green. This wastes 15 minutes as the bus has to go in and right round in a circle to get to the bay and then has to go right round the station again to get out. quite a few people got off here and a couple of people got on.

We reached London a little early and pulled into Victoria station about 12pm. My legs were a bit numb and stiff and I found it hard to walk at first but I soon found my balance and the next thing was to get to Victoria tube station and find my way to Soho.

I got the tube to Oxford circus and made my way down Oxford street. I don't know what it is but I always get kind of awestruck with London town and all the big stores on Oxford street. I am also always sneakily celeb watching but the only problem is the big city is all so fast paced that you kind of get carried away. I was trying to get the batteries in my camera so I could take pictures but I couldn't get the damn camera to work! I managed to move out of the main line of traffic to the side so I could stop and try and sort it out but it wasn't having it. I can't believe I seemed to have paid 5 quid for a packet of duff batteries. I am in London town and I can't take any photos :(

When I got onto Tottenham court road I realised I didn't really know where to go. I hadn't looked at the map thoroughly enough to have any idea of which direction I was going. I started walking up Tottenham court road and then realised that I actually have Google Maps on my phone so I quickly got the phone and started up Google maps. I was in fact walking the wrong way so I turned round and went back.

I had never been to Soho before. It always seemed like one of those magical places where all the celebs hang out and I was really excited but as I made my way to the restaurant I was looking around and I didn't see any celebs. Not any that I recognised anyway.

I was a bit late getting to the restaurant to be honest I had thought we were meeting at 1.30pm and it was actually 1pm but I don't think they minded too much.

The restaurant we were meeting at was like no other I have been to. It is called Inamo and is totally State of the Art.

On the table there is a little touch pad like you get on a laptop then a menu with a finger cursor. You have 4 icons to choose from:- Drinks, Food, Table, Extras, and your order.

You could also change the ambiance. There were several "wallpapers to chooses from or you could set the random option which changes every 2 minutes.

The touch pad was really sensitive and I kept accidentally clicking the order button but you have the choice to delete before you confirm the order. This was good as I was on a very limited budget. I was only going to order a main dish. The others were having starters and main.

I settled on the Pomegranate Duck which sounded delicious. I also thought I would spoil myself with a beer too. You can see your order there in front of you on the table.

The others had received their food and were tucking in and mine seemed to be taking ages. I didn't know if that was because it was a main dish but once the rest of the party had almost finished their food, the Hostess came over and told us that the computers had gone down and there was no more food. I was devastated! I had come all this way to this wonderful 21st century restaurant and not getting to eat! The Hostess promised to try and sort it out and within minutes my food arrived.

It was worth waiting for as the Duck was just melt in the mouth and my mouth is watering now even thinking about it.
One thing I didn't do though was attempt the use of the chopsticks. Adam called me a peasant but I knew that It would be safer for me to just ask for a knife and fork.

As you can see I polished off the whole lot.

Once I had finished eating there was no reason to stick around if they couldn't order anything so Adam requested the bill and we moved on. I had noticed while we were in the restaurant that it was right opposite Lee Stafford's Salon so I had to get a picture of it. In fact I was so obsessed with getting a photo of the salon that I forgot to take any photos of the actual restaurant. Typical of me really.

We were meeting up with a representative of another POD company who are starting up an operation in this country having become a big success in Australia. We reached the pub and Adam ordered a round of drinks while we stood around awkwardly and wondered who the person we were meeting might be. We found him pretty easily as it turns out and after all the introductions were made Ed went on to tell us all about the site and what they do and what they want to do.

I sat and listened as Ed talked and Adam and the others asked questions.
1 drawback for me was the level of music in the pub. As you know I have a tendency to be deaf as a post anyway and I was finding hard to follow the conversation. It had been the same in the restaurant for me too which is why I hardly said anything as I couldn't follow what was going on. I don't understand why they have to have the music so loud.

The website is Redbubble.com they started off as a community for Artists with a social networking slant and have added the opportunity for Artists to sell their work on t-shirts as well as prints and canvass and cards. Ed brought along some samples of shirts and cards and a whole load of stickers which we were able to take away.

The excitement and enthusiasm as Ed discussed the site was very catching and I felt really excited about getting involved with it. I know I am not a dedicated artist like most of their members but I can still sell the idea to others who are. They seem to have a great ethos too. It is more about promoting the artists and making money for them and spreading the word than actually making money for themselves.

At 5 Ed and Ashley left and I realised that I shouldn't be too long either as I wanted to make sure I got on my coach. I asked Kip and her hubby for the best way to get back to Victoria and I said my goodbyes and left.

Of course I totally forgot the directions but I got to Tottenham ct road OK. I should have got myself to Oxford Circus really as I had to get there anyway but as I had bought a day pass for the tube It wasn't really a problem.

I looked on the board and found I had to get on the Central line so I went through a door that said Central line...BIG MISTAKE! this took me down a spiralling staircase that seemed to go on for ever, down and down and down. Then when I finally reached the bottom it was round some corridors and then up some more stairs and then round some more corridors and up an escalator. As I reached the platform, a train was just leaving but the platform was still packed.
The next train came in a minute and was also packed but I managed to squeeze myself inside. I was only going 1 stop anyway.

When I got off at Oxford street I jumped on the Victoria line to get the tube to Victoria.

I made it to the coach station in plenty of time with half an hour to wait.
At 6.15 there was an announcement that our bus was late coming in. At 6.30 it came in and we all started towards the coach but were told that as the driver had to have a 45 minute break the coach wouldn't be going out now until 7.15pm. What a nightmare! That means I wouldn't get back to derby until 11.20pm.
By the time we finally got on the coach at 7.30pm my feet were hurting and my legs and I was absolutely knackered and ready to get home. I didn't think about where I was sitting and ended up in one of the seats with the full seat belt. A young Korean lad sat down next to me and told me I was wearing his LOL. I swapped over and managed to put the cross over bit behind me and sat with the lap bit on.

I listened to Will Young and Hairspray all the way home dozing off occasionally. The driver did manage to make up some time and we arrived back in derby as the Cathedral clock struck 11pm.
I got myself a kebab and jumped in a cab back home.