Down and Dirty

Well we made it! After 21 hours in the air plus a 3 hour stopover in Singapore, we touched down at Heathrow at 5.15 AM on 20 July. Baggage collection took some time and there was a surprise when there was no Customs service on duty for the 'nothing to declare' group. I must say we are reconsidering our views on the unwarranted expense of 'business class'....It is priceless!We found the 'cattle class' trip demanding.
The bus trip from the airport to the 'Radisson Grafton' took the best part of 50 minutes. We both were reminded of 'Monopoly' as we passed many of the locations featured on the board game. The hotel is centrally located in London on Tottenham Court Rd and is close to Oxford St.It was disappointing to find our rooms would not be available until 11.00AM. We felt rather scruffy as we strolled around the immediate area. Donna is really impressed by the many beautiful and colorful flowers hanging in pots and in window boxes. I am struck by the number of people and the traffic. It is said that London and the UK is one of the most closely populated cities and countries on earth ... it is not hard to see why.
We had a briefing by Merv Hughes (colorful as always) and, passport in hand, collected our tickets to Lord's. It is sad for the 17 people in our group who missed out on tickets in the ballot. Our tickets are probably quite valuable.
Donna is sleeping. I woke after just 3 hours at midnight... still wide awake. Day one of the Test should take our minds off jet lag.