London conversation

Aslak and I catch the 8:29 to Paris from Besançon TGV, a modernistic concrete and aluminium extrusion in the countryside outside Besançon. The train is air conditioned, but there is no catering due to a strike. I doze.

The RER is not air conditioned, but it’s only two stops for Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord. Aslak then enters the technological minefield - his ticket is a pdf attachment to an email, but he there’s no data coming over the 4G network.

While I proceed through security and passport control, he heads outside to commune with the network without the barriers of walls and roof. It doesn’t improve the situation, but he does find the six digit receipt code in his TripIt app & that’s enough to print a ticket at the SNCF booth.

We part ways at St Pancras. It’s much cooler in London, but I grasp the opportunity for a small siesta anyway.

I walk from Portland Place to Old Street to meet Gáspár. We plan out chapter 4 and then head for Hoxton Square for dinner. Cocotte only has spare tables outdoors, which becomes less comfortable as the meal progresses. I dig out my NDC hoody, while Gáspár avails himself of the rug provided.

A whisky at the hip bar next door finishes the evening. Gáspár retreats to his Holiday Inn Express to recuperate for his course tomorrow, I jump the 55 to Oxford Circus.