I've always hated London. I've only been about a half dozen times, so it's not really fair for me to be so negative about it. But I really didn't like the place any time I'd been before. So I wasn't exactly excited to be there.
My plane got in late. About 11:00 PM. Then I had to catch the train out about 30 minutes away to get to the house that had been so GRACIOUSLY offered up by a friend while she was out of town. Customs officers at Gatwick were. Jerks. As expected. They wanted me to tell them my life story, even though I had a onward ticket out of London less than 3 days later. Why are you here? How do you know your friends? How do you have money? Why aren't you married yet? Does your mother approve of you traveling? Ok well maybe not THAT bad, but close.
Caroline was waiting for me at Rachel's house to give me the keys and let me in. I was already running a half hour behind because of the customs whore. Then. The trains weren't running after midnight for some reason, so I followed some nice random chick who told me she'd help me get on a bus (another hour). I opted for a cab and was really grateful when I showed up at Rachel's and Caroline came bounding out to greet me (though I'm not sure why, 1.5 hours late at almost 1 AM).
Rachel had sent me instructions on what she needed me to do while she was gone. "Feed Monkey" was one of the item lists - giving detailed instructions on what monkey was to eat, where monkey slept (in bed with me), to make sure monkey didn't get out the front door and "wreak havoc on the neighbors." I talked to Fran, Antonio and Vicky about it before I left. We had decided it was likely one of those man-sized orangutangs that rip people's faces off when they're not used to you. I recalled a story on Opera about some chick who doesn't have a face or arms anymore because she was housesitting a friend's monkey.
Great.
Rachel's apartment was amazing. It's absolutely adorable, HUGE, and in a great location. She had an amazingly comfortable bed, fantastically speedy wi-fi (oh YA! This is what high-speed internet feels like!) and Sky! I was in heaven. As I walked into the apartment, Caroline pointed some things out, showed me how to unlock/lock the doors, where the rooms were and... introduced me to Monkey. The cat. The tiny black less than 5 lb miniature cat.
I was so releived. Caroline left. I attached my phone to the wi-fi. I watched an episode of friends. I gave Monkey a treat (just for being a cat), changed clothes and dove into Rachel's squishy amazing bed.
I woke up at 1 PM the next day.