whirlwind

Wow what a week this is turning out to be.

I popped over to London for just one night, a whirlwind 24 hour trip. Left Oslo Tuesday morning at 10:30 and left London the next morning at 10:30. that gave me about 4 hours to shop, a few hours in the evening to hang out with my uber cool cousin Edward and his delightful friend Hannah, and then up in the morning and back to the airport and home.

In that time I:

• Bought three skirts, two sweaters and a cardigan at UniQlo
• Bought a dress at COS
• Checked out the H&M on Regent street, damn they get all the GOOD stuff, we get the crap stuff here in Oslo.
  
• Got fitted for new bras at Rigby and Peller. 34E bitches! Karla got's some TATA's! Also, wow, the most expensive bras EVER.
• Ran up and down Picadilly, Bond Street, Regent Street, went in circles in St James, and had no time to eat
• Had 2 Starbucks mochas, for a little American moment
  
• Met my cousin in the city and then ended up at a pub in Leadenhall market.
• Had too many beers and not enough food
  
• Crashed in me sweet hotel room in Half Moon street, where I was upgraded to an 'Executive Suite" that I only wish I had more time in.
• Met the Prince of Norway.

OK, ok, so MEETING the prince of Norway is a bit of an overstatement, but he WAS on my flight back to Oslo the next morning. Unfortunately, they boarded our flight early (I was wondering why they were telling us to go to the gate an hour before take off), which really pissed me off as I lost a lot of my shopping at the airport time, and Terminal Three at Heathrow has great shopping. I had to run to get the plane and didn't manage to get any Pret sandwiches, or hit any of the stores except a quick run through Boots. I had no idea why I was on the plane and just sitting there, hot and sweaty after sprinting, when a car drove up to the plane and there was a bit of a hubbub, and then this very formally dressed military guy came on and stood at attention. I, and the rest of the plane, were all craning our necks to see what was what and then...there was Prince Haakon of Norway, getting on to my flight and taking seat 1A. Nice to know he takes public transport, even if it IS first class. He was smaller than I expected, but very sort of delicate, like, finely made.

Anyhow, it was a whirlwind adventure trip. It wasn't really enough time, I REALLY wanted fish and chips and to get to a Waitrose to get some sausages and stuff, and did not manage it. But it was great to get some shopping time in and to see my cousin and the lovely Hannah. London, is, I think, the best place to shop in the world. I am always a bit shocked, when I go there, when I realize the lack of shopping opportunities in Norway compared to other places. London just has it ALL.

Then today I had to do my first client presentation. It went fairly well, there are some things I'd like to change, but for a first effort (when they had WAY more technical knowledge than me and we all knew it AND I had never done a powerpoint presentation either) I held my own pretty well. I'm glad it's over and that hurdle is jumped. Now I can slip into mosey until my holiday starts in November.