The Cathay Pacific flight from HongKong to London was great. Early start but 11 hour daytime flight. Arrived around 2:45pm. Immigration and customs took an hour. Tube direct to Russell Square then walked a few hundred metres to our hotel in Bedford Place near the British Museum. The Thanet Hotel is is least expensive hotel on the street. The other hotels are all owned by the same chain and charge premium London prices. The Thanet Hotel is a family run hotel. No lift and our room was on the top floor. Fortunately the young man on reception was strong and helped us with our bags.

A long travel day and jet lag took its toll. We went out for a quick meal at KFC, bought some water, and diet cola beverage and went to bed.

I had stayed at a hotel in Bedford Place in 1982 in my first trip to the UK and Europe. The area was not as upmarket as it is now. The hotel was basic but it was the only hotel on the street with a bar. It was also a hotel of commonwealth visitors. I recall people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Fiji, Rhodesia, South Africa and Northern Ireland. We were all working people in our late 20s or 30s and in London on holidays or working. I remember my first pint of English beer and I found it quite tasty served cool not cold. American lager beer always seemed too cold, tasteless and gassy for me. I also recall a couple from Brixton who were visiting a friend at the hotel. I made the mistake of saying it was my first trip to Europe. I was told that the UK was not Europe, and that only Americans would say “my first trip.” They travelled to the USA the previous year and considered it a once in a lifetime trip, so from their perspective overseas travel was unique and not likely to be repeated. Despite my youthful faux pas the couple were very generous and I couldn’t buy a beer the entire evening.

Next morning we went to the British Museum and gazed upon the Elgin marbles, Egyptian antiquities and Roman Britain collections. I had been to museum in 1982 and Cath had spent lunchtimes there in 1986 when she was working nearby. We both commented on how very much improved the exhibits were from the eighties.

I have a particular interest in ancient Ugarit, a wealthy city-state in the late Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean about 10 kms north of what is today Latakia, Syria. It was found in the 1920s and the archaeological work was done by the French and Belgians. Ugarit developed it’s own cuneiform language and there have been thousands of clay tablets found at Ugarit documenting a wide range of activities. So, I was struck that in the ancient Levantine exhibit in the British Museum there was no mention or reference to Ugarit. Museums obviously stress areas where their compatriots have contributed to the collection, but to not even acknowledge a major site seems odd. Perhaps the old British-French animosities/rivalries were being played out in the British Museum exhibit.

In the evening we met Lynn and Iqbal for a drink, and later Cath and I had dinner at the same pub. I had ham, egg, chips and peas. Yep, British cuisine hasn’t improved since 1982. Welcome to jolly old England.