Post WSC trip

November 21: Took a cruise down the river Thames with Ganesh, Jim Kramer and Tim Adamson to the Greenwich Maritime Museum and Observatory. On the way back up the Thames, we split up with Ganesh and me heading off to the 'seedier' side of Soho (which I stumbled upon when I took a wrong turn somewhere) before meeting up again for dinner in Chinatown.

November 22: Did the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Saw Ralph Lobo near the entrance. Headed in just in time for the Yeoman Warder's guided tour and zipped through the whole place and the Crown Jewels exhibition. A quick move to the Tower Bridge up to the walkways and down into the old engine room before hurrying back to rendezvous with Mark Kenas to go to the London Scrabble League session.

November 23: I overslept and missed the comic museum where Mark Kenas was heading (apparently he never found it in the end). So I did the Natural History Museum (the diamond exhibition was closed permanently, what a shame!) and Victoria & Albert Museum.

November 24: Did the Tate Britain (and the Degas exhibition) with Mark Kenas before splitting up. Went back to Forbidden Planet to discover that Terry Pratchet would be there on the 26th to autograph THUD! (alas, I will be in Milton Keynes) before I found myself back at the National Gallery looking forward to doing the Reubens exhibition (which I missed twice due to lack of time and the third time was the charm because the exhibit was excellent) and I caught STOMP! at the Vaudeville Theatre in the evening.

November 25: Spent the morning in the British Library checking out their permanent exhibtions, including the Philaetic Collections (love the Beatles' song manuscripts and the Magna Carta). During lunch, headed for Milton Keynes to stay at the Shins' residence and prepared myself for the Winter Matchplay.

November 26: Went early to the shopping mall with the Shins to do some shopping, can't find the games that I want. Lunch at a fast food joint before settling down to play Scrabble (I am nuts! I should be back in London queueing up for Terry Pratchet's autograph). won my opening match against Ade Adegbesan narrowly before pummelling Wayne Kelly with four bingos after he replied with DOTAGES from his first rack. Immediately lost to Di Dennis and David Sutton before coming back against Roy Miller and overtaking Elie Dangoor after being roughly 100 points down after 5 turns or so. Dinner at the tournament venue was excellent.

November 27: Ding dong in the morning with a win over Mark Kenas (despite missing sPACEMEn through the P for a niner) and a loss to Alastair Richards. Bounced back with wins over Cecil Muscat and Steve Perry before sitting down with Austin Shin for the penultimate game (In the meantime, Pete Finley came over to shake hands with me, which I took after a moment of disorientation). Needless to say, bad racks in the first few turns proved costly despite two bingos on the last turn, EASIESt and ENVIABLE before watching him slam down wIDGEONS as an outbingo to win by 50 or so. So I finished outside the top 5 this time. Head back to London and tended to misc menial duties like laundry, dinner, etc. (All that work for a 190 British rating and not even in the money)

November 28: Visited St. Paul's Cathedral (after buying my ticket to watch 'the Producers!' at Leicester Square), checked out Henry VIII's and Horatio Nelson's tomb. Was surprised to find a few memorials down there. Immediately took my the challenge of climbing the 500+ steps to the top, relaxed at the Whispering Gallery midway but the view was definitely worth it (I rate the view from Tower Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral above that of the London Eye). Walked across the Millenium Bridge to the Tate Modern. Loved the Picassos and the Warhols. Headed back to the Strand to watch the performance. The show was very fast and entertaining, love the humorous highlights, especially the lead character's mimickry of the show (ala Ellen Degeneres Grammys performance).

November 29: Headed out of London with Mark Kenas today on a tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and the Roman Baths at Bath. The Queen was in residence at the castle that day and we could only spend 2 hours before rushing off to Stonehenge to find out that we were not allowed to traipse through it pillars (spoilsports!). Lunch at a inn and we spend 1 hour in the city of Bath before exploring the Roman Baths for an hour when it is dark and torchlit and it was magnificent (my photos don't do much justice, but what do you expect from a compact camera and not an SLR)

November 30: Went down early to Leicester Square and bought my tickets for 'the Producers!' before moving on to Harrods. Was tempted to buy some teddy bears for my nieces until they told me that there were no VAT refunds for offer items. Didn't find any of the games that I want and went off to the British Museum to try and finish the Asian display (which I didn't). Did manage to drop into a small corner shop to buy my games and also found out that Reinier Knizia would be there on the 10th to meet the fans and autograph anything and everything. What a pity for me because my flight is tomorrow.

December 1: Caught the tube to Heathrow and checked in around 9am. Board the flight with Ganesh and spent the next 12 hours watching movies and listening to Jazz and Enya. Tried to better my record at WWTBAM (UK Version), Ganesh got no further than the £8,000 question. I beat the £32,000 9 times and fell at the £500,000 question.

December 2: Back on Malaysian soil, hooboy! the rest is history