LONDON (V)

The scheduled time of departure of the flight from Stansted Airport to Girona was 17:40, but we had to go there early because of the proceedings. Then, we had time until 12:30 before getting on the bus to the airport. It was the last day and we had to make the most of it.

First of all we savoured the last English breakfast: I had filled the dish again but that time I had dispensed with sausages and I made up my mind to try some baked beans. They are sweeter than I had expected, but good after all. After the last bite of toast with butter I had a drunk of apple juice and we went to our room in order to bring the cases down. We looked through the room and, apparently, we had picked up everything. I say apparently because we hadn’t looked into the wardrobe, where I had left my jacket, and I didn’t realize that it was missing until we had given the keys of the room to the receptionist. At least there was something positive; I would practise English asking for the key. I went fast to the room and, luckily, the cleaning lady hadn’t arrived there yet (she was into the adjoining room).



The destination was free choice and we chose the Portobello Market, in Nothing Hill. We got the tube and it seemed like we had been doing it all our life. The market of Portobello Road is very famous, but it takes place on Saturdays and it was Tuesday. Then, apart from shops, there were only a few fruit street markets, but even so it is a good place to visit. It was raining but it was fine and it lasted a few moments. One of the first shops we visited was very unusual because they sold all kinds of metallic plates. I was thunderstruck when I saw the price of clothes and shoes in the market: everything is extremely cheap. I saw a pair of trainers that, in Spain, cost about 60€ and there cost 20 pounds. I can’t believe it yet. It’s a shame I didn’t have space in my case.

After the walk we seized the opportunity to shoot a scene of Portobello Road for our video project and we went to the station to get on the tube. We had moved far away from the centre of the city and the tube station was different than others: it wasn’t underground but outdoors. We were going to lose a lot of time with the journey, but we were still able to visit another place: King’s Cross railway station.



King’s Cross is very famous because it’s a very big station, but it’s also one of the places where the story of Harry Potter, a best-seller novel well-known around the world, takes place. The novel has been adapted for cinema and one of the scenes was shot in the station. Of course now it isn’t decorated like in the film, but there’s one place which has been designed to satisfy the fans of the story, specifically the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, which represents the connection between the normal world and the world of magic. We knew the existence of that place, but we didn’t know where it was. At first, when we entered the station we saw the first four platforms and we thought that we were in the wrong place, it was very different than we had seen in the film. But it changed with the platforms 5-8, the ceiling was so familiar. We went excited to the next platforms but there was a disappointing problem: we needed a ticket to enter. We desperately tried to use our travel cards and, miraculously, they worked! A few meters separated us from the Platform 9 but, when we reached it, there was nothing between platforms 9 and 10, no sign of Platform 9-3/4. The hike had been in vane. And there was another problem; the machine didn’t accept the cards to get out from the station. We had to explain to the guards that what had happened and, luckily, they allowed us to leave. While we were thinking how to return to the hotel, we saw an orange poster addressed to those who were looking for Platform 9-3/4! There was a map explaining its location into the station and we finally found it. It was a brick wall with a sign and half shopping trolley stuck on the wall, perfect for a photo.



There was a restaurant between our hotel and the nearest tube station. The owners were from Spain and they also knew Catalan. I would have preferred to eat something typical, but we didn’t have time and I chose beef with pepper sauce.

We arrived on time at the hotel (teachers had been penalising us these days with fifty cents per person if we were late) and the bus came to pick us up. I was so tired and I slept the entire journey, but when I woke up I realized that the temperature of the bus unbearably high. Those British are nuts.

Once into the airport, we had to weigh our case because it couldn’t weigh more than ten kilos. I didn’t have that problem because at the beginning of the trip I had about eight kilos and I had bought only two postcards and a pin. My problem wasn’t a matter of weight but a matter of space. Some people had bought many things and they had to wear most of them because they exceeded the then kilos. Then we had to go through the scanner. The luggage check hadn’t been very strict in Spain, but that time was very different. I left the case on a conveyor belt and I took off my clock, the mobile phone and the wallet, but I forgot the belt, which has a metallic clasp, and I noticed it too late. The alarm rung and the security guard inspected me. It had been very awkward. After that we were in a floor with loads of shops and, there, there was no limit of weight. I hadn’t planned to buy anything, but I went to a library to have a look and I asked for The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter novels, and I found it. It’s a thin book with five short stories. I haven’t read it yet but I’ll do it when I have time. Videogames were also very cheap there, but I didn’t allow myself to be swept away by that.



We were leaving England; the trip was coming to its end, stepping on English floor for the last time (at least, for the moment) and getting onto the plane, with a one-hour flight ahead and some miles on the bus. When we arrived in Spain I thought “we are home”: there was no fitted carped and people were standing in the middle of the steps of escalators. That was the end of an unforgettable trip, with a unique company in an extraordinary city. It was worth and I would repeat it again without any doubt.