After enduring the nightmarish Flight with the Undead Arm, and a three hour bus ride, I arrived at the Wembley Plaza Hotel, my home for the next four days.

It always takes a little while to adjust to the United Kingdom, things are a tad different here. For example, the elevators talk, announcing things like doors opening and closing. The elevator in the Wembley is a bit hyper for my taste, constantly reminding passengers in a cheerful female voice, “Lift going up… lift going up… lift going up.” Every floor, just in case you weren’t sure.

I don’t mind as much when the lift says it is ‘going down’…

Another thing that constantly scares me is crossing the street. Seriously. Cars in London drive on the left (wrong) side. I’m always afraid I am going to look to the right, step out into the street and get blasted by a speeding micro-car I never even saw. Splat goes the Frenchy!

I guess that must happen quite a bit, because in London they have painted helpful signs on the roads.

Jolly good!

Another thing about the United Kingdom that takes a while to get used to is how polite everything is. Here are a few actual signs:

To me, as an ‘Ugly American’ or ‘Septic Yank’ as we’ve been called, it’s almost scary how nice they are. I’m used to signs that simply say, “Elevator busted. Take the stairs, ya fat chump!”

As polite as the signs may be, the bouncers at most pubs aren’t. For whatever reason, I’ve had a hell of a time getting into a pub to spend some money and quaff a few pints in the past. Hopefully this time will be different.

Decided to be adventurous and take the ‘Tube’ into Central London. I was told it would take about a half hour to get there. I grabbed my friend Abi and a Tube map, and set off.

That should be easy to follow, no?

After some confusion, (not due in any part to the excellent map) we made it to Central London. And found a pub, called Shakespeare’s Head, that welcomed us right in.

I was never much of a Shakespeare fan, until I went into the Shakespeare’s Head Pub. Great job, Shakespeare!

After a nice, cold Guinness, it was time to find some dinner. We attempted to eat at a restaurant called ‘Tiger Tiger’, but the bouncer practically chased us out. Some things will never change.

Thai restaurants apparently enjoy paying customers, so we had a great meal of Pad Thai.

After dinner, we wandered around London for a while. I took some pictures that didn’t come out very well. I will return tonight to try again.

And that pretty much sums up Day One. Tomorrow, we start setting up for RAW and Smackdown.

Author: frenchy