I arrived at Gatwick International Airport about 11. As the aeroplane was landing it began raining to remind me of the essence of the weather of London.
After claiming my baggage, I went on to buy tickets to London St Pancras. about £12. well, not cheap! more expensive than the train from Tehran to Mashhad.
The train was to arrive at 11:19 and it actually came at 11:18:30! This was the first sign that I have entered a country where time matters!
It was almost empty (and it remained so untill when I got off at St Pancras), scattered newspapers on some seats and a father who had fun teaching english grammer to his young girl; the problem was why should one use different words when talking about plural things! the girl reasoned `two oranges are still made of orange' which seemed logical to me. she was clever!
The train passed through lovely, green and unspoiled areas reminding me of North of Iran with the trash removed. It also passed over the Thames and I observed what I have been seeing for ten years in my English books! London's Eye!
At the St Pancras I wanted to use escalators but I noticed a warning sign `Baggages strictly forbidden' something like this. OK, if it was Iran there was no problem, but it is England and I had to find the lifts but I could not, meanwhile, I saw people (mostly Chineese) who were behaving iranian! so I came back to use escalators.
Then I wandered for a while in London to find the Ramsay Hall where my room is located. On my way I had to ask several people about the address; usually they did not know but they were really nice and willing to help. they usually said that they do not know but they can look it up on the map. Finally I found the hall and went on to take my room. It seemed the people in the reception were all students and it was interesting for me. A nice girl in the reception asked for details and she knew that I have won a scholarship for mathematics, etc. She then accompanied me to my room and I began to open my baggages and prepare for the weeks to come.
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