More travel neeping

[neadods]

I have a feeling that Fortnum & Mason's website is supposed to overawe me rather than make me snicker: We are still at 181 Piccadilly, just as we have been for nearly 300 years. Green Park and Piccadilly Circus tube stations are equidistant and we are an easy stroll from central London's most salubrious hotels.

I'm getting images of one of those measuring sticks they have outside amusement rides, only this one says "Your IQ must be this high to shop this store." Will they let my lumpy American self into their purveyer-to-royalty presence if I can define equidistant and salubrious?

Libertys of London is much more direct and welcoming: We will be happy to swipe any of these cards as many times as you like; [long list of credit cards, including the rare AmEx]. Foreign money is no headache for us either, we’re happy to accept most currencies at our till points. Just ask any assistant.

In other words: Your wallet must be this fat to shop this store...

A google search for "yarn store: London" netted me a hit on the Libertys Needlework department, which the Libertys website isn't mentioning. Worst case scenario I scoot up to Islington to the yarn store I did find with a website, but I'm probably going to stick my nose into Libertys just because it's *Libertys of London* after all!

The London sightseeing/shopping list has just about gelled, although it is subject to change depending on my cash flow and whatever catches my eye. Currently planned:

MUST GO:
- Victoria & Albert Museum
- Globe Theater
- Waterstones
- Forbidden Planet
- Murder One
- Libertys of London
- Fortnum and Mason
- Covent Garden
- Westminster Abbey

MIGHT GO:
- Harrods
- Tower of London
- London Eye
- Foyles
- Petticoat or Portobello Lane (I know it's tat, it was tat 20 years ago, but overseas tat has a certain allure all the same)

(The Cardiff list, in case anyone wondered, has these musts: Welsh Museum, New Theater, Howell's, Queen Street, with these maybes: Victorian market, Cardiff Castle.)


Obligatory non-travel: Another Knitting Charity

For those who have a little spare time and spare yarn, The Red Scarf Project, 2007 Basically, the Orphan Foundation of America collects scarves through the month of January to give as Valentine presents to foster children as they age out of the system and head to college.
Pdf with sizes and colors here. (Think unisex) Check with your local yarn store; they may be collecting for the cause, as mine is.

Now I know what my knitting project for the trip will be!