On Monday of this week myself and my grandfather set off early in the morning for London. Travelling on a relatively new Pendolino train, we arrived in Euston at around midday, and proceeded to the British museum after checking in at the nearby Travel Inn. After looking around there we went to some bookshops and then met Annie (sister) and my mother for tea followed by Blood Brothers. The next day we met a lawyer, talked, and then left that afternoon.

That’s the heavily condensed version, of course. What we did was actually far more detailed, but as I know this will start to ramble very quickly I need to be sure that the important stuff is here for people who just want a quick going over. Unfortuantely, photographs show me too much to be displayed. So, we set off at about seven thirty for the train, got it, and sat back for the three hour journey. It was ridiculusly busy, but we were lucky enough to have reserved seats. On arrival we checked in to the Travel Inn much earlier than we expected, fortunately, and were able to leave our bags. However, the room was just a double when we wanted a twin and so we had to ask to be moved, getting the correct one shortly afterwards. Then we headed to the British Museum.

There was a lot to see there. It really is a facinating place, with the new glass roof over a large part of the building and a very interesting library in the middle. After that we got on the tube and headed for the bookshops. I always find the Underground so much fun, it’s very exciting. It’s one of the best parts of going to London After wandering around said shops, we met up with Annie and Mummy for tea at a nice restaurant called med kitchen, and then we set off to see Blood Brothers at the very nearby Pheonix Theatre. It was a good play, and the music was well done, but I had heard it before. I notice that there was a rather big effect on Annie rather than me.

The next day we had arranged to meet up with Patrick Lewis, a barrister my grandparents know through friends of their family. He took us to the Central Criminal Court, and then to the Court of Appeal, and we realised how inaccurate the TV series really are. Barristers are calm in their cross-examination which is great. After this we travelled to the Middle Temple Inn of Court for lunch, which was a site to behold. The prices were reasonable and the staff were friendly (despite the fact I needed a tie - we had great fun trying to put it on), and the food was good. It was in an ornate pannelled dining hall. After that we saw the other Inns and Patrick’s chambers.

The main aspect here was the asking of many, many questions about a possible career in law for me. The main thing that came out of it was that in Patrick’s opinion it is far better for me to do a degree in something that I am interested in rather than law and then convert it with an additional one year course. All of this, of course, costs money - especially with the introduction of tuition fees for University, which I believe should be free as it’s not fair to bar people from education. I would use the Computer Science degree to earn the said money. So, there we are. I learned a heck of a lot about his job which is difficult to document here, but I still feel that it is something I want to do. The other issue is that I would need to have an area to specialise in, although obviously that’s not something that I need to think about yet. I’d want something where I could do the most socialist good.

So, a very successful trip. I’m glad that we took it.