I arrive at Heathrow 1:30 in the afternoon. Try to get Heathrow Express into Paddington, but line is closed due to fatal wreck the previous week. Instead take the tube (London Underground), a one-hour trip with lots of stops, but direct to Holburn.

Find hotel easily, very convenient. New hotel (The Holburn) with good (not cheap, but sensible) rate of 110 pounds, Internet special. The lobby is clean and well-lit, anonymous in an efficient, business-hotel sort of way (I could be anywhere in the world -- a suburb of Atlanta or the center of Yokohama -- these newish hotel lobbies all look the same).

My room looks out over a busy street filled with taxi cabs, double- deck buses, motorcycles and cars. I'm on the 4th floor. The phone works, the plumbing makes sense, the tilework in the bath is first- rate and there are fresh flowers on the small desk by the window. It occurs to me that I should have reserved two nights here and only one at the more expensive (and as yet unknown) Howard Hotel, where I have a business meeting in two days.

I get unpacked for the night, then go out for a quick bite to eat at an italian restaurant near Covent Garden. The food is not cheap, coming to $29 for a plate of unfortunate pasta and a glass of red wine. But the restaurant sits on a busy pedestrian corner -- the view outside is interesting -- and I have a good book. I can't really complain.

Walking through and around Covent Garden and nearby Soho, I quicky see that this is the hedonist center of the city. The streets are packed with mostly young, mostly drunk (or becoming drunk) Londoners all in search of fun. Covent Garden is reasonably tame, with chain stores (Gap et al) lining the tiled plazas, while Soho offers more seedy entertainments such as strip clubs, porn theatres and shops selling rubber and vinyl "accessories". I find a travel bookstore were I buy a copy of Donald Richie's "Tokyo" and a good London map. The Richie book is a good pick -- he invokes examples of London frequently in describing Tokyo's unique urban structure. (In just a two days here I can see that that there are many similarities. London and Tokyo are both cities with many points of focus, but no definable center.)

Back to the hotel to make a phone call home. After hanging up I consider getting out to see London's Saturday nightlife but I fall asleep on the bed instead, fully clothed and looking out the window at the darkened building across the way.