Exactly 1:00pm GMT (Gravel Mean Time)

Straddling the second most important imaginary line in the world.

Standing on imaginary lines rarely gets more exciting than this. Today when I woke up, I could see immediately that the weather was too nice to finish up the paper that's still due. With London weather a crap shoot every day, you've got to take the good ones when they come, so that's exactly what I did. I hopped the tube out to Canary Wharf and then switched to the DLR to get to Cutty Sark station.

Cutty Sark is the name of the last great clipper ship of the era of clipper ships, when they continued to outpace steamships as long as they had their sails billowing. Launched in 1869, the Cutty Sark's record stood (unsurpassed at the time) at 362 miles (564km) in 24 hours. Unfortunately for me, though it is now in permanent dry dock at the Greenwich pier, it is currently under hoardings for restoration.

I walked through the grounds of the Naval Academy and then up the expansive grassy hill leading up to the Royal Observatory. Like everyone else, my destination was the exact demarcation of the prime meridian, the Earth's second most important imaginary line. It was back in 1884 that a good chunk of the world officially recognized this arbitrary line as the line of 0 longitude, and we've never looked back. I can't say that standing on it was exactly a thrill, but that accompanied by the huge parklands and quaint High Street area made for a nice outing on a sunny afternoon.

This evening I met up with a Canadian friend of mine teaching here in London. We emerged from the underground in the area of St. Christopher's House, where the after-work crowd was enjoying the nice weather by milling around and chatting outside of the bars, pubs and restaurants - apparently a very London thing to do. We continued on down to Marylebone High Street before veering off and finding a good yet deserted Indian restaurant for dinner. Being the only people in the place, service was impeccable, and the food was pretty good, too.

Heading home, I opted for a nice 30 minute walk instead of using the tube. While I do have an Oyster card and it has been convenient, I still seem to be spending a shocking amount on public transit... something like $12 a day. Londoners don't seem to think twice about taking the tube for just one stop or two (at $3 a ride), so I made an effort to reverse that trend tonight.