London Bethel

 Doug had arranged for us to visit his sister at the London Bethel, and we decided to go on Wednesday.  We were a tad slow in the morning, and finally left around 10:20.  We had to take three different tube trains, and the last one was delayed.  We were trying to get there for lunch, but the last one didn't even leave until 11:53.  The train arrived a few minutes later, and we still had a mile walk up a steep road to get there.  We powerwalked up the hill in our suits, and when we got to the top we saw Bethelites streaming to the main buildings from all directions.  This was a good sign, hopefully lunch hadn't started yet.  We blended into the flow, and cruised into the main entrance.  (Actually we went in through the entrance that only Bethelites can use. Guess we already look the part. -Eric)  We met Doug's sister Gwen in the entrance, where she informed us lunch wasn't till 12:15.  We could breathe a little easier, and signed in at the front desk.  We sat down to lunch, which was English roast beef, homemade chips(generous cut french fries to you Americans :P), salad, and grapes.  We ended up sitting right next to one of the sister we were supposed to look for, the fleshly sister of the sister from Ealing we sat in front of at convention in Sweden.  We can't get away from this family!  After lunch Gwen showed us her work in the book repair/bindery shop, which was very interesting.  Then we walked across the street to the IBSA House for the official tour.  We saw most departments in the building, including the 2 presses that are crammed into the little space they have.  After that we walked across the street once again, to meet a few of Eric's friends and friends of friends.  One of them, Jonathan, works in the metalwork shop, and was able to give us a tour of the whole maintenance department.  (Private tours are the best. Where we got to go isn't even on the official tour guide and most people aren't even allowed back there. -Eric)  They have many many project planned, and desperately need help.  They had just finished a 5 day concrete pour, and one of the managing brothers we talked to was disappointed when he found out I had concrete experience from RBC, they seriously would have used us.  That was definitely an opportunity missed, but I guess the lesson learned is make yourself available if you will be somewhere for an extended time.  We left Bethel late in the afternoon, and spent the rest of the day looking at suits on Oxford Street.  They actually have suits here made for slender guys, what a concept!  We found out the hard way that everything closes at 8 as the gate came down right in front us at the last store we wanted to go to.  (I had already bought everything I wanted to for the day. So i found great humor in the store closing as we were walking up to it. -Eric)  With nothing left to do we found a subway stop and came home, once again tired from a long day.