London - Day 1

I am travelling for a month starting now, 10 days of which I am in the UK with family, friends and all by myself. Following are the events of the days I spend here, kind of a travelogue. There are tons of images that will be available for view as soon as I am done uploading them.
Day 1(Saturday 21st Aug 04) :
Landed at LHR at 7:05 am. Bid goodbye to Neel ( my flight friend) after exchanging no.s and stood in the long immigration queue at LHR. After entry clearance, collected bag and called Dipal to wake her up. Then freshened up at the airport lounge and realized LHR seriously lacks dust bins. Was astounded when on asking the ticket guy for one, was told that you have to carry your trash with you and that there is no way it can be disposed off. This was also the case in the toilets. After taking all my trash in a plastic bag, I set out to catch the Piccadilly Line to Holborn in Central London where I was to meet my friend Dipal.
Loved my first ride by the London tube. The train travels underground and above ground as well, atleast on this line. Some of my immediate realisations in the tube were its smaller and more intimate scale as compared to the NYC subway. Since I use the NYC subway everyday, the comparison was but natural. Also; like London the tube had a royal feel to it as well. Spotlessly clean and cosy, it felt like any of those conventional Brit houses that I was about to visit on my trip. Completely upholstered in velvet, with bright coloured floral patterns of blue and red, with a matching exterior was a fantastic start to the day. The fare on it however was'nt as pleasing, as I tried converting pounds into dollars.
Reached Holborn and waited for Dipal outside the tube station. Saw my first London red double-decker and was pleased beyond imagination. Felt seriously doped in the head as I was on NY time 2 am, in London where it was 8 am. Met Dipal and had a lousy cup of tea (so not English the tea was) some place and then took the first ride in the d-d bus. Reached her place, cosy little house, met Atrey (didn’t hug him as it makes him uncomfortable) and sat chatting over chai for the next 4 hours. Too little time, too much to catch up on. After a while, left with them to go to their office (the great Zaha's sweat shop as it is called) and hung out there checking emails etc. Called Binny who was in London with her sister for the day and planned to meet her at Oxford Street that afternoon. Called Varun and planned to hook up for lunch the next day i.e. Sunday.Atrey dropped me to the bus stop at Clarkenwell and I took the bus to Oxford St. There, hooked up with Binny and her sis Prina outside Marks and Spencer. Shopped and walked around a bit, ate some stuff and chilled out all along. Was a nice sunny day and the street was crowded. After walking around, came back to Dipal & Atrey's office and then went home with them. Cooked all together, daal, sabji and had a good dinner. Slept off finally and literally died on the bed due to jet lag.