When we arrived at Victoria Station to meet up with 99, we didn’t see her right away. We walked around for a little while until, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of red. Way down on the other end of the block was 99 in her famous red hat! Thank goodness for that hat or I might never have found her! She was also wearing an impossibly cute red polka-dotted skirt. I, on the other hand, looked like a bum. Except in England “bum” means an entirely different thing…

We had a fabulous time, full of hugs and giggles and swear words. We walked around a lot, causing poor 99’s feet to be sore (heels + cobbles = evil) so we stopped in at this shoe store and 99 bought some sensible flats (she says they’re like orthopedic shoes, but I promise, they’re cuter than that). We had Cornish pasties (not to be confused with these pasties), saw St. Paul’s Cathedral, had citron presses at a French cafe, visited the Museum of London, hit the going-out-of-business sale at Lillywhites (fruitiest name for a sporting goods store ever), wandered around Covent Garden, had dinner at a pub, sat in a park that turned out to be adjacent to Buckingham Palace, cursed at the guard in front of the palace (I know the queen heard it)... and that’s just a mere sampling of the fun we had.

99 is as witty and smart and adorable in person as she is on 43T. She had me in fits of giggles most of the day. I was so glad I was able to meet her. (And so glad to know, once and for all, that’s she’s not a middle aged balding man.)