'The Shrimpsons in London'

NICE, France — After flying for more than 3,500 miles, this time crossing the Atlantic, our Delta aircraft B767-400ER (DL 0003) which is now in partnership with Northwest Airlines, touched down Heathrow at around 7:30 a.m. of April 9 after a two-hour delay (again?) in New York (JFK).

Okay lang, but the London brrr was still going down — so galaw-galaw para matunaw. Ang ginawww! After thawing and checking in at Ascott Mayfair at Hill Street, we walked around to look for a place to eat. We all agreed to have our first London lunch at NOBU at Berkeley Street. As usual, the Goddess of Shrimps, Shrimpaktita, possessed me again and I immediately asked for ebi tempura... ooops, ooops... with a back-up order of two more Britishrimps. I really can’t repel a tempura temptation.

When my wishes came, I had a total of five very huge “hip-haps” (hipong hapon) and a bowl of steamy hot rice. All in all, among the five of us (Eileen, Jocas, Jako, Jio and myself), we had a total of 11 HUMONSTROGANTIC shrimps in front of us! Ang lalaki talaga!

Eto pa ang matindi — we even had a common order for everybody — a big bowl of rock shrimps tempura! (Siguro, dala na nga ng hilo at pagod, hindi na namin napansin ang inorder ng bawat isa.)

After wrestling and downing three of those “whales,” I said, “Ang bigat sa tiyan! Busog na ako!”

My son Jako who was also filled up to his neck quipped, “Eh bakit hindi bibigat ‘yan Daddy, ang ibabayad mo d’yan POUNDS!”

Now, if you’re wondering if the Shrimpsons wiped out ebi-rything — of course! Kaya lang, one of the rarest moments happened — no one had dessert.

And to borrow a showbiz kabakyaan, we had to move on — and move we did para mapagpag ang labing-isang higanteng hipon... ooops, ooops — na may kasama pang isang malaking mangkok ng shrimpballs!

First, we walked around Berkeley Square, then to the direction of Picadilly Circus. It was a wet London that day. The gentle drizzle plus the busog and pagod factors made us very sleepy. But it was still very early. So, to fight it off, we hailed a cab and made a brief stop and shop at Harrod’s — yes, to buy briefs.

After crossing two of the largest oceans in the world in less than two weeks, I’ve been humming since then Cliff Richard’s hit “Ocean Brief” — maubusan ka ba naman ng maisusuot sa haba ng viaje! At naglalaba pa ako nung lagay na ‘yun ha. Imagine, we’ve been traveling since March 29!

Kunsabagay, all my briefs are of the “wash, dry overnight and wear” kind (I don’t wear boxers because I am not Pacquiao). Then I thought “LONDON” means, and is short for “wash, dry and wear,” hindi ba? LON-dry (laundry)... then DON (wear)!

O, o... I know, that’s two in a row — pero paciencia na lang at tao lang po... na maraming nakaing hipon.

Then we continued walking — from the stretch of

Knightsbridge to Hyde Park, stopping at some shops and monuments. When we were passing through Berkeley Square once again for home, we thought of just buying some foodstuff for dinner in case somebody gets hungry later. (Ano, kakain pa kayo? ‘Yung tinira nga sa NOBU pang-hanggang breakfast na nga next day eh!) So we had to walk back to the nearest Sainsbury’s located near Picadilly Circus, got the groceries, then returned to the same route back (siguro naman, by this time, “shrimpking” na yung laman ng bituka namin).

By the time we reached our Shrimpheadquarters at around 4:30, ngek! the British sun came through. Ang sabi nga ng mga Briton, “ It is now bright indeed!”

At around 5 p.m., knockout ang The Shrimpsons lahat — definitely made easier by the continuing and varying time lag. But by nine that evening, ewan ko kung ano ang nakain ni Eileen (tinanong ko pa ‘no? Parang ‘di ko alam), she woke us all up and offered the pasta she prepared in our small kitchen. Siempre nahiya naman kami — so, still drowsy and dragging our feet, tumikim kami lahat. After a petty pow-wow, sleeping beauty na naman kami — (Lapse of time... or as Ritchie D’ Horsey would say during our Iskul Bukol and T.O.D.A.S., “Lots of time!” — medyo may konek naman eh) — then we all woke up to meet a charming morning at nine o’clock the next day. Wow, 11 hipon, este 11 hours pala of solid and ngorky sleep! Talagang dog-tired. Or should I say, Philippine pig-tired? You know, double dead-tired!

(To be continued)