The story of the "Oyster" card

Arriving in London on Tuesday morning (at 5am mind you), I took the express train to Paddington (which incidentally, only takes about 15min to get there, but I was so tired at the time that I didn't care). Lugging my oversized luggage around, I finally made my way out of the station and found the hotel. Interestingly, I haven't met anybody who works in the hotel who has a British accent. French, Polish, Romanian, and the doorman, whose accent I haven't worked out yet (and he has the world's worst hairpiece, must try to get photo ). The weather isn't as bad as everybody said it would be. Ha! And those warm jumpers that I bought in Hong Kong are exactly what I needed to stave off the cold.

After checking in and resting a bit, I was full of beans and decided to take a bus/tube trip around the city. Very fun! Marble Arch, Mayfair, Park Lane... I was taking a trip through a Monopoly™ board! I'm sure people must have thought that I was a little strange, walking around and taking in the sites, smiling at strangers that little bit too much. But hey, I didn't care! London - city of splendor! And then it started to rain...

Interestingly, on the tube now there is a kind of smart card called an "Oyster" card, which you just swipe over the turnstiles and it lets you through. You put credit on the card, so it just takes the amount off your total. Kind of like eftpos without the "effort" (haha). No PIN number needed. I was already familiar with this, as they have the exact same card in Hong Kong (they call it an "Octopus" card). It is an Australian company who created the technology, and now are hauling in the cash from all over the world. In Hong Kong however, you don't just use the card on public transport, you can use it almost everywhere! Bakeries, shops, vending machines et al. I haven't confirmed this, but you may even be able to use them in brothels. This in mind, I waltzed into a newsagent on Wednesday night, noting his "Oyster" payment point, and having selected my gum, quietly placed it on the counter, with my "Oyster" card poised.

"39p" said the attendant. I smiled knowingly, and, swiping my card across the payment point uttered confidently: "Oyster Card". The man gave me a look that seemed to imply that I was clearly insane. A conversation then ensued that (hindered by his bad english) went something along the lines of:
"Your balance..."
"Yes, Oyster Card"
"You cannot sir"
"Oh, but I want to pay with my Oyster Card"
"That is your balance sir"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"What?"
"Balance!"
"Huh?"
etc...

Eventually the guy in the line behind me said that these access points are only for checking your balance, and you can't actually buy anything else but transport tickets with them. Sheepishly I pulled out some coins and quietly left the shop. My (over)confidence with my "Oyster" card was dashed. My spirits weren't down for long though, hey, I'm in London after all! And isn't that Big Ben over there? Er... no it isn't actually, it's just a church tower... but you get the idea.

Baaaaa....