London 2017

Much as I love our beautiful Island, I felt a desperate need to leave it behind for a few days, so the teenager and I packed our bags and headed to the big smoke. After a straightforward journey (despite misreading the red jet timetable) we arrived in Camberwell, ambled to my sister's house through big piles of London Plane leaves (of course we kicked through them!) and spent a pleasant evening eating lovely food and watching 'Keeping Mum' on DVD (recommended).

Next day the sister had to go to work, so the teenager and I bravely jumped on a bus on our own (not sure where we had to get off), and beaded for the Horniman Museum. It was somewhere we had wanted to visit for ages, and we imagined it would be less crowded than the Kensington museums. It was, but was still full of shrieking toddlers; we couldn't really work out why you would take a toddler to a museum as they don't stand still long enough to take anything in! Maybe we're just old farts. However, the main galleries of the museum were fascinating, and full of Victorian examples of taxidermy showing creatures from all around the world. There were also fossils and skeletons. The centrepiece was a huge walrus which had been stuffed by a taxidermist who had never seen one, and thus got rid of all the wrinkles and bumps! Spectacular nonetheless. A major curiosity was an example of a 'merman', brought home by a gullible sailor, and made up from wood, paper and fish scales. The stuff of nightmares! We didn't go to see any of the extra exhibitions as the card machine wasn't working and we had no cash. We bought baguettes at the café (tasty) and afterwards we mooched around the gardens, also full of screaming children. Pleasant though. Worth a visit.

On day 2 we hopped on the number 40 bus and hopped off again at London Bridge. We headed towards St Paul's Cathedral, and found Cafe 101 at the Salvation Army International HQ in Great Victoria Street, next to the Millennium Bridge. After a cheap and tasty lunch we crossed the Millennium Bridge, pausing to admire the views up and down the river and also to admire the teeny tiny pieces of art painted on the floor, on chewing gum. Sweet! We turned left at the end and mooched along the south bank of the Thames, passing the Globe Theatre and, later, the replica of the Golden Hinde, through Hay's Galleria, before coming to Tower Bridge, opposite the Tower of London. Here we decided to do the tourist thing properly and bought tickets for the 'Tower Bridge Experience' (student discount too!). We got in a lift to the top of the north tower, watched a short film about the construction of the bridge, then proceeded along the walkway and stood on the reinforced glass floor gazing at the traffic and river below. Thrilling! After completing both walkways we descended to street level, found the gift shop and then explored the Engineering exhibit (lots of engines). Once finished we bimbled back along the river to London Bridge and caught the bus home. Lovely, bimbly day!

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Engine at Tower Bridge

Globe Theatre 

London Markets and Museum

Needed a change of scene so the teenager and I hopped on a ferry, a bus and several trains and went to London town for a few days to visit family. We arrived at tea time, had my nephew’s delicious pasta carbonara, and watched ‘The Heat’ in the evening; I’d not seen this before, to the shock of the family, and found it hilarious. Good choice.

The next day, the teenager, her cousin and I hopped on a bus and headed to the British Museum for a day of culture. We toured the Greek, Roman and Egyptian galleries, and whizzed through the Assyrian section (seen it before), admiring ancient pottery, coinage, statuary and sarcophagi. I hadn’t been to the Greek pottery section since I was a schoolgirl studying Classics so wanted to go again. It wasn’t quite as exciting as I remembered but was interesting nonetheless. When we got to the Egyptian Mummy section we found it rather crowded; clearly people enjoy looking at dead bodies! The sarcophagi here were impressive, with beautiful decorations. Our final visit was to the Sutton Hoo collection; this was a collection of treasures found in an Anglo-Saxon boat burial in Suffolk (I think that’s right!), and was rather magnificent. I had read about it before, and was excited to view the real thing. We had a lovely day, and didn’t manage to see everything in the Museum so may have to go back.

In the evening we went to Dulwich and had a meal at Jaflong Indian restaurant. This was delicious, and made all of us happy! We had a variety of dishes, and tried each other’s too, and were all stuffed and sated by the end. Highly recommended.

The following day became a market pilgrimage. We began by getting the bus to Borough Market, and wandering around. Oh my goodness, I have never seen so much cheese under one roof! We pottered about, trying free samples of cheese, pickles, and anything else available, bought freshly made cheese and olive bread sticks, and generally got over excited about all the lovely food. Oh, we also found an Isle of Wight Tomato stall  so bought some of those. Very crowded, but good fun. Afterwards we caught a bus to London Bridge and walked across it, past Pudding Lane, and on to Leadenhall Market; the shops were closed over the weekend as most customers are city workers. However, we could wander around inside and admire the architecture. Lots of photographs were taken by the majority of the party. We stopped at the pub there for a drink and then caught a bus towards home. Some of us hopped off at Elephant and Castle to explore the Chinese supermarket there (lots of goodies!), then wandered along the road, ending up at East Street market; this was the polar opposite of Borough Market, and had loads of stalls selling fruit and veg, clothing, accessories, meat, fish, etc. for extremely reasonable prices. I’d definitely go there if I lived locally. In the evening we ate homemade pizza (delish) and chocolate cheesecake (also delish) and watched 'Untouchable' together. This is a magnificent film and I suggest you watch it (I don't say that often!).

We were a bit more laid back on the final day; most people toddled off to Church, teenager remained in bed and I pottered about. This included a stroll around the lovely Ruskin Park. This park is popular with the locals and I spent time dodging children on bikes, joggers and dogs on their morning walk. There was also a community vegetable garden, tennis courts, skateboard ramps, basketball hoops, and a paddling pool, not to mention plenty of  mature Horse Chestnut trees, large expanses of grass, a pond, a flower labyrinth in the making, autumn cyclamen peeping through the leaf litter, a café and a bandstand. Oh, and grey squirrels (very tame). Lots of them. We're not keen on them on the Island as we only have the native red squirrels, but the London greys were tolerable in context! I also got to kick through piles of windblown leaves on the way to and from the park which made me very happy.  We finished the visit with a delicious Sunday roast cooked by my sister, and then travelled home by trains, buses and a ferry. What a lovely time we had!

Roof detail, British Museum

Cheese stall, Borough Market

Entrance to Leadenhall Market

Ruskin Park fungi

Ruskin Park squirrel



London baby!

It's half term so teenager and I have escaped the Island and gone to visit family in London. I woke up this morning to glorious February sunshine so went for a brisk walk round the block admiring the architecture. Later on, when the groceries had been delivered, big sister and I went for a stomp around Ruskin Park; this is a lovely green space near Denmark Hill station, with trees, a bandstand, a community vegetable garden, playground, tennis courts, and paddling pool (now empty due to funding cuts). The park was ablaze with crocuses, daffodils, early flowering cherries and a huge magnolia about to burst into bloom. From the park we followed the road round heading vaguely towards Champion Hill, then picked up a cycle path that led towards Dulwich. This led towards another park, and one could have believed you were in the countryside rather than a city. We didn't go as far as Dulwich, instead turning left by the football club and going to Sainsbury's. Here I gloried in the range of World Foods available, and was over enthusiastic at the till! We headed back up the hill to home then.

In the evening my sister and I headed for ITV studios to watch the making of episode 6 of the BBC comedy series 'Upstart Crow'; this was written by Ben Elton, and was about the life of William Shakespeare before he was famous. It starred David Mitchell as Shakespeare, Liza Trabuco as his wife, and Harry Enfield as his father. There were many other well-known faces, whose names escape me, and it was a very good production. We both laughed our way through all the scenes. This was a fascinating look at how TV dramas are produced, with three sets on stage, cameras, lights, microphones and behind the scenes people everywhere. The costumes were magnificent and the actors were very professional. It was interesting that a half hour show took at least three hours to film. Seeing Ben Elton and Harry Enfield in the flesh made us feel rather old, as they were high on the comedy scene when we were growing up thirty years ago, and they were in their twenties or early thirties. However, they were still just as funny luckily. I shall look forward to watching the finished series.

Day 2 and we got a little touristy. We all hopped on the 176 bus and rode to Cambridge Circus. From here we headed to Forbidden Planet to absorb all things comic book and geeky (not my kind of thing really but the teenagers enjoyed it). We then went to a branch of Pret a Manger and had lunch. We were hoping for an independent café, but couldn't find a cheap one and we were all hungry. However, Pret has good credentials. I had a delicious vegetable, falafel and feta wrap and a strong coffee. After lunch we went to Foyles, and gave ourselves a time limit otherwise we would have spent the whole day there and spent all the rent money! This was my first visit to the main branch and I was most impressed. It is a good job we don't live nearby! After this, my nephew abandoned us and us girls headed for Choccywoccydoodah (impressive), Liberty (impressive and expensive), and then John Lewis, where we got carried away in the kitchen department. We also stopped for tea and a snack here. Nice. We caught the number 12 bus home, driving along Regent Street, through Piccadilly Circus and saw a nice view of Buckingham Palace along the Mall, along Whitehall, passing the cenotaph and Downing Street, past Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, then over the bridge and, eventually, home. Pleasant day.

Day 3 involved a lazy morning then a trip to Bromley for me and the teenager to check out charity shops and the market. Pleasant afternoon out, and we returned home for a vegan curry feast (yummy!) and extremely chocolaty birthday cake. Nom nom nom! On day 4 we returned to the Island by a slightly roundabout route as there were problems with trains at Woking. A lovely few days away.



Flowers in Ruskin Park



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Plane Tree,  Denmark Hill

William Booth College, Denmark Hill