Well, we have made it to the old country,
land of hope and glory etc.
After leaving Toronto on a night flight we
reached London and waited in an express queue for an hour at Heathrow Airport
listening to a short, bald South African man berating his wife for leaving
their Wimbledon tickets in the safe back home.
Nasty little man probably thought that he was showing everyone how
useless his wife was when all he was doing was proving what a tosser he was! We
took the express train to Paddington, which was very good and looked new even
though it was celebrating 20 years. The
journey only took 15 minutes.
Once we got the accommodation sorted which
was 3 floors up with no lift (sound familiar?), headed off to explore Primrose
Hill, which is a lovely area with little high street shops tucked away and of
course Ye Olde English Pubs (more gastro now than traditional) know as the
Washington. The apartment was only 15min by tube from Baker St.
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| Lovely fox seen from the 3rd floor in the backyard |
We then caught the train to Baker St and
Michael route marched us through the sites.
It was nice to see the Sherlock Holmes tiles at the station that I
remember from my visit 30 years ago. We were happy to marvel at the old
buildings and started the quest for the gourmet English fare of steak and
kidney pudding, egg and bacon butties, bangers and mash, Aragon chicken pie and
fish and chips. The quest started well with one pub having the steak and
kidney.
That evening we walked up to Primrose Hill,
which has a marvelous view to the city. We discovered it does not get dark
until 10:00 pm but worse is that it gets light at 4:30 am. The apartment could really use some black out
curtains from the Blitz.
The next day we walked from Primrose Hill
through Regents Park. Michael was on squirrel watch, but found penguins instead. The London Zoo is on the edge of Regent Park
and we looked over a low fence and penguins were looking up at us. On a positive
note squirrels were found.
We walked through Queen Mary’s Rose Garden where all
the roses are out on display, some the size of bread & butter plates.
Just beautiful. From there we walked down
Baker Street and meandered through the streets of London or as Michael likes to
say “flaneuring.” In Hyde Park we saw the memorial to the London bus and
underground bombings which is a very somber memorial consisting of steel poles
with the victims names, date and location of death.
We also saw the Australian
war memorial, which although modern was well done.
Then we continued onto
Buckingham Palace and happened to arrive bang on the Changing of the Guard. Unfortunately neither the Queen nor corgis
were in residence much to Michael’s annoyance.
We then wandered up to Trafalgar Square
where Canada Day was being celebrated and off to the pub for some lunch. We
also checked out Fortnum and Mason’s and found a barber for Michael in Jermyn
St which has only been trading since 1730 and booked an appointment for the
next day as Michael has not shaved since September last year and is starting to
look a little scruffy.
The following day we took Michael in for
his haircut and shave. The rugged lumberjack look is if fine for Canada, but we
felt a more refined look for business was appropriate in London. Plus it would
stop him frightening people when he boomed out “G’Day”. He now resembles a startled turtle that has
emerged from hibernation. On the
positive side, he also looks 10 years younger.
Michael found a cheese monger that has only
been in business since 1670 to pick up a bit of cheese. No Monty Python skits
allowed.
Whilst Michael worked I wandered around
soaking up the glorious sunshine they are having. We have also been keeping an
eye on rugby progress and the tennis.
The following weekend headed down to the
Shard which is a complete eyesore. One
wonders how such a monstrosity was approved and it really is a blot on the
landscape as it can be seen from miles away.
The Gherkin is bad enough but at least it is surrounded by other tall
buildings, so that at best it is partially hidden. We then walked to St Guys
hospital to see the old operating theater that was in the attic of a church in
the hospital grounds. The theater was used on public patients and could
accommodate 150 people packed in like sardines to watch the operations. This
was in the days before anesthetic and pain relief so it would have been a
horrifying spectacle.
We also walked around Borough Market, which
was excellent and full of fresh produce. Then we walked part of the Dickens
walk to end up at the Dickens pub to see the last half of the rugby. There were
many happy Englishmen that day and two sad Aussies.
We explored a bit further and ended up at
the Camden Markets, which used to be the old horse stables for the canal boats
being towed. The markets are massive selling everything from clothes, jewelry,
household items etc of very good quality.
The place is a hipster’s paradise and I know that Tim would love it
there. We finished the evening with a
visit to Amy Winehouse’s local. How cool
are we!
Decided the place was a bit small with Michael
working and no room to sit so found another place in Albion Street near Edgware
Road, which had Hyde Park at the end of the street and was much bigger and
nicer (and not up 3 flights of stairs). There is a large Iranian and Iraqi
community with plenty of Middle Eastern restaurants and very flash and
expensive cars as well. Michael chatted to a heavily armed Old Bill who was
standing on a street corner. He was very friendly and assured us that there was
no criminal activity and that he was only guarding a VIP. As there were three
of them it must be one important VIP and a hefty expense on the taxpayer.
We caught up with Ann and Vimal who were
visiting to see family. It is funny seeing friends on the other side of the
world, and it was lovely to catch up on what is happening back home. As usual
Michael corrupted Vimal into having a pint of Fullers like Vimal did when he
lived here 40 years ago.
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| at Harrod's shrine to Di and Dodi |
We also caught up with Michael’s godmother
Margaret who as not aged a day since I meet her 25 years ago. I had warned
Michael not to race off and leave Margaret behind and be mindful of her age. Needless to say, both of them walked off
leaving me behind as Margaret goes on regular walking holidays and is as fit as
a fiddle. We started the day with coffee on the banks of the Serpentine River
in Hyde Park followed by a wonderful lunch and long chat. The only disappointment was that we couldn’t
find the Mr Darcy statue, which had been erected in the river. It must have
been removed.
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