Michael’s brother, Matthew, was flying in today from
Australia and we were all very excited to see him. Unfortunately, his plane was delayed, so we
had to wait an extra day before catching up with him.
Instead of spending the day with Matthew, we took a train
trip out to Bethnal Green, as Anne wanted to see the Bethnal Green Chest
Hospital where she worked many years ago.
The hospital was still there, albeit with a number of changes including
the disappearance of the Queen Victoria statue. A short stroll took us to the
Approach Tavern, which is where Anne was refused service when she was a young
nurse of a Scrumpy Cider, being told that it was much too strong for her. Needless to say, it was Scrumpy Ciders all
round as we enjoyed a traditional roast lunch.
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| The measuring point for England |
We visited the V & A Museum of Childhood, which had been
on my wish list for a while. On display
are many childhood related objects including dolls’ houses, teddy bears, games and
prams going back over many years. It was
a very pleasant way to spend an hour or so wandering around in the cool, even
if it was disconcerting to see items that I had played with as a child housed
in a museum!
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| smallest police station in England |
The following day, we finally were able to catch up with
Matthew. It was great to see him again
and he was eager to cram in as much as possible into his stay in London as it
was his first visit there. Naturally,
the first place we took him was to Harrods.
Matthew was suitably horrified by the statue of Diana & Dodi,
although I don’t think he was as happy as Anne and I were to be in the
wonderful department store. The men then
went off to the V & A leaving Anne & I to wander the store at our leisure. Anne I think was relieved to actually be inside
a shop as Michael has run her ragged with no time allowed for browsing. We had a lovely morning followed by lunch
together. We had thought that we were
meeting the men for lunch however my phone decided to play up for the first
time ever and despite trying two phone boxes (which was a comedy in itself), we
were unable to contact them. We finally
caught up with them for a drink at the Friend in Hand.
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| Imperial War Museum |
Anne and Phil departed for the next leg of their trip to
Orpington leaving Matthew, Michael and myself to our own devices. We headed to the newly re-opened Imperial War
Museum, which is housed in the old Bethlem Royal Hospital (known as
Bedlam). Michael & I had wanted to
visit there on our previous two visits however it was closed for renovations as
part of the First World War Centenary.
It was an amazing museum however it was very crowded and the special
exhibits for World War 1 were poorly laid out which meant that to see
everything, you were constantly retracing your steps whilst negotiating the crowds. I would definitely like to revisit there
perhaps in the winter when it may be less crowded.
We lunched at the Borough Market and then finally entered
the Southwark Cathedral, which we have walked past numerous times. The cathedral itself is quite beautiful and
it was touching to see the large memorial plaque dedicated to the 51 people who
died in the Marchioness disaster on the River Thames. We were even able to see Doorkins Magnificat,
the resident cathedral cat, who has actually met the Queen.
Next, we headed to Lloyds of London in search of the Lutine
Bell. Imagine my disappointment (not to
mention embarrassment) at being told that, “one must be invited by a member of
staff to see the bell”. I suppose that
they just put our ignorance down to our being Australians!
We took Matthew for a wander around the laneways near Brick
Lane so that he could see the street art.
I think that he enjoyed the area as he took numerous photos and once again
there were many new artworks that Michael and I had not seen before. Dinner was once more at an Indian restaurant
in Brick Lane with Michael accepting the second offer we received, as we were
too tired to haggle.
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