London Snow

Michael needed to travel to London for work and I didn’t have to plead too hard for him to extend his stay for the weekend and to take me with him.  We each took an early morning flight from Dublin on the Thursday, Michael travelling Aer Lingus to Heathrow whilst I was booked to travel Ryan Air to Gatwick.  Michael arrived in London in good time whilst I was delayed over an hour with my plane having an issue with a faulty radio.  Still, no harm done and I safely arrived at Gatwick to a chilly 2 degrees and leaden skies.  There was a problem with the train services however I wasn’t delayed too long before I was on my way to James and Amber’s.

you can't see it but it is snowing

I was met by Amber who luckily didn’t need to go into work that day, and after depositing my bag, we set off to have some lunch.  We had not walked far when it began to snow.  At first the snow came down very lightly however, by the time we reached Regent’s Canal, it was coming down quite a bit.  The snow gave a magical feel to our walk and the canal looked beautiful.  We stopped at a café and spent the afternoon catching up on all our news whilst watching the snow from the window.  The snow didn’t last for long and didn’t settle on the ground but it was exciting all the same.

We made our way back home along the canal in the dark, which made life interesting as cyclists, some without headlights, zoomed past us.  I couldn’t help wondering how many people fall into the canal in the dark, as there is no street lighting along the path.  We made it home in time to greet Michael as he returned home from work, having had a productive day.  James was away working in Copenhagen, so it was just the three amigos that headed to Angel for dinner.  We were lucky enough to find a table at the Afghan restaurant that James and Amber had taken me last year, and once again the meal was fabulous. 

Friday was bitterly cold and misty and I couldn’t make up my mind about what to do for the day.  Michael and Amber both needed to work from home, so I needed to make myself scarce.  I had intended to head out to Highgate Cemetery, however I thought that it might be a bit creepy walking through the graveyard alone in the mist.  I had also thought of touring St Bart’s Hospital however it was just too cold to muster up the necessary enthusiasm.  I settled instead on spending the morning exploring the shops around Angel.  Michael and I met for lunch and we took another walk along the canal, this time to F Cooke, a traditional East End pie and mash shop.  I have long wanted dine at one of these shops and I wasn’t disappointed.  Michael and I each ordered a pie and mash served with parsley liquor.  We were served by a lovely senior gentleman, who kept referring to Michael as, “young man” (it has been a while since anyone has called him that).  The pies were surprisingly tasty and they were just what we needed to warm us.  Michael also tried a bowl of jellied eels and I had to try very hard to stop my stomach performing somersaults as I watched him eat them.  He declared that they were very good. There are not many of these pie and mash shops left in London and the few people that we saw enter this shop were all senior citizens. 

Michael and I stopped for a coffee before heading back along the canal, as he needed to get back to work.  I walked back into Angel, as I wanted to have a look at the Chapel Market.  Anyone who knows me also knows that I am an avid EastEnders fan, and this market is just like the market on Albert Square.  If I closed my eyes, I could imagine that the fruit and veg stall holder, bellowing out “two for a fiver”, was Pete Beale and that the man in the fish van was Buster.  The market sells all manner of things from fresh meat, fruit and veg, fish and tat like cheap clothes, bags and batteries.  I absolutely loved it and just to make the atmosphere more authentic, big, fat snowflakes started to fall – magic!

I returned home, happy as Larry, to wait for Michael and Amber to finish working, before heading out to a local Peruvian restaurant for dinner.  We enjoyed a lovely meal (Michael especially enjoyed his gluten free dinner), and we finished with a traditional cocoa leaf liqueur (tasted better than it looked).  Then it was back home to await the arrival of a very tired James from Copenhagen.  Naturally, it was lovely to see him again and we had a brief chat before heading off to bed.

Saturday dawned and it was time to venture along the canal to the Broadway Market.  I had promised Michael that we would go here as I had raved about my last visit.  It was bitterly cold and the snow really started to come down.  It still didn’t settle on the ground however there was enough to entertain me as I tried to catch a few snowflakes.  The market was in full swing however it was just too cold to stand outside for long.  James and Amber took us to a café that they had heard about and we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, taking the opportunity to thaw out.  We then took another walk through the market, stopping along the way to have a look at some of the interesting shops.  Then we walked further along the canal to Victoria Park.  The park is massive (over 86 hectares) and it must be beautiful to walk through in the warmer weather.  We stopped to admire The Dogs of Alcibiades, two replica statues of a 2^nd century statue of a dog held at the British Museum.  Local legend has it that the dogs rescue people from drowning in the nearby lake.  We also had a quick look at the Chinese pagoda.  We will definitely return for a proper walk through the park when the temperature is above freezing.

We returned to the Broadway Market to stock up on provisions as we decided that it was just too cold to venture out in the evening, instead planning on watching the Six Nations from the comfort of James and Amber’s lounge room.  We had a lovely evening watching the rugby (England won) followed by the movie The Kingsmen while dining on fried chicken.  Michael was in seventh heaven! 

Michael and I decided to head over to the Columbia Road Flower Market together on the Sunday morning as James and Amber needed to organise themselves for the week ahead.  It was another chilly day however there wasn’t any snow.  We had a lovely time looking at all the flowers – this time there were lots of colourful tulips (3 bunches for a tenner) as well as daffodils, roses and many other blooms.  The banter between the stallholders and customers was as colourful as the flowers if a little risqué at times.  We kept popping into the little shops along the street to warm ourselves. 

We met James and Amber for a traditional Sunday roast at the Old Queen’s Head in Angel.  The pub dates back to 1830 and is supposedly haunted by a woman and girl in Tudor clothes (why they should haunt such a relatively new pub is a mystery).  Lunch was very good and it was soon time for Michael to say his goodbyes, as he was due to fly back home from Heathrow in the early evening.

James and Amber prepared a lovely meal for dinner and we had a quiet evening chatting and watching the rugby (France won).

James and Amber had an early start on the Monday morning with James heading into work in London and Amber, heading off to work in Manchester.  My flight was due to leave from Gatwick late in the afternoon, so I packed my suitcase and caught the train into London Bridge.  I then took a walk into the Borough Market and had a lovely time wandering about the stalls, stopping for a coffee along the way.  The temperature was 4 degrees and, as ridiculous as it sounds, it was much more pleasant walking around compared to the 2 degrees that we had experienced all weekend.  You wouldn’t think that an extra couple of degrees would make such a difference.  I was able to have a pleasant walk along the Thames right up to the London Eye until the crowds became a bit hard to negotiate with my suitcase in tow.  I couldn’t help reflecting on just how much the London skyline has changed over the past 3 years.  The Gherkin used to be clearly visible however it is now practically hidden amongst all the other high-rise buildings.  The Shard, which used to stick out like a sore thumb, is just another building on the skyline.  The Walkie Talkie looks really nice now that it has been completed and all of the cranes have been removed.  It makes me wonder how much Melbourne has changed while we have been away.

I returned along the Thames to the Borough Market for a lovely steak and kidney pie for lunch and then it was time to catch the train from London Bridge to Gatwick.  It is always with a sense of sadness that I leave London, even though I know that we will be back again next month to visit James and Amber.  The pull of the city is  great, and if I could live my life over, I would definitely choose to live there.  I am just so very lucky that Dublin is only an hour’s flight away from this wonderful city.