LONDON!

I'd been looking forward and planning this trip for months with Leon and we finally went. It was a great 3 day holiday; loads of fun!

We arrived in London at 11.50 at London Victoria, hot and sweaty after a 2 and a half hour trip on the Megabus which with ten minutes to go the driver suddenly realised he hadn't switched on the fans. We were all half boiled to death, but it was very entertaining to see how embarrased the driver was! Anyway we walked to Buck house and along the Pall Mall to Oxford St for a nibble and then to Leicester Square and up Shaftesbury Avenue for the 2.30pm matinee performance of Yes Prime Minister at the Gielgud Theatre.

It's an update on the timeless classic TV show, one of mine and Al's favourites, set in a coalition government familliar for all the old YES PM jokes like 'Oh god, have I been corageous?!' - Jim Hacker (PM). It was very funny, even though we all thought the second half wimpered out a little, it still had us all howling.

Afterwards we took the tube to London Limehouse and walked to the Holiday Inn Express to check in. Our rooms were really great, it was a really decent price and even though not as central as some locations I'd definately recommend it.

Afterwards we went to Islington to a gig organised by Dan and Jo, Leon's brother and sister in Law. It was an evening of assorted rock music, quite experimental, but a good time was had by all even though we all flaked out at 11pm, meaning we missed Dan's set at the end of the night...

But we had to keep our energy up because the next day was a busy one. After a big breakfast we went to St Paul's cathedral. We were allowed in during the service and we were able to soak up the timeless energy and peace of the place while the vicar did his semon. It always humbles me to think of these places, sources of rest, healing and inspiration for thousands of people over hundreds of years. It's a beautiful place. Then we walked across Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern and spent the next 2 jhours absorbing the mass of artistic endeavours in that place. Some inspire, some frankly I find difficult to take seriously at all. But it's a great place to visit. And as with almost everything we visited, free! Sundays in the capital have a lovely atmosphere, somehow it feels calm and relaxed even though there are still loads of people about: it still has that Sunday essence. After a quick leemonade and a rest in a pub we all separated, Leon and Teresa to go and visit family and we went to see Will, Al's mate from school.

Helen Will Al and me

We met Will and Helen in Green Park station. It was a beautiful day with clear fresh air and blue skies and so everywhere we walked was extra pretty. They took us to an area not far from Green Park called Shepherds's Market, a place that reminded me of Greenwich Village in New York. We eat lunch together in a pub that was really nice, although they did have a bit of a nightmare with not having things in when we ordered. Still, even with a long wait for our food, it was a great way to relax and catch up, as we rarely get to see Will since he moved to London.

 Later on we caught back up with Leon and Teresa in Covent Garden over a cup of coffee. There was a classical concert taking place a few metres away which was very entertaining and the usual mish mash of entertainers sprinkled around the square. We took a walk to soak up the atmosphere and ended up carrying on through Soho until Leon and Teresa went home. Me and Al went on to China Town and caught a live jazz band in a bar there called Huw and Bukky. They were magnificent! We really enjoyed listening to the music and then afterwards got the munchies and headed for some food. We were in China Town so what else would we do, we found the restaurant with the most chinese eating there and sat down for a very satisfying meal. We had duck with noodles and I displayed some pretty good chopstick action even if I do say do!

Next day we went to South Kensington for The Natural History museum but unfortunately the queue went around the block so off we went to the Science Museum. Afterwards we went to Kew Gardens. We met my lovely ex flatmate Sarah at a cafe there as that's where she lives and she's currently on maternity leave and had a natter over lunch before heading to Kew Gardens itself.

I must say that Kew, though I wasn't expecting it, was the highlight. It's beautiful. And in autumn with the leaves turning even mor so. After 2 days of hecticness it was the perfect antidote. We took the treetop walk, found the Pagoda and saw one of the glass houses in detail, but honestly it's so huge you could go back 10 times before you saw it all. It's not cheap but it was worth every penny. Fabulous.

Then it was a last trip back to the centre and a meal at the American diner (We had burgers and shakes) before a very comfortable and quick train ride home, courtesy of Megabus also - cheap as chips - genius!

Garden Attack

You should have seen the cat's face when three men and a lorry turned up a few weeks ago to massacre the garden, sorry her garden... Appalled.





Nevertheless the pictures do a little justice to the immense amount of chopping that went on that day. 6 trees were reduced to three and the remaining three were halved in height.






It was quite exciting! It's amazing how much more light and rain gets in down the end and our poor lawn at that end is even starting to recover, just a bit. Got a project in mind to restore it to some health but that's all got to wait til the spring.



Meantime we're just enjoying our new view, and appealing to the cat for forgiveness...