The Big Smoke

When the schools return after the summer, my thoughts usually turn to a holiday. We have been very lucky with the weather in the autumn over the years, with late September/early October proving to be perfect for a break in the UK. This year, I quite fancied a trip to Cornwall, and we spent a couple of evenings perusing potential accommodation online. Before we could book anywhere, however, L rang and asked if we fancied a week in London, flat and rabbit sitting while she and V went to Rotterdam. I had offered to do this for them when they visited over the summer, so we accepted and revised our plans.

R could work from their flat, so with the weekend, a couple of days off work, and the evenings, we were able to do quite a bit of sightseeing. F, the bunny, and the fish were no trouble at all, and we fitted their care into our daily routine. Apart from 1 day, the weather was glorious and we found London to be  much hotter than the temperature at home.

Over the course of our stay we visited the V&A, Kew Gardens, The Tate, saw 'Much Ado About Nothing' at The Globe, and took a behind the scenes tour of The Royal Opera House. R had also bought a full set of key pads for L's flute, so spent a couple of evenings giving it a service whilst I cooked dinner.

Here then, are a few photos from our stay in The Big Smoke. Some, as per usual, I have forgotten to rotate, so apologies. My excuse is that I have spent all morning gardening, so I'm quite tired! :O)

First, The Victoria and Albert Museum. R claimed that he had never been - a fact which I found difficult to believe initially, but then remembered that his favourite was always the Science Museum, and the girls loved The Natural History Museum, so maybe we never made it across the road when we were all together! 

I loved this replica of Michelangelo's 'David':

Sunday saw us heading off to Kew Gardens. Before entering, we shared a poke bowl at a small Japanese restaurant outside Kew station. It was simple and delicious, and we should have ordered 2!

On entering the gardens, our first port of call was the treetop walkway - I decided to do this first before I lost my nerve. Not a great fan of heights, I found the see through, bouncy paths a tad unnerving!

The Temperate House viewed from the walkway:

View from the walkway around the Palm House - still being brave! :O)

There was a Henry Moore Sculpture exhibition going on in the grounds - I can't say that I was a huge fan. Lots seemed to be titled 'Figure in 2 parts'.

The Great Pagoda. Dating from 1762, you can climb the 253 stairs inside to see the view from the top. Luckily, from my point of view, it had closed for the winter!

80 dragons adorn the building. The originals were lost for 200 years, but 3D printing technology and hand wood-carving techniques have been used to replace them.

The Palm House:

The Campanile - this functioned as the chimney for the 12 boilers under the Palm House:

The Princess of Wales Conservatory - designed to achieve high energy efficiency with much of the building below ground. David Attenborough buried a time capsule in the foundation in 1985. It contains seeds of basic food crops and endangered species and is due to be opened in 2085.

A particular highlight for me was the kitchen garden:

When the gardens closed, we wandered into Kew and found a handy Nepalese restaurant for dinner. Black dal and sag aloo hit the spot nicely:

A trip to The Globe to see 'Much Ado'. The last time I visited here was with L a couple of summers ago to see 'The Taming of the Shrew' - we came away unimpressed as they had set it in a giant nursery, with a huge baby effigy upstage with the actors entering between its legs. It was all very silly and I hated it. It was with much trepidation then that we had booked tickets for 'Much Ado'. Actually, I quite enjoyed it. The music was fabulous, the set normal (!), some (although not all) of the acting excellent, and Benedick and police constable Dogberry were very funny indeed. We chatted to a couple visiting from Ohio in the interval. They had had a busy day having seen the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum earlier. I might have been tempted by this, but tickets booked up very quickly and we had already seen it in Bayeux many years ago. For those who fancy seeing it but can't get tickets, Reading Museum has a copy which is surprisingly good!

St. Paul's at twilight on the way to The Globe:

Wednesday morning saw us heading to Pimlico and The Tate:

A couple of my favourite paintings there.

The Curse of the Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse:

..... and 'A Bigger Splash' by David Hockney:

We would have like to stay longer but we had tickets booked for a behind the scenes tour of the Royal Opera House:

My favourite parts of the tour were seeing where the props are built and also where some of the costumes are made. Whilst waiting for the tour to begin, students from the Royal Ballet School (also on the site) came walking down the stairs and out of the entrance. Well, you have never seen such a beautiful group of young people. They moved so gracefully and had such incredible posture. We watched open mouthed as they glided past, and immediately we all tried to stand a little taller from our usual hunched over positions!

Whilst listening to the tour guide, she suddenly paused in her speech and smiled at a lady passing along the corridor. It was none other than Dame Darcey Bussell! Sadly, I was concentrating so hard on what the guide was saying, that I was merely aware of someone walking by and I missed her!

One of the costumes from Cinderella. The muzzle of the mouse is drilled with holes for the child dancer to see through:

We also had a little wander around Covent Garden whilst we were there. I particularly liked this sign:

I may or may not have had a little nosy around The Moomin Shop - I am all equipped with a Moomin calendar for 2027!

L and V returned home late on Wednesday night - we were already in bed. We caught up the following day and enjoyed a Vietnamese lunch at 'Pho'. After a potter round the charity shops, we returned to the flat, packed our bags and set off for home.

 It took us nearly 3 hours crawling through the London traffic. Sadiq Kahn must make an absolute mint out of fines for people pausing on box junctions trying to get across traffic lights. We were at a standstill for about half an hour, only nudging forward when someone gave up and performed a U-turn. Eventually we made it home, and were ecstatic to be there. Despite doing some lovely things whilst in London, it isn't what it once was. I lived there for 7 years in the 80s, but you couldn't pay me to live there now. L is there for the foreseeable future, however, as her job pretty much keeps her there, so we will have to keep venturing in. 

More happies this month:

Finishing 2 pairs of socks as Christmas presents - one in West Yorkshire Spinners' 'Wood Pigeon' and one in 'Peacock':

A trip to the New Era Theatre to see Terry Pratchett's 'Lords and Ladies'. It was based on 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and seemed to go on for a long time. Enough said!

My friend, J, is a member of the Nomads, so a few of us had a night out to support her. I read a summary of Ben Elton's script before going and wasn't sure that I liked the sound of it. It was absolutely brilliant though - not the script so much, but the music and the singing. A thoroughly good evening's entertainment.

Lastly, my house smells of fermenting napa cabbage after I made a fresh batch of kimchi. There are worse smells - I also spent a merry few hours in the garden, spreading rotted farmyard manure on my beds. With that and the kimchi, I am quite fragrant at the moment!

That's all for now. I'm off to start preparations for dinner, then I have an evening in front of the TV planned, knitting on my new 'Sophie Shawl' and watching 'The Celebrity Traitors'. Is anyone else an avid fan?

Hope all's well in your corner,

Toodle pip for now. x

Downton Abbey etc!

There has been a lot of toing and froing of offspring over the last month or so, which has been absolutely lovely. E is on the point of starting a new job and, having accumulated a fair bit of holiday, stayed for a few days on either side of a visit to London to visit L. She then returned a week later en route to Gatwick for a flight to Vietnam. She stayed overnight, and we dropped her at the airport at 8am to check in. It feels very odd waving your daughter off for a solo holiday in a far flung place. I am so proud of her for having the gumption to do it - I certainly wouldn't be brave enough - but I'll sleep much easier once she is home again. I keep dreaming of her, which shows that my brain isn't quite at ease with the situation. 

In between E's visits, L and her partner, V, came to stay over the August Bank Holiday weekend. V is a big fan of Downton Abbey. Despite the series supposedly being set in Yorkshire, it is actually filmed in Highclere Castle, just 10 minutes down the road from us. We had promised them a visit and booked tickets well in advance as they sell out quite quickly. Surprisingly, R had never been either - despite me taking the girls several times when they were young; it must have been during the summer holiday when he was busy working.

We arrived equipped with a picnic which, sadly, we weren't allowed to eat in the grounds, so after looking round the castle, we ate it in the car! Nor was photography permitted in the house itself, which was a little disappointing. They must be making an absolute mint, given the number of coach tours we spotted. Many were from Yorkshire, and we wondered if they were under the impression that it was a local trip when they signed up for it, before becoming confused as to why they were suddenly on a motorway and heading for Hampshire! They must have had a very early start to get there for 10.30 in the morning.

The house was lovely and very familiar if you have watched the Downton series. We decided to play a game where we each had to choose an object that we would like to take home with us - and say where you would position it. My choice was a modest oil painting of a cow which had taken my fancy, and it was to go on the wall to the right of the stove. R wanted the grandfather clock - although the only place that we could put it in our current house would be on the opposite side of the bay window to our other grandfather clock, which might look a bit odd!

L, unsurprisingly, wanted the grand piano - but admitted that she would have to get rid of either the sofa or the dining table to fit it into the flat. Good luck getting it up those stairs is all I can say!

Finally, V wanted the secret door from the library that was camouflaged with fake books. That could go in any of their doorways, and they do have a lot of books so it would blend right in!

During WWI, the castle was turned into a hospital for wounded soldiers, and in the Second World War, it was a home for evacuated children from London.

The Egyptian exhibition in the cellars was fascinating, as Lord Carnarvon, of Tutankhamun fame, lived at Highclere. He is buried on top of Beacon Hill, overlooking the estate. After he died, his son (the 6th Earl of Carnarvon) wanted nothing more to do with the artefacts and they were squirrelled away behind plant pots, urns and between rooms. His son and grandson eventually decided to go on a treasure hunt after the butler told them of their presence. The exhibition celebrates the 5th Earl's discovery of the tomb.

After our car picnic, we explored the gardens using the map provided. They were lovely and we made up for the lack of photography in the house, by taking many family shots on the various benches!

Other happies this month include:

The partial solar eclipse. The last one was when we had just moved into our current house, and I remember R rigging a similar set up with the telescope then for the girls to watch it.  This time we invited the neighbours' children round, as I was worried that our trees in the back garden might block their view.

I found the shadows on my potting shed particularly eerie - as too was the moment when the birds all fell silent, thinking that it was their bedtime.

A trip to the Southern Wool Show at Newbury racecourse. I made a few modest purchases but really enjoyed looking around all the stalls and eating my emergency sandwich in the stands overlooking the racecourse!

We also enjoyed a street party to mark the end of summer. We have some new people who moved in this year, and they wanted to meet the neighbours, so a picnic under the willow trees was organised and a fine time was had by all. I didn't take any photos! :O)

Finishing my Prague Blanket. It is absolutely huge - I think that I got a little carried away. It was inspired by our trip to Prague and It-Is-A-Sarah's blanket, which she based on the colours of the houses in Prague. To be honest, I'm in 2 minds about my choice of colours, but it's too late now! If we ever have a camper van, this is the blanket that will live in it. I have donated the remaining yarn to E as she enjoys a bit of crochet.

The border - made using Bunny Mummy's technique, to make it lie flat and not ruffle:

A trip to Bristol to take E out for a celebratory lunch when she got her new job:

A trip to Shaw House with E to see the Altered States sculpture exhibition:

I loved this pair, but they were £40,000 each! Any takers?

R having a Dick Van Dyke moment, and me checking that the brush had fully emerged!

Another walk at Stourhead with my friend, S, and her dog, A. As well as stunning scenery, they do a fine vegan, gluten free pasty!

A walk with L and V to Donnington Castle:

Lastly, a trip to Ledbury to meet my friend, C. We caught up over coffee, pottered round the independent shops, then ate our picnic lunch in the market square, before exploring the museum and church.

That's all for this month. After the neighbours came round for a cup of tea this morning, R and I had lunch and then went for our usual walk. It seemed very hot and muggy, so I have my fingers crossed for a storm. I hope that all is tickety boo at your end. Until next time .....

Toodle pip for now. x