Slept in til 7.10 AM. My sore hip woke me up. Still haven't got my phone changed to London time. This is both disconcerting and annoying. I don't know where I am. I don't like looking at my phone because it tells me Melbourne time. This can only encourage jet lag. We left home at approx 10.30 - I don't know the exact time because my iphone hasn't had its time changed and I have to ask Jenny what the time is - you will forgive my frustration - and took the Metropolitan Line to the end of the line at Chesham. Still has aspects of an English Village. Very nice. No cars in the main street. But I did see a dowager type driving what was obviously an electrical car down the centre of the road. No sound at all. I say every second shop was a thrift shop. We bought some Marks and Spencers shirts. Could not find any trousers suitable for India House. Jenny says a more realistic assessment would be every 10th shop. We had lunch in The George and Dragon. I had Bubble and Squeak. Jenny had Tomato Soup. Only after we had sat down did I notice the St George flags everywhere. This has to be code for Ukip supporter. But the lunch was authentic and I had a half pint of English Ale which was OK. The Pub was 350 years old. The Landlord had an east end accent. Jenny walked to the top of Chesham Hill for view and photo's. I tried to go into the Library but it was closed. Yes - closed on Friday's. So I sat and read one of the 3 or 4 free papers that are available. One is a Financial paper which is easy to read and a reasonable standard. I don't know how they can source all the articles they have. They all have a byline. The other 2 daily papers are trash but reading them takes up the time on the train. There was a local free press dedicated to the Chesham area. The record of the local Magistrates Court was depressingly similar to what goes on in Benalla Court. The main story was about the wash-up over the Easter Egg incident at Cliveden. Apparently a charity organised an Easter Egg hunt for deprived children at Cliveden. The problem was too many people came - both adults and children - some of them obviously not deprived - and they made a big mess of the grounds looking for Easter Eggs and forcibly entering into Garden Buildings etc. looking for hidden eggs. Who is to pay for the damage? And who encouraged the rougher element to come to an Easter Egg hunt when they weren't invited? We explored most of the town. There is a small river running through it and sometimes goes under buildings. Quite attractive. Beautiful clear water. Nice trees lining the banks. Pathway right beside the stream. A burst of sunshine lit the set to perfection. Reminded me of descriptions of paradise in The Koran. We commented that there must be a problem at times with flooding and sure enough in the centre of town there is a notice alluding to the increase in floods and what to do in times of emergencies. For centuries England has been lucky to have dynamic equilibrium in its waterways but with global warming flooding will be a big problem. We had afternoon tea in the cafe part of a store called Me and C. We got 5 cups out of one pot which was pretty good value. By this time my body was hurting. The expensive shoes I was assured were exactly the same as the last pair I bought from Athletes Foot are not the same. Same make maybe but not the same shoes. Why do shoe manufacturers stop making perfectly good shoes? I once had a pair of Nike Air which were perfect and I had to wear them till they fell apart because they never made the same shoes again. My hip hurts and my leg muscles are not what they were. 50 years ago I could walk all day - and I sometimes did walk all day and all night. Not now unfortunately. My genes are failing me. Plus I'm carrying too much weight. We took the train back from Chesham to Preston Road. Checked out the Vegetarian Indian Take Away and took home their special. Its all vegetarian but 4 different types with rice and bread. Wasn't too bad. We will probably eat from there most nights. Came home at 6PM. Pointless was on TV. May as well have been home. Later on watched Michael Portello explaining the Easter Rising and how it changed everything. The British General who put down the rebellion is the real culprit and the reason why Ireland became a republic. Then watched the IT man whose name I dont know doing his 2 days in Venice with Jo Brand. Very enjoyable. To bed at 9.30.
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Thursday 31st Mar 2016
Woke up at 5.45 AM after a good nights sleep. Listened to The World Service all night on my ear phones - just the same as if I was home. Its already mostly light at 5.45 AM. The days are much longer than I hoped. I like it when it gets dark at 4.30. The seasons are so much more pronounced here. We left home at 10AM and took the tube to Westminster. Heard Big Ben strike 10.45. Walked along Southbank to Borough Market. Had lunch in Southwark Cathedral cafeteria. Saw the man who volunteers looking after tourists having his lunch. He was reading The Bridge which I presume is an Anglican Newspaper. He lives in Croydon. He has relatives in Cairns. He volunteers every Thursday. He comes to services at Easter and Christmas. He is not a parishioner of the church - but lots of people live in the area and the church has a sizable congregation. The cathedral is older than St Paul's but of course does not have any of St Paul's glamour. It has to pay its own way. But it does have its own interest. Shakespeare's brother is buried in its grounds. The Cathedral when it was an Abbey was surrendered to Henry the 8th in the 16th century. Etc. Lots of people buried in the floor of the church. Rather than famous people the majority are ex office holders or parishioners. Well worth the visit. In May they are having a night of Vivaldi and Mozart similar to what was recently in St Josephs. Unfortunately we wont be here otherwise we would go. Saw 2 buskers of note. One a Scots girl playing a Swiss violin with keys for the left hand. Very nice girl. The other a bloke who could sing and had some good songs of his own. Extremely good sound system. Better than sound systems in the 70's and probably more powerful. All on one battery. I noted than none of the buskers I saw were making much money. Not even enough to pay for lunch let alone the trip home. Went to The Tate Modern. Disappointing. Only 1 room with any decent paintings. Most other paintings second rate or worse. Very derivative of other works. The first rule about art is that it should have some recognisable meaning. Difficult if not impossible to understand the majority of paintings in the Tate Modern. Lots of installations scattered through the rest of the building. Hard to fathom how anyone could judge whether they are art or not. I suppose the artist themselves consider their product art and somehow others agree. What is art and how do we recognise it? That is the question. Cannot help to note a preponderance of female artists. The major exhibition on at the moment is a large sculpture/installation consisting of wooden triangle boxes containing waste dirt in which weeds have been allowed to grow. This is the art. We watch the weeds grow. The boxes are watered and have solar lights to make the weeds grow. Reminds me of a Yoko Ono installation that came to Australia a few years ago. Not that it was any good either. The one room with good paintings is good. Makes the rest look bad. Who picked the good paintings? And who now picks the bad paintings and installations? Visited The Globe to see what was on and collected a programme for April. We spent some time at The Borough Market. Sat and watched a woman demonstrating how to make Rarebit out of Spider Crabs. Also Gnocchi Rarebit. I sampled enough for a small meal. She was also spruiking a new beer and I washed the various Rarebits down with beer samples. All very enjoyable. More people at the market than last time we were here if you can believe it. Our soup woman from last time no longer in attendance. Large queues to get food. Bought some cheese from a bloke who originally worked with someone from Milawa Cheese. He volunteered this info. Jenny asked him if he could tell where we were from and he told us. Small World. He was from a small country that is within Spain. I cannot recall the name. Walked across Millennium Bridge then along London Wall to Moorgate Station which of course is being refurbished. Typical London. So much is being refurbished. I have been in London long enough now to make a statement. I am pleased to say that English Girls still wear stockings. It is a pleasure to look at nice legs instead of the acres of flesh that has been shaved to within an inch of its life which is the norm in Australia. I have a painful right hip. Kept waking me up through the night. The main difference between now and 50 years ago is that I could walk or jog all day and all night then. And frequently did. Cant do that now. Finally met Tosan who changed our TV. To bed at 10.00PM Wednesday 30th Mar Arrived 5.15 AM after long trip Melbourne Sydney Singapore Heathrow. Jenny ill for the Sydney to Singapore trip. So much so that the crew threatened to not let her back on the flight from Singapore to London. After some discussion they asked her if she felt she should get on the plane. They carefully put the question - are you willing to make the decision yourself? Jenny said she would continue. This did not generate a lot of confidence in anyone who heard her or could see her. But she got better and survived the 14 hour trip without any further vomiting. She actually got some sleep and came off the plane OK. I had coffee and Jenny had tea and we shared toasted wholemeal bread at Heathrow for breakfast. Took the Piccadilly Line to Kings Cross. Went up to the Concourse to have a look around. Then went outside the building to have a look at both Kings Cross and St Pancras Stations. Sunny day with just a hint of clouds. But it stayed more or less sunny all day. Finally made our way to the Metropolitan Line and came to Preston Road. Found 42 Whycam Hill without too much trouble. Tina who is Nigerian was waiting for us and made us very welcome. Tina is Posan's mother. Loft is small but it has everything we need and what we don't have we will buy. It could do with an armchair though. The television doesn't work so far. We have spent the day walking around the Preston Road Shops. Lots of Polish retail shops of the grocery/delicatessen type. Actually quite a lot people who appear to not speak English. Shopkeepers even. Took the bus to Wembley Central but found that even though there were bigger and more shops than Preston Road they did not sell anything that was not on sale at Preston Road. Lots more people though. Jenny thought they looked more run down in the Wembly Central area. A much more variation of ethnic people. Lots of people with dark coloured skin. Came home at 4.45 to have an OK meal of fish and chips. Plaice and chips with salad. We were both wanting to have a meal of salad - not having eaten anything except Airline food for 2 days. I am quite confident when I say that airline food is nowhere near as good as it was years ago, Neither is the service. Only some of the attendants give the impression of being sincere. First impression is that London does not look as romantic as the last two times I was here. Maybe it is the long hard trip and I am tired. Maybe I am getting over London. We shall see. To bed at 9.30PM |
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