Slept in until 7.00AM. Blood Pressure 122/63 Pulse 65.
Listened to a radio programme about Kim Philby. Never admit anything was his motto. Interesting man. Must have been brave. Then I listened to a programme on Evelyn Waugh which was even better. I could read all his books over and over again. Which I have done until I pretty well know them by heart. Pity he did not write more. Why was he so stupid about labour governments and the catholic church? Hard to say. He probably would have wept and prayed at the feet of Mrs Thatcher. A perfect example of honour the work not the man. Had a piece of good luck in the shower. For some reason I put the toilet top down after going to the toilet first thing. When I threw my toothbrush over the top of the shower screen after I had finished cleaning my teeth it ricocheted off the hand basin and alighted on top of the toilet bowel - and luckily the top was down. We would have definitely had a Jerry Seinfeld situation. The water in London is hard. It does not taste like water. Its hard to get a lather up. Not like our pure water at Tarnook. Left home at 10.30 and went via Kings Cross to Ladbroke Grove. We topped up our Oyster cards at Kings Cross. Walked from Ladbroke Grove Tube to Portobello Road. Lots of stalls. Lots of food stalls. Lots of people. A number of quite talented buskers. One group consisted of a father on tambourine and backing vocals, a mate on bass and backing vocals, and twin brothers - one on guitar and vocals and one on drum box and vocals. The twins were identical and must have had a Caribbean mother because luckily they had her hair and not their fathers. And they made good use of it. Quite talented. Put on quite a concert with comments etc between songs. Cannot help but notice that the buskers in London struggle to do well as far as payment goes. I would say that my mate Bill does better in Benalla. Seriously. Lots of people surging about. Thousands and thousands. A great ethnic range. Seemingly all of them tourists. Cannot help but notice the behavior of people of the middle east. They come to London and willingly take part in multi culturalism and enjoy the experience but at home their only objective is to make people conform and to preserve honour. I had a bratwurst. Quite good. Jenny had a falafel. She claimed it was better than my bratwurst. I took advantage of every food sample that was being handed out. I think the British like the Australians like their foreign food to be mild. No sample struck me as being unusual. Or spicy. Of course Portobello Road looks nothing like it did 45 years ago. My memory is that the streets were wider. Stalls were smaller. Not many food stalls. Not many people. No shops along the street as far as I can recall. Just stalls in the middle of the street. Its disturbing when your memory is not perfect. Why don't I remember it perfectly? Now there are a myriad of stalls and shops. Some very specialist shops with expensive silver, gold, jewels etc. We went into one jewelry and painting shop and Jenny saw some big money being handed around. There were even some very small mini malls. I walked to the end of one and had a very satisfying conversation with an artist who sold reasonably good pictures. Some were his own work but most of were examples of friends and family. He specialises and trades in late 19th - early 20th century small landscapes in the style of Constable and the pre Raphaelites. But he only had 3 or 4 painting of this type with him. Very personable man. Would make a good friend. He said I should definitely go to Christies and Sothebys. We took the 23 bus back to Liverpool Street Station. Very interesting. We did a small circle and actually went back and crossed over Portobello Road. We got the bus at Trellick Tower which apparently is one of the landmarks one should see when you come to London. Interesting drive back to the city until we came unexpectedly to Oxford Street then through Piccadilly Circus and finally to Liverpool Street. We watched the Grand National on TV. Dont know how they call it a horse race. Its more of an endurance. They claim the horses like it but I am not convinced. But it did happen 45 years ago the first saturday I was here. A number of horses were killed including one owned by Americans. A lot fell today but we don't know how many were killed. Maybe they keep it secret now. It will come out in time I guess. We then watched Dads Army. The Missing 500 pounds. Watched a history of Top of The Pops in the 70's. The standard had already dropped since I left in 1971. Got worse as time went on. Would only watch a history of Top of The Pops in the 80's to see how bad it was. No mention of Jimmy Saville or Rolf Harris ever being involved in the show. They have already been wiped from history. Blood Pressure 120/59 Pulse 62
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