Got up at 6AM. Another sunny day. I hate daylight saving wherever it is. It gets dark too late here. I like it when it gets dark about 5. Got up early because we have to be out of our little flat by 9AM to allow the cleaner in. Blood Pressure 105/72 Pulse 85 We took the train to Finchley Road and then the bus to Muswell Hill to find where I lived in 1969. It wasn't where I expected it to be but finally with the help of google we found it. The house looked smaller. But he person who lives there now assured me it was 27 Redston Road Muswell Hill N.8. The house no longer has a small porch at the front door. And they have opened up their loft. I thought the house was close to Muswell Hill bus station. But it was quite a walk from it. I know I had to walk a little way before I got the bus but not as far as we had to walk today. Still I did have more energy 45 years ago so it may not have seemed so far. Price of houses in Muswell Hill all over 500,000 pounds. Some over 1 million. I stayed in a boarding house. It stayed for a while until I was lucky enough to find a place in a flat in Earls Court. I had already organised my job before I left Australia. I arrived on a Monday so I only had one week to get settled. I did go to flat sharing agencies but by wednesday I still hadn't found anywhere to live so I settled on a boarding house that advertised in the paper. I didn't really like the landlady. She was a bit of a snob and a skite. Her husband was even worse. Ex army corporal who did all his service in India and still thought he was important. Always making racist comments and deploring how the labour government was ruining the country. He was an early hater of the BBC. He refused to watch it. It only preached communism. I wonder if he lived to see Mrs Thatcher on the throne. He would have had a wet dream thinking about her. Muswell Hill has progressed substantially since I lived here. Many more shops and many more people in the streets. Mostly English though. In 1969 I did have the pleasure of watching Red Squirrels out the dining room window every night after tea as they played in the pine trees. I did enjoy watching Top Of The Pops which we did not get in Australia. Everything was new to me so I had to enjoy myself. We had Fish and Chips for lunch in Muswell Hill. And the restaurant was in existence in 1969. But I cannot remember it. The fish and chips were excellent. If a little expensive. We then took a bus to what was supposedly near Hamstead Heath but it wasn't really. We had a long walk to get to Kenwood House. We walked through a very wealthy area on the way to Kenwood. Some houses would not have been out of place in Brighton. Obviously new builds. We finally arrived at Kenwood House. I'm certain I have been to Kenwood before but the house I visited must have been some other building on the Estate. I have not been to the real Kenwood House. It was worth the long walk to get there. Some great paintings. One absolute first class self portrait by Rembrandt. Was he being honest and did he actually look like he depicted himself. He made himself look wise. And humble. Why did he do so many self portraits? Very well appointed rooms. Many other good paintings. Gainsborough, Turner, Van Dyke etc. Very good volunteer guides. Excellent really. Nice furniture to sit on in each room. Not a lot of people there. We had an interesting conversation with one of the volunteer guides. She explained that she was going through mourning. Someone had died. She didn't say who she was mourning except it was important to her. She was dealing with this by having Art therapy. She has an Art Therapist. She does watercolors with her Therapist. She works one day a week at Kenwood because she wants to have at least a small foot on the ladder of Art. She is shortly going to China to teach English. There is a great view of London from Kenwood House. Must be spectacular on a clear day. It was OK today but the sky was a bit misty. We walked the length of Hamstead Heath on the way to Hamstead Heath overground station. Quite a walk. Mostly through forest. But as per usual in London there were construction works going on. Which meant we had to make diversions. It appears they are going to re introduce Beaver into Hamstead Heath. Lots of digging and construction fences. We came home via the overground to West Hamstead and then by the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines to Preston Road. I had a little chat with our Afghan Shop owner. I asked him if he had a shop in Afghanistan. He said he was a teacher. Arrived home about 6.30. The cleaner did not come. Blood Pressure 123/67 Pulse 72 Nothing on TV. I mean nothing. This is with 120 channels. Late at night there was a Liam Neeson thriller. The Producers had obviously got a lot of money to produce a film with lots of work for stunt men. Lots of irreverent car chases. Lots of irrelevant violence. Film was OK apart from these over the top excesses.
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