Last day

Friday 12 January

Our outing today was back on the epic bus journey to Kingston. This time it was much quicker - no pre-Christmas chaos on the road. Once again we were able to get the front seats on the top deck, so we had a great view. Somewhere around Wimbledon we saw a house with a blue plaque indicating that Nellie Melba had lived there, around 1908 I think.

I love looking at the difference between what you see at ground level and what you see if you look up. Our very ordinary suburb has some nice buildings if you don’t count the gritty shops below.

Street level

Looking up

In Kingston we found an installation called “Out of order”.

Out of order

Rob pointing out to a man that leaning on the end was a bad idea!

We had lunch in a little French place by the river, then hopped on another bus which took us to Richmond.

Riverside at Kingston

We passed some grand houses and hopped off at a pretty stretch of river leading to the town and some big Georgian (I think) buildings.

Riverside at Richmond

Richmond

Another bus took us to Clapham Junction (eventually!) and we had the joy of what seemed like a hundred school kids shattering the calm of the afternoon ride. Then it was a train back to Streatham Hill.

We returned to my favourite restaurant, Gazette, for dinner before Rob and Judy escorted me, and helped with the case, to Brixton and farewelled me at the station. I am now ensconced in the ibis Hotel somewhere near Heathrow ready for an early start in the morning.

Windsor

Thursday 11 January

We’ve learned a bit about our local trains, one of which is that most trains to or from Streatham Hill are delayed or cancelled. So today we took the precaution of leaving earlier in order to be sure of our connection at Clapham Junction. It was a good move as the first one was cancelled, as was one when we were coming home. Having allowed time all was well for our journey onward to Windsor.

Clapham Junction

My friend Kim (we met her in Prague when she came to see Judy B) was waiting on the station for us and walked us through the town telling us all about life in Windsor along the way. I had forgotten how huge the castle is and how it looms over the whole town.

Windsor Castle

The old station is now a shopping centre.

I remember this crooked shop from 1979.

It was sad to see that they now have huge security barriers at various intervals. Kim told us that they even close the front of the letterboxes when they are changing the guard, so you can’t post a letter close to the castle at those times. This morning I was looking for a rubbish bin on the station at Clapham Junction and couldn’t find one. They have been taken away as they are a security threat. I had to take my rubbish into the cafe and leave it in a bowl on the ledge.

Which is Kim’s house?

Kim took us to lunch at The Two Brewers which is directly opposite her home and right beneath the castle. Next door is the famous Long Walk which was impressive, despite being partly hidden by fog. We had a great meal and a lovely visit with Kim. She has some good stories about living in such an interesting location and will no doubt have a few more after the royal wedding in May.

The Two Brewers

Kim and Heather

This evening we returned once again to Pop-up Brixton and this time the place was alive and buzzing. We had a drink and then shared various examples of the food on sale in the little container booths.

Pop-up Brixton

I have just about finished packing. Tomorrow night I’ll stay in a hotel near Heathrow ready for an early start. Don’t want to risk train delays when I have a flight to catch.

Science Museum

Wednesday 10 January

Look who was in our garden this morning.

Robin

Our first stop today was Brixton and Pop-up Brixton, which was cl osed last time we visited. They were setting up for the day and it was amazing to see what could be made from shipping containers. There was even a wood fired pizza oven in one.

Pop-up Brixton

From Brixton we caught the Tube to Green Park and I was able to show Rob and Judy where I worked in 1979 before crossing into the park.

Underpass to Stratton St, where I worked.

We strolled across the park to the Bomber Command Memorial. Judy’s father flew Lancasters with the RAF in the war, and I thought of Uncle Charles’ service too. While we were there we got talking to a man whose son was a RAF pilot and was killed in a mid-air collision two years ago. It was heart-breaking to hear his story and something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

Bomber Command Memorial

The memorial is close to Hyde Park Corner so we continued there and caught a bus to the Science Museum. Rob was now in his element and keen to show us some of the things he had seen the other day, like this incredibly detailed working model of a metal-working factory.

These lathes were tiny.

They have a fantastic space display, including the Apollo 10 spacecraft.

Apollo 10

We also saw Stephenson’s Rocket.

The Rocket

Upstairs they had a huge display of aircraft. This one is Alcock and Brown’s Vickers Vimy, the first plane to cross the Atlantic.

Vickers Vimy

Like the other museums we have visited you would need a very long time to see it all. Definitely worth a return visit in the future.

Home on the Tube

To Balham

The Underground

Tuesday 9 January

Friends of Rob and Judy met us at the entrance of the Baker St Tube Station this morning and we all joined a walking tour - Mind the gap! We learned a lot about the history of the Underground - it’s been around for more than 150 years - and saw things that you would never normally notice.

Guess where

One example is the labyrinth diagrams. There’s one on each of the 270 stations and they’re all different. They were part of an art project to celebrate the London Underground’s 150th birthday. More roundels! But they’re not as interesting as the coal holes, thank goodness. I’ve no intention of trying to find and photograph all 270.

231 of 270 labyrinths

Harry, our guide, told us lots of statistics and stories which were really interesting, but which I’ve already forgotten. He explained where some of the lines run. One was built under a main road using the cut and fill method, which is what they’re doing in Melbourne. Another runs along under the Thames embankment and has a set of flood gates which people pass every day without noticing.

Our tour group

He also explained that in the early days many people were illiterate and couldn’t read the names of the stations so the colours and patterns of the tiles on the walls were how they knew where to get on and off. Some of this tiling has been rediscovered and restored. We started at Baker St and finished at Embankment, having ridden on a few trains, been up and down numerous escalators, a lift and many stairs.

Covent Garden tiles

After the tour we returned to Piccadilly and walked to Covent Garden, where we looked around the market, visited the Transport Museum (Rob and James) or the Transport Museum Shop ( Judy, Helen and Heather). We said hello to Covent Garden Opera House and then headed home - on the Tube, of course!

Covent Garden Market

Little dancer

London

Monday 8 January

Happy 2nd birthday Sidney!

A few pictures of views from our bus to the city ....

Brixton

Closer in

Nearly to the river

Westminster Bridge

Horseguards

I’m starting to worry about my obsession with coal hole covers. Today I returned to North Audley Street to see if I could find the rest of the 14 special ones. I already had 2 from the other day and today I added 11 more. There is only one that I couldn’t find and, as there were a couple of bits of construction happening, it was possibly under that.

Watchmaker

Happy with my little collection I caught the bus to Bloomsbury to meet Rob and Judy at the London Review Bookshop. As we left there, thinking about lunch, Rob walked through an entranceway into a courtyard and lo and behold, there was a little French cafe. When we entered, there were a lot of young people in checked pants and white jackets. The cafe was part of the London Cordon Bleu Cooking School and the students were on their lunch break. The young man I talked to had just started and today they were learning about knives. I had a very nice mushroom and chicken soup, but I don’t know if the students had any part in its creation.

From there we decided to check out the Old Bailey. You can’t take bags or cameras or phones etc inside so I collected all those items and went to the coffee place opposite, while Rob and Judy went in to Courtroom 1 to see a trial in action. I had already been in a courtroom (as an observer!) so was happy to read my book in the cafe. R and J were disappointed to find that Rumpole was nowhere in sight, but loved the courtroom action. They came out convinced that the “defendant” was guilty.

This evening we returned to Bar 61, this time for a meal. Once again we were given a very warm welcome by the staff and by Tony, who was in the same spot where we met him last time. At the end of the meal the owner brought out liqueurs, limoncello for Rob and a Spanish hazelnut and coconut liqueur called Avellana for Judy and me. It was heavenly! A great end to a great day.

Bar 61

Little Venice

Sunday 7 January

A leisurely start to Sunday. Actually, every day has a pretty leisurely start. We had our cuppa at Gazette in Balham, stopped at the lovely card shop and bought more cards, then headed across the city to Little Venice. We travelled on the Bakerloo line for part of the journey and I was pleased to see that they still have the lovely Sherlock Holmes tiles on the wall of Baker St Station.

It was a sunny day today and very cold with a biting wind some of the time, but it was lovely to see some sun. Once again we were in a more affluent area with lovely homes. We walked along the canal for a while and it was amazing to see that in just a short distance the landscape changed from elegant homes to old warehouses and then huge modern offices and apartment blocks.

Little Venice

There were lots of narrow boats moored along the canal, sometimes rafted up and sometimes in very nice pens. Only one or two big boats had powered sites. Most of them had to run their engines for power and many had little wood heaters inside. It did not look like comfortable living. However they were right beside Paddington Station so very handy to public transport.

Nice pens, no power

We also saw a couple of interesting foot bridges that could fold up to let boats through. Clever designs but in spots where very few boats would ever pass.

The rolling bridge

Lunch was at Zizzis and I ordered a hanging chicken skewer. I was very surprised when it arrived at the table and was actually hanging on a wrought iron stand. You could slide the chicken down and drop it into the dish of sauce below. Looked strange, tasted great.

Hanging skewer!

Notting Hill

Saturday 6 January

Yesterday I said that I had not taken any photos, but I had. Outside our lunch place I found something interesting set into the footpath and I photographed it. Later on I did a bit of research on the internet and discovered that it was a coal hole cover. I’ve been a bit fascinated by manhole covers for some time but this was only about 30cm in diameter, so too small for a person.

My first and best coal hole cover

These smaller cast iron covers are where coal was poured into the coal cellars of people’s homes in the days before the clean air act (1952). My browsing also turned up something else of interest. In 2004 there was an arts project where well known writers contributed a short verse to be cast onto a coal hole cover and placed in a few locations around Notting Hill.

In front of the Coronet Cinema

Pavement poetry by Margaret Drabble

Today we went to Notting Hill and found four of them. We also had lunch, spent a bit of time in a terrific bookshop in Holland Park and generally enjoyed walking to the various locations past some very lovely London terraces. When we came across a fenced park with nice garden seats inside we naturally thought of the movie “Notting Hill”, but there was no sign of Julia or Hugh.

Somewhat grander than our terrace.

Notting Hill - fenced garden

Found a few different coal hole designs along the way, including one with glass in it. And I’ve discovered that I am not alone in my interest in photographing them. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Opposition here is also a coal hole photographer. I don’t know whether that’s something I should admit to! While we were looking at one in Horbury Crescent, a couple stopped to ask me about my Ugg boots. They have lived there for 15 years and never noticed the special one let alone the others. A whole new world has opened up to them and we saw them studying the pavement as they walked back to their house.

Another pavement poem

As today was Saturday, it was also Portobello Market day, which explained the crowds of people in the street near our coal hole search. Had a stroll through this very long road of market stalls and little shops. This is the place to go if you are looking for silverware, but I expect most of the collectables are dearer here than anywhere else.

Portobello Market