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

Oxford Street

Friday 5 January

The most important event of the day was the collection of Rob’s new glasses. He can now see properly again and I can stop feeling quite so guilty for breaking his old ones.

Because we were in Oxford Street, Judy and I were keen to have a look at the shops, with their January sales, but we knew Rob would find that torture, so after lunch he made a return visit to the Science Museum, hopefully to see things better than he did the other day and we shopped. I now have a replacement for the hat I lost. I like it, even though it’s pink!

We all met back at the house at the end of the day. Rob had had a couple of good trips on the Tube and Judy and I were happy that the 159 bus came along just as we arrived at the bus stop.

I haven’t taken any photos today - too busy shopping - so here’s “one I prepared earlier”. London water tastes fine, but when you drink your tea black it leaves a horrible scum all round the inside of the cup. You have to use a Scotchbrite to scrub it off.

Scum

St Albans

Thursday 4 January

Quite late the other night, we got chatting to a man at the bus stop in Balham. He told us we should get out of London because it’s rubbish and go to St Albans. So today we got out of London and went to St Albans, which is about 20 miles north(ish) of London. Once again London’s public transport was amazing - a bus to Streatham Station (not Streatham Hill) and a Thameslink train straight through to St Albans. No changing!

It was quite a walk from the station into the town centre but once we got there it was terrific, with lots of half timbered buildings and little alleyways.

St Albans

We followed one of these to the cathedral, where Rob and I spent ages talking to a man who volunteers there and told us all about the building. Before he retired he was a structural engineer and worked on rescuing Christopher Wren’s “smaller masterpiece” (St Stephen Walbrook) from sliding into the river it stands beside. Apparently Wren wasn’t interested in foundations, only what you could see above ground!

The clock tower

St Albans Cathedral is on the earliest site of Christianity in Britain. There has been a Cathedral there for a thousand years and there was a church for 400 years before that and another church for 400 years before that. Part of the cathedral is made of bricks from the Roman town of Verulamium the remains of which are in the valley below the town.

St Albans Cathedral

After lunch we walked to the site of Verulamium, which is now parkland. On a very windy hill in the centre is a building protecting a Roman mosaic, which was part of a large villa. How amazing it must have been when they unearthed this mostly intact mosaic! You can see the hypocaust - under floor heating.

Mosaic floor

Back down the hill was the museum, which had a wonderful display of artefacts and more mosaics. It also houses the Sandridge Hoard, a collection of Roman gold coins unearthed nearby, by a guy on his first outing with a metal detector.

Scallop shell mosaic in museum

Roman god

Roman glassware

The Sandridge hoard

A great day out and well worth a visit should you be anywhere in the vicinity.

The cathedral from the mosaic hill

The V & A

Wednesday 3 January

This morning we returned to Brixton to have a look at Pop Brixton, a sort of pop up market made from shipping containers. We saw the shipping containers but couldn’t go in because they are still closed for the holidays. We did, however, return to the African fabric shop where Judy had seen some dhurries that she liked ... and she bought one, after searching at home for quite a few years. A great bit of shopping.

Popup Brixton

Lunch was at home, one of the rare occasions we’ve been here at this time. Then it was back in to London to visit museums. Rob went to the Science Museum and Judy and I visited the Victoria and Albert. I loved the display of fashion through the ages.

At least 2 metres wide.

Wasp waist

We looked at some huge Raphael cartoons made for tapestries in the Sistine Chapel. Judy continued on and I headed for the cafe and a cuppa, via more wonderful galleries. The V and A is huge and we only saw a tiny fraction of it. Well worth a return visit, this time with the map so you know where you are and what there is.

The singing Christmas tree

After our museums we caught the Tube to Holborn and one of Sian’s recommended pubs, the Princess Louise. Had a drink and stayed on for a meal. Then it was home on the 59 bus which stopped just around the corner from the pub. London’s public transport is amazing, especially the buses. I like them because you don’t have to walk through miles of passages and up and down stairs and escalators, and you can see where you’re going. The trains, especially the Tube, are pretty fantastic too.

Cosy inside

Somewhere along the way today I lost my beanie, the one I bought in Schwerin when we were so cold. So now I’ll have to make do with the dorky one I knitted, until I find another hat that doesn’t itch. Beanies with giant fluffy, furry pom-poms are all the go here this winter but I can’t see myself in one of those.

National Portrait Gallery

Tuesday 2 January

We started the day at Canary Wharf, having enjoyed the trip in on the Tube. We caught it at Balham as Streatham Hill doesn’t have an Underground Station. Rob loves the Tube, and the speed and acceleration of those trains is pretty impressive. Canary Wharf didn’t look the same as R and J remember and we didn’t find the river but we did find a nice Italian cafe for coffee. It was good to get inside and be warm and dry as the weather was wet and miserable today.

Canary Wharf

You can pick a Henry Moore sculpture.

I like these two.

Canary Wharf

The afternoon was spent at the National Portrait Gallery. It was fantastic to see all those famous portraits of the Tudors in real life. Didn’t take any photos though, I’m afraid. It was too packed with people. But there were Henry and Anne Boleyn and Kathryn Parr and Elizabeth 1 and so many more.

Before we came home we stopped in Streatham High Street at “Bar 61”, which was recommended to us by a couple we met at the cafe on the common yesterday. They knew who we were as soon as we opened our mouths, as the man, Doug, had been in last night and told them about us. A very friendly place. We’ll go back for a meal some time.

Kew Gardens

Monday 1 January

Judy has been longing to go for a walk on one of the commons around here, so today she and Rob walked to the cafe on Tooting Bec Common. I went to the bank in the High St, then caught the bus and met them at the cafe, arriving from the other end. It’s quite a large area with playing fields, tennis courts, playgrounds, woods, open grass, a lake and the cafe.

The cafe

The lake

Later this afternoon we caught the train to Victoria, had a G and T in a pub there and then continued on to Kew Gardens, for the last night of “Christmas at Kew”. This is a trail of over a million lights with gorgeous displays that are matched by music or sound effects. The trail is a mile long and winds it’s way through the Kew Gardens. Of course it was very busy, with lots of families out to enjoy a not-too-cold winter evening.

Christmas at Kew

We really enjoyed the lights but were also fascinated by the number of planes flying overhead, about one every 30 seconds, possibly taking off from Heathrow. A few times they were perfectly silhouetted against the moon ... and they just kept coming.

Plane and moon