Lost in London

We are both sleeping later and later as our body clocks finally adjust, which means I wake at 6 and Lyn after 8. We meandered out the door intending to be in time to get a decent spot for the changing of the guard at the palace. But we left something behind and had to go back for it, and the buses were slow to come and moved very slowly through the morning traffic, and we went to Maccas for toilet and coffee, and anyhow, we didn't arrive early at all. However, we found ourselves a good spot to watch the comings and goings. The horse guards trotted by, and one group of guardsman marched past, and then the other lot, and then the horses came back. Small, but fiercely determined Japanese attempted to jostle me from my spot at the railings, while another attempted to photograph events by resting her iPad in Lyn's hair. I thought they had a reputation for courtesy, but perhaps it is a quality that doesn't travel. We headed off toward Hyde Park catching glimpses of the ceremonial shouting and stamping on the other side of the fence.

At Wellington's monument we both liked the sculpture of Peace and the Quadriga, and the Australian and NZ memorials were both affecting. From a distance the NZ monument looks like giant star posts hammered into the ground. Up close, looks even more like it.  

star post

 

NZ War Memorial

The Australian monument looks like a grey-green traffic barrier. 

Traffic barrier

Australian War Memorial

I still liked them very much. Then the excitement really began in Hyde Park. We saw squirrels.

And inevitably we also saw ...

By this time my trick knee was causing me considerable grief. We had lunch in the V&A but I scarcely saw much before I had to call it quits. Lyn plied me with Voltaren and by the time we got off the bus at Piccadilly Circus to pick up tickets for tonight, I was ready to face the world again. So we diverted to the National Gallery for a quick tour. Some great stuff in there of course but I was most fascinated by the wonderful portraits of smug 17th century Dutch merchants. One more bus and then a short walk home...

I like the "fourth plinth" project in Trafalgar Square. A modern artist gets to put something on the plinth which is otherwise unused. The current one is striking.

Me with giant blue cock

Three blocks from home I saw a book shop with a sale on. Lyn abandoned me there saying that she would go on ahead. The place was fascinating, but I left with only 4 books. I got home. No Lyn!

She eventually returned. Apparently she had got lost, not once, but twice, on the journey. To put this in perspective, when she left me we were 200 metres from home. She walked in a circle, asked directions, and walked in another circle. She achieved this feat while in the possession of two maps. She did, however, walk in the door with dinner and The Times. Her hero should be Sir Francis Drake, a man with a talent for circumnavigation and an unimpeachable surname.

Tonight we went to ‘The 39 Steps’ at the Criterion. Very funny and the theatre was the perfect setting. Very 1930s.