London

 

Hello everyone. I hope that you are ok and that you are seeing at least some rain.  I am sitting down after having made our tea - a chicken pie - from scratch, and I am now gently fanning myself on the settee in the manner of a Victorian lady, as it has taken it out of me.

We have been away to London this week. We did a couple of shows and went down to Greenwich on the Uber boat - I know, I know. I'll be honest - Uber boats are a bit faster than I expected. I was picturing myself leaning backwards, taking in the sights of London, with my fingers gently bobbing along the top of the water.  As it was, we went fast enough to lift the boat at the front, and I spent most of the journey trying to stop some kids from kicking the back of my chair. 

I've never been to Greenwich before; it's massive. I don't think that you can do everything in one day, and we may not have chosen the right things. There are four big museum things to choose from. We chose the Royal Observatory, which is obviously very important but, from a purely personal point of view, I feel that if you have seen the innards of one clock, you have probably seen them all. We also went into The Queen's House and saw some very famous pictures  - including the Queen Elizabeth Armada painting, and I liked doing that. But it was very hot, and neither of us has the wherewithal for the Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark (Apparently, you can pay to go up the rigging. Why? Wasn't that the job they gave to the most disposable member of the crew?) Mind you - it was a fantastic view up at the Royal Observatory - note how brown the lawns are. It's time to see some rain. "We need it. We need it! (said in a Peter Kay voice). We also visited Greenwich Market. I was hoping for bijou, unusual arty-farty London things but, unfortunately, it reminded me more of Bolton Market, where they get jumpers down off their stalls with a long hook. ("I've got it in a size 20 if that's any good for you!")

We did a couple of theatre visits. The first one was called The Truth - a comedy about adultery. It was very good. At least I think it was. We were a bit late booking, so we had seats with restricted viewing in the Balcony. I should have known when we walked in, and there was a notice saying, "There are 91 steps to the Balcony. Please rest if you need to." We kept going past quite sweary people on the stairs who were trying to negotiate these stairs whilst carrying four gin and tonics. I'm usually ok with restricted views, but I do think that sometimes there is a difference between restricted view seats and a "you've got a cheek asking for money for these" seats, and this may have been one of those times. I did lose lots of the plot, and at one point, I wasn't sure who was with who, so I couldn't always work out why everyone was so upset. 

We also went to see The Producers - the Mel Brooks comedy about er.. The Second World War - more details here. Very funny but still quite shocking. There were lots of Jewish people in the audience - all of them laughing like drains. Musically, it was fantastic but not for the easily shocked. (I am easily shocked, but it was very clever.)

So, we also had pizza at our favourite place on the South Bank and went to Uniqlo to get T-shirts etc. in the sale, and a top time was had by all. Also, we napped  - a lot. At our time of life we find we can't be bazzing all over the Capital without frequent pit-stops. Ah, the joy of being an old bessie.

Anyway, I love London but am always chuffed to get back to Devon - especially when I look into my hanky after I have blown my nose in London. It's black - black, I tell you. I know - I don't need to look.

Anyway, I'm off to catch up on watching the local news with Janine Jansen - who always looks as if she is going on somewhere else afterwards, ironing, reading blogs and Ludwig. Have a good week.