Life Continues

Overview for the past week or so.

Monday 26 March we checked out the National Army Museum with an excellent exhibition on war horses. I thought of you Kath while appreciating the amount of work these beautiful animals endured during the wars. I have to take my hat off to the British as this museum is wonderful. 
As this museum is in Chelsea we wandered home and found ourselves walking through the grounds of The Royal Hospital  Chelsea mixing it up with the men in red. These Chelsea Pensioners seem to live a monastic life but look resplendent in their red coats and garb. A very peaceful experience.

Tuesday 27 March started with a very scary moment when a nasty little cornflake broke my tooth. A cornflake! Of course to see a dentist or doctor here, one must register in advance at the practice, so there was a bit of a panic as the nerve was exposed and I was starting to climb the wall. I had visions of Tom Hanks in Castaway making home dentistry my new hobby. Luckily after many phone calls & visits I got it sorted with a temporary filling. The lovely Indian dentist so charming in his turban said it may not last a week! So far so good. A hear a crown coming on.

Wednesday 28 March we spent the morning at one of our favourite colourful spots, Camden. I always feel I have been dropped onto another planet here as everything is so vibrant, bustling and a bit crazy.
That evening was a highlight for me. 'She Stoops to Conquer' at the National Theatre. An ingenious English comedy of chaos, courtship and the dysfunction family. Katherine Kelly (Becky from Coro) was brilliant.

Thursday 29 March - John has given you the run down on this one - Another Boring Thursday(not).

Friday 30 March. Another highlight 'Vivaldi and Handel  by Candlelight'' at St Martin in the Fields. We had front seats so we could see the perspiration on the musicians brows and feel their concentration. Uplifting and exciting.
Post concert, standing outside the church waiting for the bus our senses were shaken. About 2000 cyclists, skateboarders, cycle taxis and anything on wheels appeared from Haymarket. Some had flashing lights and boom-boxes attached, so it was a real spectacle. They made their way through Trafalgar Square and then disappeared down The Strand. The noisy colourful mass of jostling cyclists, some toppling and crashing, who brought the traffic to a halt for at least 15 minutes and not a copper in sight. Just as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared and we jumped upon our #360 bus and made our way home.

Saturday 31 March was mooching around Oxford Street Day. John had to pull me out of the Christian Louboutin shoe department at Selfridges. Just love those red soled French beauties. Real ART.

Sunday 1 April. A very cool spring day. Our first plan was to visit Apsley House, a gift to the Duke of Wellington by a grateful nation. Well worth a visit!
This residence with the address No1 London, was definitely Party Central whilst D of W was alive and kicking. It had fallen on to hard times but is now restored to it's former glory. I must mention here that Napoleon Bonaparte plays a big part in the D of W history especially when you are confronted by a 3-4 metre tall marble naked statue of the little Emperor/ little General.
Back in Hyde Park munching on hot dogs ( I know, but when in Rome) we watched about 500 in-line skaters assemble, then file off in snake-like fashion down Knightsbridge completely stuffing traffic flow in the process. A brilliant sight on such a crisp, spring London day.
Then off to Marble Arch to check out No 10 Hyde Park Place ( London's smallest house). Erected in 1810 over an alley-way entrance in an effort to stop grave robbers stealing recently buried corpses of those who had the misfortune of being hung. The Public Hanging Gallows was just along from Marble Arch. This skinny house is spartan to say the least, the ground floor behind the front door is just an alley, 1st floor is a tiny bathroom, 2nd floor an equally small sized bedroom, accommodation only a nun would love. In fact this property and the one next to it had been taken over by a group of nuns who have sworn a vow of silence so they could concentrate on praying for the souls of the many now, long- dead,hanging victims. 

Monday 2 April. We had BIG plans for the day...but these were destroyed in one foul blow! ***T R A F F I C  *** J A M**** 
This mother of all traffic jams was at Victoria and being on the upper deck of our lovely red London bus we had a one hour, bird's eye view of the chaos & mayhem.
My goodness, me thinks, what on earth will the Olympics do to this city???
So, we flagged Plan A and switched to Plan B by finally reaching Trafalgar Square, staggering off the bus and found ourselves in 'The Harp'. This was voted Britain's Best Pub 2011 ( I suggest that Binnie, the landlady rigged the result). Then to fantastic Leadenhall to have a drink with the local gentry in 'Broker's Wine Bar' overlooking the grand halls. At first I thought that women were not allowed in this establishment as I felt conspicuous being the only female but after a while a couple of fine dames sauntered in. Phew!

Tuesday 3 April and we checked out The Jewish Museum.
Our only comment is that the nine million pound make-over has produced a fantastic facility in Camden. Also, have to say it was a little freaky when approaching the bomb-proof front entrance armed by two burley guards. The front door of this fortress was at least 20cm thick steel and reinforced glass. The ageing, enthusiastic volunteer guides were apiece of work in themselves, being highly intelligent and very knowledgeable. They had a great sense of humour and didn't hold back expressing their views. Good stuff.
Now we finished off the day at Ronnie Scott's with the pleasure of a unique experience listening to an 'A' grade nutbag Sarah Gillespie. An interesting musician-songwriter living in a bit of a time warp. She'd be the perfect 1960's weekend urban guerilla. Her latest and self-proclaimed masterpiece is a thing called  'War With Trevor' - a 15 minute diatribe which extols the virtues of the dysfunctional and lambasts the middle,upper class, politicians, business people and meat eaters.
It was a Double Bill and the second act was the main act of the evening being a punky jazz combo 'Get the Blessing' led by the brilliant bassist ex Portishead.
We loved it, especially the female drummer Daisy Palmer who had an uncanny resemblance to my friend Doc Martin- Vicki.

Wednesday 4 April and a lovely morning in Covent Garden checking out the 210 eggs of The Big Egg Hunt. These hand-painted and cleverly designed eggs  had been spotted all over London but were now scattered across Covent Garden. A magic sight. 
Now this evening we had booked ourselves to hear Christy Moore a legendary Irish singer-songwriter who we knew little about,perform at the Royal Festival Hall. We were warned, when we took our seats by the young Irishman next to me that most of the audience would by Irish and possibly had had a few, a bit like him. We did notice a distinctive smell of Guinness wafting throughout the auditorium. This guy also anticipated that there might be some hecklers, shouting and quite a bit of audience participation. We were ready and strapped ourselves in for the bumpy ride. The 3000 sell-out crowd went nuts over this ageing Irish troubadour and his trusty sidekick guitarist Declan or Deccy as Christy called him. It was an emotionally charged concert. Christy's Irish accent was so strong and the lyrics so Irish ( you know what I mean ) we couldn't understand a thing at times.
This was a one-set concert so NO breaks with the inevitable  repercussion of endless devotees with full  bladders washing around their systems.Throughout the entire concert there was a constant flow of  weavers and staggerers bumping to and fro to the loos like dogem cars at a fairground, with no thought to keeping quiet in the process. When returning they invariably got themselves lost and one could hear 'Seamus, over here' or ' Sean, back here'. All of this was quite normal and no one battered an eyelid. It was just the way it is when you go to a concert attended by 3000 Irish fans. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Thursday 7 April took us back to the Apple Store at Covent Garden, the ultimate one-stop shop where the staff will sort all your problems. Our heros.
We decided to splurge this evening and had booked ourselves into a delightful 50 year old French Provincial restaurant just off  Square called ' La Poule au Pot'. I was all geared up to speak French all evening which was great fun. One thing I noticed was that at most of the tables around us at least one person at each table could speak excellent French. Well, it was Sloane Square darling, and I guess most of the clientele spend their hols in France.

Good Friday 6 April - The Messiah at The Royal Albert Hall 2.30pm matinee
An uplifting experience and highly charged performance. Everyone stood to attention during the Hallelujah chorus which brought a tear to the eye. Five encores which indicates the level of appreciation. 

That brings us up to date as John has supplied a run down on our frantic Saturday at the Oxford/Cambridge boat race on the Thames yesterday.

Until next time. Cheers Julia