Friday 20 February 2009

Good morning! Here we are back home again from our short trip to the Capital. We took the train down on Tuesday morning, a really good service, the Wrexham and Shropshire. Bit of confusion over the seating, we had reserved seats that were all over the place, however, the train manager sorted things out and we arrived safely in about three and three quarter hours.

Hoisting our backpacks, we set off from London Marylebone towards our pad for the next few days, the YHA Central London. Just how central it is can best be judged by how long it takes to walk to Oxford Street - about 5 minutes tops!

The best way to see the city is to take one of the bus tours. We used the Original Tour Company - and for £68 we had two days use, two adults, two children and a '5' year old (special winter offer, buy one day get another free - ends 28 Feb). You can get off and on at loads of place along the route(s), but on the first afternoon, we took the red tour all round the main sites, Horse Guards, 'Big Ben', The Houses of Parliament, The London Eye, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, the back of Buckingham Palace, Lambeth Palace etc etc ETC...

The following day we took the bus for s short hop down to Westminster Pier (in the shadow of 'Big Ben' and Parliament) for our complimentary boat trip (included in the bus ticket!) up to the Tower. We hopped off here to take a look inside the Tower of London. First though, lunch was eaten - outside from one of the kiosks - around £20 for the five of us, not bad I guess. Then in to the Tower itself, £46 for a family of 5 - again not that bad, one supposes (we're just spoiled having National Trust and English Heritage memberships - pay once for the year, get in everywhere for free - some of these would probably run to around £50 for the five of us).

After the Tower a short hop on the bus back down to Westminster for a trip on The Eye. Now, as a confirmed Acrophobic I was a little trepidatious. However, THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR. It was by any stretch a fantastic experience. The thing is so stable, you get no sense of rocking, just a smooth ride round the outside of a gigantic Ferris wheel and you can see for miles. It really is brilliant. It can't cure acrophobia, but it's not designed to.

And then, back on the bus for a ride back to base. Just a quick note on the Hostel. This was state of the art. Clean, bright, minimal, not too noisy - brilliant. We shared a six berth room, with three bunks. The boys had the tops and we slept on the bottom. Personally, I had two really good nights of sleep, so I have no complaints.

So to Thursday. Booked for the 4.33 train home, we had a few hours to spare. This time we took the blue route on the tour, should have stopped at the corner of Piccadilly and Regent Street but it didn't. We eventually found out that the stop was on a side street just off Piccadilly Circus. This tour took us into Theatre land and then back out towards the Museums, the Science, National History and V&A.

Not keen on the big queues for the Nat Hist (Darwin's 200 birthday) or the Sci, we trundled into the V&A. A calming few hours spent looking at various antiquities we set off for the train at twenty to four, having bought tea on the way...

Tuesday 17 February 2009

We're off today for a couple of days in England's capital. The boys have never been before so they're as excited as excited things! It's a wonder how they managed to go to sleep last night. Our eldest had a bit of a late night as he went to see a production based upon Charles Dickens's classic Great Expectations. It's quite amazing but he hasn't read the book and he knew nothing of the story before hand, but he gave an incredible account of what he'd seen. My only disappointment was the apparent non-appearance of Mr Pumblechook. But then he was tired and maybe that particular character had passed him by.

As a consequence of the London trip, I've been charging round trying to get all of our deliveries done. And here's an observation based upon that activity. Why are old people able to manage to keep hold of the tattiest fivers and tenners, and keep them safe just for me to come round to deliver their goods and collect payment? I mean, they don't seem to be able to manage it with twenties - they're always so crisp and sharp that you are at risk of losing a finger. Not so those smaller denominations...

Friday 13 February 2009

OK all you paraskavedekatriaphobes, listen up. THERE IS NOWT BAD GONNA HAPPEN JUST BECAUSE IT'S FRIDAY 13th. No really it won't. Being born on the 13th of the month (a Saturday by the way) and having a brother and a sister who were both born at home, at number 13, and being the 13th grandchild of my Dad's parents etc I should know. It's not an unlucky number, and therefore, neither is Friday 13th of any month. So get up from under that duvet and go out and face the world.

Is Spring here in Blighty? I mean, it seems to be a little warmer round 'r way than of late. Daffs and other such flowers are slowly pushing their delicate little heads up out of the ground, and whilst there's no wash of yellow just yet, I don't think that it'll be long. Positive thoughts, that's what we need. Go on, I dares ya...

Thursday 5 February 2009

We've had some snow in Blighty. Not a great deal in the grand scheme of things, but enough to send some parts of the country into complete meltdown (sorry about the anti-pun). Over here in Shropshire it's not been that bad - we've had perhaps an inch all told, other parts of the country have had more, but still not enough for all the nonsense panicking that usually accompanies such weather. I mean, today's headline in the Daily Express, 'Now they've run out of grit!' I don't know about the veracity of the statement, but it's the hands in the air, 'Oh my God! What are we going to do?' childishness of it all which so antagonises me. Now they say that you get the newspapers you deserve, and in this country we have the Express, the Mail, the Sun, the Mirror and the Star...

We were all sat round the radio the other day, with the boys hoping against hope that school would be cancelled for the day. Alas, no such luck - we're not exactly out in the sticks, I mean the primary school is only half a mile away, along a very busy main road. So, no chance of the school being closed, unless it suffers something like a boiler break down. As for the secondary school, well there's a better chance of them getting a day off, but that's only because its catchment is so much wider and some of the kids in the outlying areas could genuinely have trouble getting in.