Tuesday 10 February 2015

Dear Old London






Michael and I made the trek from our apartment to Gare du Nord to catch the Eurostar to London.  We left ridiculously early as we wanted to make sure that we did not have a repeat performance of our journey to Belgium and we were certain that there would be increased security measures in place at the station.  We passed two protest marches on our way however we did not hang around to see what they were about.  We arrived to find the station very quiet with no extra police and we passed through customs and security in record time.  Michael didn’t even get the usual grilling from British customs.  He had given the largest of the knives to Tim so we passed through security without a hitch.

The train journey was comfortable and uneventful.  We were lucky as the following day all Eurostar trains were stopped for several hours due to a fire in the tunnel.  We arrived at St Pancras International where we immediately noticed the armed police patrolling the station.  I will never get used to seeing armed police in London – it seems so un-British.

We stayed a few nights in Fulham Broadway before moving to a fabulous apartment at Barons Court.  The apartment was very swish with nice furnishings and top of the range appliances.  We even had access to a gated private garden (I have always wanted to see inside one of those).  The area seemed to be a French enclave with many French people around.  The good news was that the local cemetery teemed with squirrels so it didn’t take long before I was up there with my bag of peanuts.  It was interesting to note that I wasn’t the only mad squirrel lady as others also took time out to feed and watch the squirrels play.  In fact, they were the plumpest squirrels I had ever seen!

Michael and I headed over to Somerset House to view a photographic exhibition Wounded The Legacy of War.  The photographer was the Canadian singer Bryan Adams and the portraits were very powerful, showing British servicemen and women who have suffered life-changing injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It was a sombre and thought provoking exhibition, which portrayed the courage and determination of the injured men and women.

I took myself off to visit Hogarth’s House in Chiswick.  The house was built around 1700 and Hogarth purchased it to be the family’s country house and as an escape from the noise of London (his London home was where the Odeon now stands in Leicester Square).  This struck me as ironic as the A4 roars along side of the house – all 6 lanes of it!  The noise was most distracting as the traffic could be heard in every room of the house.  Nevertheless, the exhibits were very interesting and I was glad I went.

When Tim visited us, he commented that I was full of useless information about London (which he nevertheless imparted to Jess when she arrived).  I came across another gem when I read the book Bizarre London, which I just had to check out myself.  At the southern end of London Bridge there is an enormous white spike that hardly any one notices or knows what it symbolises.  Well, I do now.  It commemorates the tradition of displaying the severed heads of traitors on the original London Bridge.  Things you learn!
 
I visited the National Portrait Gallery to see Hogarth’s self-portrait however I was disappointed to discover that it is currently not on display.  I wandered around the gallery and saw some very good works including an exhibition on the life and works of Lord Snowdon.  I also saw a sculpture created with 10 pints of frozen blood.  Now that is something you don’t see every day (and I wouldn’t particularly want to).

The next stop was the Tate Britain as I wanted to see a particular Hogarth painting that I had seen mentioned at Hogarth’s House.  I couldn’t believe my luck when I arrived to discover that the gallery was holding a special exhibition of Hogarth’s works.  I had a lovely time wandering the exhibition and the rest of the gallery.  If fact, it was so good that I took Michael back a few days later so he could see the gallery for himself.  Michael enjoyed the Henry Moore section, which had a number of sculptures on display as well as some of his drawings.

Tim and Jess gave Michael the book The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson for Christmas and both of us thoroughly enjoyed reading it.  To mark the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s death an exhibition titled Churchill’s Scientists opened at the Science Museum, so we went along to have a look.  The exhibition was very interesting, particularly as it illustrated some of the points made in Boris’ book.  Churchill’s fascination with science led to the scientific achievements that helped Britain win the Second World War.  We then wandered the rest of the museum and both commented how much Michael’s dad would have enjoyed the different exhibits.  I don’t possess a scientific bone in my body however even I found the exhibits fascinating (even if I didn’t fully understand them all).