Titchy had planned our only full day in London with military precision, in more ways than one. We were up nice and early and, while she got ready for the day, I made my way up to the bar next to reception to pick up a couple of cups of tea.
It was all self-service and I was, very clearly, not quite fully awake. I placed my mug under the boiler and pushed the button to start the water flow and then just lost myself in the moment. I only snapped to reality when the boiling water slopped all over my fingers holding the handle of the mug. This made the day of the young lady standing next to me, she laughed her knockers off bless her. I was glad to give her a happy start to the day, it only cost me some finger skin.
We made ourselves look beautiful and made our way through the maze of the hotel corridors and to reception. A large bus was parked up outside and it was slowly being filled with elderly Americans heading for a cruise ship to take them around the Mediterranean.
I helped one couple to get their sizable suitcases down the three or four steps so they could wheel them onto the waiting bus and get chatting with them. They seemed quite lovely and it made me think about the chances of this random conversation, the trillions of chances, decisions and thousands of years of incidents that had had to happen to put me at the top of those steps at the same time as this couple with their suitcases. We would never meet again, of that I’m sure, but we passed like ships in the night and I had a very small part to play in their story in the way that they had impacted mine. I hope they had a nice cruise.
On the way ‘home’ last night, we picked out a place that looked nice for breakfast as we didn’t fancy the hotel, we thought we could do better. It was just a few minutes’ walk up the road and was called The Royal Quarter. There were a few tables outside in the warm morning sunshine, and we selected from a large spinning table our pastries of choice.
As we sat and nibbled at our indulgent breakfast a table of 6-7 American ladies were doing the same thing as us, just about ten times louder. Why do they have to do that? I was just about to move my internal barometer from ‘mildly irritated’ up to ‘annoyed’ when something happened that diffused it all and quickly swung it to ‘entertained’.
One of their party was clearly running a bit late and was walking towards the table, up the street, looking a little confused. One of the louder women stood up and shouted for her in EXACTLY the same New York accent as Janice from Friends. Titchy and I immediately locked eyes and said, at the same time, ‘Oh. My. God. It’s Janice’.
Fuelled up on sugar and memories of light 90’s comedy shows, we set off for another day of London based fun. We had tickets pre-booked for a 2pm slot at the Imperial War Museum and so we had a little time to kill. To keep the WW2 theme alive, we started with a walk to the Bomber Command Memorial at the edge of Green Park.
We made our way past Buckingham Palace, yet again Charlie wasn’t around when we knocked, and along Constitution Hill. We walked through Wellington Arch, another random and glorious monument that you just stumble on as you make your way around London.
I know that Bomber Command and their part in World War Two is a touchy subject for many and the whys and wherefores of their actions is a complicated and thorny subject, particularly when looking back through history and applying today’s thoughts, technology and standards to the discussion. Whatever your view on that, the young men that took to the air were the bravest of the brave and fully deserve to be remembered. As the rear face of the memorial states, “Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it”. I don’t think any words could be more perfectly apt.
Just look at the haunted look on this crewman’s face, we owe these people a great deal.
We wandered through Hyde Park, bristling with runners, cyclists, skaters, footballers, horse riders and pootlers like ourselves. Unencumbered with everyday chores and the mundane tasks that life throws at you, we were totally free to take in the early summer sun and relax.
At the North East corner of Hyde Park we stumbled upon Speakers’ Corner but, alas, there was no-one speaking. It’s always nice to see where these places are, even if they aren’t in use, so that you can imagine them when they are mentioned in the news and say ‘remember when we were there?”. There were lots of information boards telling you about the history of the space and so it wasn’t wasted, but it would have been nice to have heard an argument or two!
After all of this we jumped on the tube and headed to the Imperial War Museum via Lambeth tube and a nice sausage roll and cup of coffee at the café outside the main building.
There were four floors of war themed information and, for me at least, it was magnificent. I bounced around from the Second World War, the history of war themed video games and a gallery of Victoria and George Cross medal winners. It was nectar for me and I couldn’t get enough of it; the short lecture about Alan Turing being particularly jarring and informative.
We had plans for the evening though and, as they say, all good things must come to an end. We headed back to the hotel to refresh and make ourselves look stunning before heading back out into the wild to catch up with some friends who lived in London for dinner.
We booked a table at Mestizo, a Mexican restaurant and tequila bar on Hampstead Road. In Spanish, ‘Mestizo’ describes a person of mixed European and American Indian ancestry and that felt like a lovey fitting tribute to the evening. Two Brits and our two friends from Costa Rica sharing dinner, drinks, stories and laughs surrounded by happy noise in the bustling venue.
Our friend, speaking with the waiter in Spanish, had told him that it was my birthday and so, towards the end of the night there was banging of tables, ‘Feliz Cumpleanos’ being sung, an oversized sombrero sported and shots being consumed. All great fun, doubled of course as my birthday was some five months earlier in the year.
We had already taken on a fair amount of Dutch courage before the birthday shots and so by the time we said our goodbyes and staggered home, the edges of London were more than a little bit blurry.
A brilliant day, filled with all the things I loved. History, travel, good food and better friends.
It was, at last, time for bed as we had more of the same to come.
Itchy Feet and Titchy Feet 