The second last event in April was taking the service on a Wednesday afternoon, St Mark’s Day, at Bayswater Retirement Home. I thoroughly enjoyed this and was well-received. It’s very affirming to be asked when I’d be able to come again. But this is up to my Rector.
The very last event in April was flying to England with my friend Michael on the 30th by SA Express to Jo’burg and overnight by Virgin to London. This was pleasant enough even though I can’t sleep while travelling. A tube ride from Heath Row to Picadilly followed by our first dose of VERY English cod & chips on Shaftsbury Ave, then a taxi in the rain to our flat in Lambeth.
The English weather lived up to its reputation: cold & wet for the 1st 10 days or so then unpleasantly hot & humid.
Because Michel had never been to the UK (or anywhere else outside SA & Lesotho) we did the whole tourist thing; it was a blessing for me to see so many familiar things through new eyes. We spent most of our time in London – my favourite place in the world. It’s impossible to give a blow-by-blow account of all we did, but included: a ride on the London Eye, high above the city; from there a boat ride on the Thames to the Tower of London and the home of Toc H nearby; a visit to Mme Tussauds which has taken over the Planetarium and turned it into a 4D theatre, the 4th D being all sorts of physical effects built into the seats – an experience never to be forgotten.
We caught a Punjabi concert on Trafalgar square one day and a small part of a London Symphony Orchestra concert also on the Square another day. Excellent street entertainers drew big crowds in lots of places, especially the South Bank Centre and Covent Garden. Shopping in Regent St, and Oxford St was all it’s cracked up to be. The bookshops on Charing Cross Rd were all still there and we spent some time in Foyles – perhaps the biggest book store in the world. The electronics all up Tottenham Court Rd interested Michael more than they did me – he bought a remarkably inexpensive tablet, pad, whatever it’s called. A bus took us direct from Lambeth to the Albert Hall and nearby museums and we walked across Hyde Park to another flat in Bayswater where I slept on a kind of double-bed sized shelf near the ceiling while Michael slept on a pull out bed in the lounge/kitchen. The tinniest of bathrooms completed the place.
We visited Marble Arch and practically every other place you will have heard of in London.
The details will come back as time goes on. We ate out every day - usually a pub lunch of such delicacies as fish & chips, sausage & mash, steak & kidney pudding, Aberdeen Angus Steaks, scampi. Washed down with quantities of beer. All great every time. Why don’t we have such pubs in SA?
From London, we made day trips to such places as Stonehenge (where I’d never been before) and the Warner Bros film studios where the Harry Potter films were made. This was a remarkable experience as the studios had created a tour of all the things that went into the films. I came away with a wizard’s cloak.
Worshipped in Westminster RC Cathedral; Westminster Abbey; St Joseph’s RC church in Sutton; St James in Bayswater (the late Princess Diana’s parish church); my old parish church of St Mary Magdalene.
We flew from London to Edinburgh and spent a few days in Scotland (Again, a first for me). From Edinburgh we went by train to my family in Notts for a few days. It was great to see them all again, including a few great-nephews and nieces I’d never seen before. (It was 15 years since I was last in England.) The instantaneous mutual bonds of affection between Michael and my family members brought a tear to my eye. As well as a great deal of beer to my stomach! While there, we made a trip to Matlock Bath (in Derbys) and took the cable car to the Heights of Abraham.
From there a train back to London to pack for our return to SA. This time we used the overland train from Paddington to Heath Row because it was more convenient from Bayswater. While manoeuvring too much luggage at Paddington I fell on an escalator was spit off the end rather unceremoniously. While Michael stood laughing, a stranger helped me up quite unhurt.
The Virgin flight back to Jo’burg was awful. My knees were pressed hard against the seat in front and I had to pay an extra £30 (R400) for a seat which wouldn’t cripple me. The food put the joke back into airline meals.
So, back to Bloem where I’m freezing to death. Would you believe that I’ve typed this whole thing wearing gloves? There will be lots of lingering impressions of the UK but a few that come immediately to mind: the friendliness of everybody; lots and lots and LOTS of public transport everywhere; the feeling of safety & security all the time; really luxurious toilet paper is the norm; the pubs I’ve mentioned already; everything works as it should; totally free banking including drawing cash from absolutely any ATM; sorry to have missed the Jubilee celebrations but glad to be away before the Olympics; sorry not to have had time to visit friends here and there in England but glad I could spend all the time doing the tourist thing with Michael instead
I’ll go again sooner rather than later..
