And then we were four

The last two days have been a bit of a whirlwind. Yesterday morning we welcomed Chris and Stu at our garden flat as they started the UK leg of their holidays. Dripping Italian elan and having seen many wonders of the Italian world in their month in Rome, Florence, Ravenna and Bologna, they quickly began to acclimatise to the seedy charms of good old London. They know London well and I suspect, the city has the feel of a home away from home for them as for us. I call London “the mother ship” because this city really dominated the way Australia was configured from the earliest days of colonial expansion. We know the English as only former colonials (or servants) can.

So, having stowed their bags, we had a nice walk in the late summer sun and took our lunch at the Portuguese restaurant Estrela just down the road. They left for their digs over by Farringdon once the apartment was ready, and we had decided to meet up for dinner at the Sir John Oldcastle Pub, a Waterstones pub. So good to have family, our own people, close by!

Today we met at the British Museum. We had all been there before but I was especially wanting to look at the Sutton Hoo exhibition in Room 41. The Netflix film “The Dig” tells the remarkable story of this archeological find at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, and it had peaked my interest. I wasn’t disappointed. I had read that the film had utilised all of the artefacts from the dig very carefully so that they got it right.

The British Museum in summer is crazily busy. I vow never to visit at this time again. They need to institute timed tickets I am sorry to say.

After our exertions there, we had a healthy and tasty lunch at Farmer J. Great food! Chris and Stu then took me to the extraordinary Liberty Department Store, while Graham went off to the pub for a quiet pint. Now this Tudor building holds all kinds of highly priced luxury goods. I was looking for Atkinson’s Amber Empire perfume but alas none there. As it was we bought nothing but it was tremendous to see how the other half shop!

Tomorrow Graham and I have a tour of the “Palace of Westminster” aka parliament. Lots of bucket list items being ticked off on this trip.

Go well everyone!Baca selengkapnya