Maurice man-gina & the meridian

---

Nicola decided to come down to London for the weekend seeing as it was her last in the UK before heading off to South East Asia for 9 weeks.

It was a pretty miserable day so we bussed to Greenwich, which from my flat takes about 10 minutes. We walked around the Old Royal Naval College and the Old Queens house, both are full of paintings, a lot of them featured travelers voyages such as Captain Cook.

Nic and I were in hysterics at one of the paintings, it was of a guy who looked like Napoleon, but he had his pants pulled up so far that he was probably immediately rendered infertile. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I have an everlasting mental picture anyway, gross.

After laughing at Maurice Man-gina for a good while we bumped into a lady with her kid who must have been about 6 years old. I’ve never felt more sorry for a kid in my life. If she grows up to be like her mother she is doomed. We overheard the following conversation
Little girl “So if the Queen dies her husband becomes the king?”
Weirdo mother “Wrong”
Little girl “But why?”
Weirdo mother “Because he isn’t a king, he’s a prince consort!”

… the weirdo mother then reeled off a massive spiel about prince consorts and the history of the British royal family.

Little girl “Sh*t I’m bored can I play with my toys and dolls now” - (OK so I made up that last bit, but streuth that’s all a bit heavy for a 6 year old)

Next was a visit to the Greenwich Royal observatory, where a lot of famous astronomers have lived and worked such as Halley (famous for the comet that bears his name) and is the site of the prime meridian or 0 degrees longitude. In the courtyard they have brass strips in the ground marking the exact site of the line of the meridian, I stood with one foot on either side, meaning I had a foot in each hemisphere! (East & West)

We had the hugest feed of chinese for tea at a local restaurant, it was so good that me and the flatties have gone back every second sunday for a feast.

---