London

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On the way back to London we caught up with Tim and Shirley for a few hours, in Redruth, and we swapped holiday tales as they had travelled from Australia and toured Italy and France.



Whilst in London I managed to squeeze in a couple of games of both tennis and table tennis and it was nice that players remembered me from the last time I played a few years ago. I was lucky enough to get tickets to be a participating audience member at a recording of my favourite comedy TV programme “Would I Lie To You” which took place at Pinewood studios. Even though we had the “invitation” to attend , entrance was organised on a first come first serve basis. Although we arrived well before the designated time (not according to Joyce!) we just squeezed in. It was my fault as we stopped for takeaway tea at the local train station. The 5 minutes extra it took could have easily cost us a place which would have been very frustrating as it 90 minutes to get there and also I had been looking forward to going to it as soon as I had received the email confirmation whilst we were still in Australia.



We spent a day in Brighton where our son Ken was in a charity basketball tournament taking place on the beach! Ken loves his basketball and plays 3 times a week and also coaches a couple of Ladies teams. Recently he played in Lyon, France. We were keen to see him play and managed to get there to see his team play only two games before the rain and freezing wind came and the tournament had to be called off. His team won both their games and would have been in a good position to get through to the finals.



We met up with some Australian friends, Colin and Fiona who had never been to London before. We spent a day with them and took them via a river bus to Greenwich. It was pretty chilly on the hill by the Meridian Line and the views could have been better. After some quick street food (Huge German Hot Dogs) we took them via the Docklands Light Railway past Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs to the Tower of London. We did not go in as we did not have sufficient time. Nearby was the Monument, commemorating the Great Fire of London (1666) that started at a bakery in Pudding Lane and Leadenhall Market which retains its elegant Victorian character.



But I reckon the highlight of the day was having cocktails and dinner at the top of the “Walkie Talkie” office skyscraper where there are spectacular views over London. I am sure that they both will remember the evening for a long time.



On our final night before we left on our trip, we had a family dinner at a Michelin Star fine dining French restaurant in East London, on the edge of the City. This restaurant is special to my two sisters as the restaurant is in, what remains of, their old school dinging/gym hall! The rest of the school was demolished years ago. So whilst enjoying a fabulous meal they were telling tales of them exercising here in their green bloomers, what a picture that would have made!

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