sleepy tiger

We were going to visit Wakehurst Place at the end of March, but postponed owing to the national lockdown. Mark took days off on 15th and 16th September; we decided to visit there on 16 September. He checked the bus timetable between Haywards Health and Wakehurst Place and booked a slot for us to enter there at 12.30. Following one-way system, we entered from the temporary entrance upon our arrival and found the picnic table to have lunch. After that, we headed for the water gardens via Black Pond and Iris Dell, and walked down to Westwood Lake via Himalyan Glade. Colourful aquatic flowers were blossoming and showed picturesque scenes with winding rivers and stone bridges. Many trees and shrubs retained green leaves. Upon the arrival of Westwood Lake, we followed the footpath and the broadwalks ... read more

Since 21 March we have always stayed at home or local, haven’t gone anywhere further than Wood Green. However, non-essential shops like clothes and bookshops started reopening in England on 15 June and it made it possible for me to buy presents for my husband, my father and my nephew. We decided to meet up with Bryn, Steve and Rhiannon somewhere near their house around Mark’s birthday, 23 June. Steve suggested meeting in the Olympic Park on 27 June. The weather forecast of 27 June was rather grim, so we decided to meet them in the lunchtime near the Podium entrance on 28 June. He told us that the toilet near the Podium has just become available, which was a great relief. We took Piccadilly, Victoria and Overground Line to Stratford. It wasn’t so crowded, but ... read more

London has suffered from pandemic of coronavirus. I realised that we have not taken very many photos this year. With restriction of travel Mark has been working at home since the end of March and I have not been able to go to work (Oxfam Edgware) since 21 March. I have been furloughed and received 80% of the salary. Coronavirus outbreak has hit the UK badly: confirmed over 100,000 cases and 30,000 deaths. There have been a number of shops shut around our house in Wood Green. Nevertheless, we have been lucky with minimal damage for our life. There are quite a few essential shops (selling food and medicines) opening during the lockdown; all of these shops like Morrison and Boots and grocer are within 3-5 minutes’ walk – I have easily popped to one of ... read more

On 19th July we visited Cambridge. As we travel to Bury St Edmunds to see parents-in-law, we used King’s Cross station and took the train for King’s Lynn. The weather wasn’t quite promising on 19th July; we both umbrellas and I wore a raincoat. As it was raining when we arrived at Cambridge station, we decided to catch the bus for the town centre. We saw the bus going was going through high streets, town centre, but realized that the bus didn’t seem to stop at the bus terminal and seemed to be going to outskirts of Cambridge. We got off at one of the Commons near the edge of the town centre. Having followed the maps and signs, we reached Fitzwilliam Museum on Trumpington Street. Like London’s British Museum, the building of Fitzwilliam Museum was ... read more

We visited Wisley Garden, Surrey on 17 July 2019. The last time we visited there was 2007; we’d heard that there had been a lot of extension work in the garden. We remembered taking South West train to Kingston and bus between Kingston and Wisley Garden. We were annoyed and confused with the announcement of South West train - …Freedom Pass, Oyster Cards are not valid on this train and you will be asked to pay for penalty faire if you fail to show the valid ticket… We got off at Vauxhall once and asked if we could travel to Kingston, Zone 6 with Oyster card. We were told by the railway staff that Oyster card would be valid for us to travel to Kingston. The train was also delayed by signal failure and it made ... read more