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Published: January 27th 2008
Monday 3rd September Emma found a flat for us to stay in, in St John's Wood, in the borough of Camden. She spoke to Laura her new boss who said it would be about a month before we could move up to Cambridge, so this will only be a short term thing. Its a one bedroom studio flat and will set us back a hefty £225/week, but there's not much choice as far as short term leases go, and Cam and Nat had already told a new couple they could move in on the weekend.
Thursday 6th September At lunchtime I literally ran off (and tubed it) across to the Borough Markets, which are just south of Tower Bridge and a few miles away from work. Jamie Oliver (the Naked Chef) was going to be there outside one of the little eateries, signing copies of his new recipe book. I'm a bit of a celebrity nut so I thought I'd try to catch a glimpse (we don't get many in Perth!). Unfortunately by the time I got there, the line was about 100m long snaking down the road, so no chance of fitting a book signing in,
but I did manage to take a few close up snaps of the culinary wizard. Before I left I grabbed a Wild Boar pie from one of the stalls, apparently it's the thing to do whilst here. Although it was cold, it was tender and tasty, but maybe I should have waited a bit as I now had to run back to work and the ol' razorback doesn't digest too easily while jogging.
About 4pm I whacked an ad in Gumtree (online s/hand trading website) for the Pug, got a call at 6pm and by 10.30pm a couple of Egyptians were driving off in it £800 poorer. Hopefully they won't return the favour and sell me a bung camel if I ever tour Egypt. 😊
Friday 7th September After knocking off I went down to the local pub O'Neils for a few beverages with some of the guys from work. After downing about 6 pints I had a rather wobbly ride home (don't tell anyone) via some stuffed crust pizza. Mmmm.
Saturday 8th September What a day! Up early (7am is early when you have had a few) and off to Waterloo Station to
Mum Talking In A Phone Box
You gotta put money in first Mum!pick up our hire car for the weekend (just £35). It was a new 5 door Kia C'eet (got 60mpg) and I was surprised at how zippy it was for a little 1.6ltr diesel. Enough to get the wheels spinning and Emma slightly nauseous! Today was moving day, so after racing back to pick up our first car load of stuff I headed uptown to the north west London borough of Camden situated just 7kms from the city centre. The new pad was "spatially challenged" you might say, and it was going to be a struggle to cram our growing amount of acquisitions into it. No time for sorting now though, back for another run, loaded up, said adios to Cambo and Nat and arrived back at the pad at about 2.30pm. I was absolutely shagged! No time to rest though, a quick shower and I was off like a brides nighty to meet, who would've thunk it, in this neck of the woods, my Mummy! (and Sid) 😊
They'd been stuffed around, and instead of being in a posh hotel in Marble Arch, they were now in a posh hotel in Kensington. Mum was glad to see me
Feeding The Squirrels In Hyde Park
They're a bit friendlier than at Perth Zoo! after 6 months as I was her, and I think she was equally as glad to see the drugs I'd bought for her from a local supplier. No...this was not Heroin or Angel Dust but plain old Codeine. It seemed ridiculous but most of the continental European countries did not sell Codeine with Aspirin which was the one pill that gave Mum relief from her "neck from hell". Even Amsterdam, with its lax drug (amongst others) laws didn't stock any. I suggested she just grab a bit of Space Cake instead, but she was scared of the Beagle Boys at customs who they have to pass every time they get on their ship. After a catch up coffee we strolled across Kensington Park, past Kensington Palace and on to Hyde Park. Mum couldn't believe the squirrels would come up and grab acorns out of her hand, so much so, we had to move her on a couple of times coz she was holding up the stroll. 😊 After a long walking chin wag we went back to "The Goat", a 300 year old traditionally pub for a few drinks and grub. We couldn't go home without first heading back to
the hotel and checking out some of the little goodies Mum had picked up in her travels, including a very nice birthday gift from St Petersburg for Emma - a fine jewelery box hand painted with a scene of St Petersburg using a magnifying glass and a single horse hair brush. Apparently a lot of the artists go blind painting them as they're so intricately detailed.
After saying our goodbyes (until next weekend in Paris) I had the mission of going back for my bike which was parked outside the Clapham Common Tube, and riding it 12kms over to the new place. You could say I slept well that night!!
Sunday 9th September HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!! My girl was 27 today, but she didn't look a day over 25. We had the hire car for an extra day so thought "Lets go to Windsor!". Windsor is only about 35kms west of London and is dominated by Windsor Castle, the Queens favourite residence. It had a much more relaxed feel to it, reminiscent of Oxford or Cambridge and the bright sunny day made things that much better. After a bite to eat at a little French restaurant
we hunted around for a present suitable for the ol' lady (JUST KIDDING EM!). She settled on a subtle yet stylish pair of Prada sunnies, now the devil definitely does wear them. 😊
We then walked up to the fairytale-like castle and headed in after parting with £14 each. It may have seemed a lot then but it was so worth it. Windsor was built by William the Conqueror a thousand years ago and is the largest inhabited castle in the world. After a walk past the highly visible Round Tower, and looking out at the great views over the town, we entered the State Apartments where most of the tour was to take place. I'm not exaggerating when I say that every room was remarkable is it's own way. Some are truly awe inspiring and it's difficult to convey the grandeur without pictures (we weren't allowed to take any).
The first room contained Queen Mary's Doll House, arguably the most famous doll house in the world. It partially copied Windsor itself, stood over a metre tall and the attention to detail was amazing. For example, the carpets, curtains and furnishings were all copies of the real thing,
and even the light fittings were working. There is a flushable toilet, complete right down to the lavatory paper, well known writers such as Rudyard Kipling wrote special books which were written and bound in scale size and painters provided miniature pictures. Even the bottles in the wine cellar were filled with the appropriate wines and spirits, and the wheels of motor vehicles were properly spoked.
The next room was full of gold and silver jewelery and ornaments, many of them gifts from royalty and leaders throughout the world. Onwards, and we had the room full of fine porcelain crockery (probably never even used), then the Kings bedroom (which he didn't actually sleep in, it was just for the waking up ceremony!) followed by some more rooms full of famous paintings (they really are show offs) not only on all the walls but decorating the entire roof Sistine Chapel style as well. The next room was the weapons room adorned with patterns of old rifles, swords, daggers, armour, lances and other skull breaking implements. Their was even King Henry VIII's suit of armour which had to be made extra large around the belly to contain his generous girth and
in a little vial was the round bullet which killed Lord Nelsen, leader of the Battle of Trafalgar, (who's statue sits atop the massive column at Trafalgar Square) who defeated Napoleon. Next was St Georges Hall, a massive room containing hundreds of coats of arms of knights who's importance had been recognized at some point in history by the monarchy. Suits of armour also lined the room which is now used to host royal banquets seating up to 190 people at the one long table (the cutlery is meticulously set up using a ruler). This Hall had to be mostly rebuilt in the nineties when a great fire ripped through the castle. You wouldn't know it though from the job they'd done.
Well, that was most of the castle done, our feet were aching (we'd prematurely vowed not to do much walking today) so we walked across the road back to a nice Italian restaurant for a pint and some pasta. After this we strolled along the Thames before crossing over to the area of Eton. Up the road we had a quick look at Eton College, where a lot of the prime minsters and statesmen of the UK
were educated (including Prince Charles, William and Harry). It wasn't quite as grand as we thought, but as it was closed we couldn't really see a lot. Posh young boys were seen all over Eton, walking around, playing rugby, going fishing and hanging out. By this time the feet weer packing it in, so we jumped back in the car and headed back to London. A good time was had by all.
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