London

We drove from our farmhouse studio in West Hoathly to Gatwick Airport, dropped off our rental bus, and checked into the Hilton. They weren’t ready for us, but they let us dump our bags, and we caught a train up to that London.

The train was very crowded, presumably with people returning from their holidays, so I was standing most of the way. We reached Victoria, then walked along the street to find a café. The first one we came to was near Heide’s old stamping ground on the corner of Old Pye Street. Suitably refreshed, we then queued to get into Westminster Abbey. The queue did seem to be populated almost exclusively by foreign tourists – European and American – so when we got to the window to get our tickets I asked “discount for being English?” … to no avail. 

Doctor Livingstone, I presume?

Poet's Corner

Inside are the tombs of, or memorials to, everyone famous. I mean, everyone. There are more slabs, effigies, memorials and plaques than you can shake a stick at – kings, queens, soldiers, poets, scientists, politicians, you name it, they’re all there.

We spent an hour or so there, seeing all the old dead people, then went to the café, The Cellarium, for a spot of lunch, which was overpriced with poor service. After lunch we went for a walk in St James’s Park, where we saw pelicans, a heron, and various waterfowl. The afternoon was getting on and we had off-peak tickets so needed to escape the maw of the metropolis before four o’clock, so we quickly grabbed some wines from M&S to see us through our enforced sojourn, and caught a less crowded train back to Gatwick.

Tomorrow , we’re going to explore somewhere far more bucolic…the British Wildlife Centre at Lingfield.