May madness
I could actually claim that any month in my life is madness, but that would be too marvellous to think about. A little madness keeps me sane, on my feet, and there’s nothing I enjoy most than to hit the ground running.
May began with Britain’s first bank holiday, where we stayed in London and I worked to get double pay on the Monday, and Lija and I visited Windsor Castle on the Sunday. It was a complete Royal Rip-Off, as we’ve been telling everyone. Such a beautiful place should not have to cost so much to the weary traveller, let alone the tax-payers of England. And yet on this day that every man and his dog decided to visit the great castle that the Queen favours, the fact that we had to line up for half an hour both at the entrance to the castle and then the entrance to the state rooms, and then we weren’t allowed to take photos anywhere on the inside. All of that for the ripe old cost of ₤14, almost $30Aus each.
When we walked down to Eton College after lunch we walked straight back again with one look at the admission prices. It’s a college! As Jonathan said, it costs ₤2000 a term as it is. My favourite part of the day, after we missed the blasted train and had to wait half an hour for the next one, was just sitting in the park behind the station. We sat with ice-creams, admiring the castle from the outside.
I spent five days with Imogen again, as Tessa and Jonathan were off to Switzerland for a music festival. I went over on the Thursday night, but Tessa had a late meeting at the House of Commons and they were both back late so we went to one of Clapham’s finest restaurants where I enjoyed some fine dining. Flau grais (duck pate) with toasted bread and then rabbit and ham with a crayfish sauce, which began with some white and slid down with a harmonious red wine. A delicious different meal that is probably little more than a once off.
Imo had work experience on Friday, but because I know the routine Tess didn’t leave any notes, just money, and we slid back into our pattern and I dropped Imo off at Victoria for the morning. I went down and ended up visiting Lija at work, well, I stood on the street looking above the House of Fraser building while Lija was up there waving and we were talking on our mobiles to each other! I had some work to do so I set up my laptop down at the coffee shop.
On Saturday we went to the Zoo, which was good fun. And on Sunday we went down to Sussex to visit her grandparents. We sat in their garden and had lunch and chatted all afternoon. Monday and Tuesday Imogen was back at school, so I sat out on Clapham Common enjoying the sun with my laptop doing work.
I then had a couple of crazy days where we got our deposits back and handed back the keys for our place in Bromley-By-Bow. (By the way people, if you ever come across a rental agency in East London called Keymoves, stay away from them because once they have you’re money they don’t give a toss about you and are reluctant to give it back at the end of your lease unless you keep mentioning ‘legal action’ to them.) So I was without house for several nights but still had to work and stay with friends and drag my luggage all over the city and almost break my back. Ugh. All over now.
On Friday I moved into a very nice place in Chelsea, where I will be for two months looking after an 89-year-old Lady who had a fall and is getting back into things. She is very active, very talkative, and very lovely. It is sort of like living with one of my own grandmothers who also believes that there’s a place for everything and everything has it’s place, therefore all the cupboards need to be rearranged and everything has to be done her way. Aghh!
Tags: Travel
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