Visiting London in Winter

The Joys of London in Winter

There’s nothing like spending a few days in London when the weather is wet, cold and miserable at the end of January. Although, I’ve been told, the weather continued with rain, hailstones and thunderstorms in Bristol, while I’ve been away, in London, we had one night of rain. We did have quite a brisk, northerly wind but, it was really quite pleasant…..for January!

My first grandchild is now 2 months old and it was delightful to be able to spend time with him. He is just reaching the stage of responding to chatter. He smiles and gurgles when I talk to him. It is wonderful to be able to spend time playing with him when I never had the time to play with my own children when they were babies. But, as someone once said to me – before you can enjoy being a grandmother, you have to serve your apprenticeship.

After I had spent a few days with my daughter and her son, I spent the weekend with my elder daughter who, although expecting a baby in May, is still free to enjoy some of the delights London has to offer.

We visited the Manet exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts on Piccadilly. This exhibition, titled ‘Manet Portraying Life’ has stepped away from previous ones to ‘focus on his practice as a portrait painter’ and, while many of the pictures exhibited are well known, most of the works were new to me. The exhibition started on 26^th January and will be available until 14the April 2013. Well worth a visit if you are planning a trip to London.

There is also an exhibition of the work of Constable, Gainsborough and Turner – the making of Landscape which is available until 17^th February. While Constable and Gainsborough don’t really stir me, I do love Turner. I don’t think I will be able to visit that particular exhibition but, I’m sure Turner will be around again frequently.

Of course a visit to London would not be complete without some foodie experience. This time we decided to explore Dishoom – A Bombay Café in London. The restaurant had been recommended to us some time ago but, circumstances got between us and this gourmet delight. There are two of these restaurants – Dishoom Shoreditch – 7 Boundary Street E2 7JE and Dishoom Covent Garden – 12 Upper St Martin’s Lane, WC2H 9FB. Their website – www.dishoom.com can give a great more detail than I can but, if you like Indian food this is so different from your local Indian takeaway food [though I do like that too], and well worth a visit. The best samosas I have ever tasted, even in India! And do try some of their drinks, the chai is amazing. The service is charming and attentive.

Of course, for me, no trip is complete without a journey on one of the London Clippers. This time we returned home in the dark. The London skyline is lit up and the view from the river day or night could beat that of any city anywhere. Even now, after all these years, I still get a thrill from gazing at it.

It is good that the trains are running normally again. While I was not surprised that the snow affected the train timetable, it was a definite pain that trains into Paddington [my line] were cancelled or seriously curtailed by a fire in a signal box [or something like that – it was never quite clear. We were told at first, it was a rock on the line !] in mid December.  It did seem to take several weeks for the service to return to something like normal. I can catch a bus and it is a lot cheaper but, it is so much slower and is definitely not as comfortable or as convenient.

When I returned home, I had several parcels waiting for me of my last seed orders – tomatoes, peppers, chillies, pumpkins, squashes and some herbs. The pepper and chilli seeds should really be sown now for the earliest crops but, although I have an excellent propagator, I don’t have anywhere suitable to grow on the young seedlings which will give them enough warmth with the necessary light so, I will wait until mid February before I set up my propagator.

London - Greenwich, Greenwich Park, Greenwich Market, Etc

Visiting London – Greenwich Park, Greenwich Penninsula, Cutty Sark and all that!

I love Bristol. I love living in this city with its culture, warmth, vibrancy and community spirit – and of course, its beauty. But there is nothing to beat regular trips to London to experience several levels up of a few of those sensations. The warmth of community may be missing – it is such a vast, multi cultural city but, there is a buzz of excitement, innovation, technology, development which is not apparent anywhere else in the country – even in these days of recession. Of course, the 2012 Olympics have a strong influence on that.

My daughter has just bought a new flat over-looking the Thames from the Thames barrier to the O2. I went to London to, ostensibly, help her to move house. I’m not sure I was much use but, it was wonderful to be there as part of this experience and to voice enraptured reflections on the view from her pent-house patio. I have already booked my bedroom! Years ago, when I lived in London, I would never have dreamt of visiting the East End. My life had been built around areas like Hampstead, Pimlico, Holland Park, Maida Vale and the West End and at that time it was where life was ‘happening’. But, today, the exciting life of London has moved East. I have been introduced to new areas and experiences in London I have never visited before and I hope I will experience a few more in the coming months and years. The new London Gondola Lift across the Thames from close to the O2 Centre on Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Docks close to the new 2012 Olympics main areas. This is still under construction but, a few days ago they have added the main cables and the gondolas should be added well in advance of the Olympics. It is planned for 1km of cable car line across the Thames to the site and is, I believe, the first cable car in the UK.

This morning, we decided, after a hearty breakfast, still in my daughter’s old flat, that we would catch a bus from the Millennium Village from Oval Square [don’t you just love that?] to Blackheath. This is an old and very expensive part of London just above Greenwich Park and overlooking the City of London, Canary Wharf, etc. Blackheath is in the Royal Borough of Greenwich which has a long history with royalty dating back to 1433. Henry VIII introduced deer there so that he could go hunting in the park and reportedly, some of them still remain in the park, although, today, I didn’t see any. Now, Greenwich Park is – and deservedly so, a World Heritage site.

As I had never before visited the east end of London, neither had I visited the Royal Observatory at Greenwich – famous for Greenwich Mean Time [GMT]. It was good to have visited it at last and, although interesting, ancient telescopes and chronometers are not really my thing. Though you can book personal time at their famous telescope, which could well be worth trying.

Greenwich Park will be used as part of the 2012 Olympic Games venue and part of the Park will be closed off for the events. If you are planning to visit this area, do Google for information on what is happening, transport and what areas will not be available without tickets. As I understand, of the 19 events which will be happening in this area there will be: Equestrian events and Paralympic equestrian events; jumping, dressage and eventing. Also Modern Pentathlon.

We wandered down through the park through Greenwich Market to the now reconstructed Cutty Sark. Although this site won’t be open again until late April 2012 it already looks exciting. I believe, the Cutty Sark had a lot of its superstructure removed prior to a major fire in 2007 which destroyed much of the remaining structure of this 18^th century clipper ship. It seems that the old masts and original visible superstructure will be original. Although still cloaked in scaffolding, the original masts and rigging have now been replaced and, although difficult to photograph, especially from a mobile camera, with its new glassed in walk way, it looks amazing and well worth a visit in the future.

We didn’t spend too long with the Cutty Sark as my favourite method of London travelling was approaching fast and we had to, in fact, run for the queue – the London Clippers. I just love them! If you visit London you should really try this method of river transport. The Clippers go from the Royal Arsenal at Woolrich Pier, through Greenwich and up the Thames, under the Tower Bridge to the City of London. This has to be my favourite method of transport through London though, it doesn’t give any explanation of the historic sites and events around London – for that, do look at other river trips – these are an excellent introduction to this wonderful and historic city.

Back in Bristol, some neighbours are holding a Sunday night barbeque party – noisy and scenting the night with wood smoke. It reminds me of how happy I am to return to Bristol and my home. Although evocative of other times, I must go to bed in preparation for some much needed attention to my allotment in the morning.