Visiting the Queen

The week went by with a trip to:

• Swansea (cold and wet) with the cycle home from the station taking longer than planned (I tried a new route went down an underpass and after 15 minutes landed back at the station - thought I was getting to know Bristol but not apparently not).
• Skittles (which Harry's team won but not very convincingly).
• Salsa - our first lesson to learn the Caribbean dance, with a bit of African, European and rock and roll in the music and the steps (that's what I think anyway). Us girls, went round the room dancing with available men (including Harry) or by ourselves when there wasn't a male available and learnt a few of the steps - suspect even though we have practiced them one night will have forgotten them by next week. I am amused that you can also eat Salsa (Spanish for a sauce - a spicy mixture of ingredients) but when we were dancing I somehow think 'saucey' was a more appropriate description.

On the Friday, I was later than expected leaving work - got a bit held up at meetings and stuff but it was quite an eventful day. The founder of the West Coast Chapter of Hells Angels had died and the funeral procession started just outside the pub across the road from work and finished there in the afternoon for the wake. There was a 11 gunshot salute for him, a small police presence and heaps of bikies and their bikes. The gang members looked a bit different from the NZ ones, and their bikes were mainly clean and shiny to show off their colours, red, green, blue as well as the traditional black. Even though we were late leaving the trip to London went well with no significant hold ups (we haven't yet been caught in a major traffic jam - but the day we have no thermos and food it will happen). We arrived at the large Travelodge nestled between the M4 and Heathrow airport. Even with the windows open it was surprisingly quiet and we enjoyed a couple of nights there - it was in quite spacious grounds and I thought it a pity that there weren't sliding doors out to the grass where we could have sat drinking our late evening cuppa.

Saturday was our trip to the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace. So much more educated than a few weeks ago, we now knew who John Nash was (architect of Brighton Pavilion and Witley and many of the rooms at the palace and who was sacked the moment that King George IV died because he was way way way way way over budget - obviously it would have been nice if he had had some influence over the 1960's design of the Travelodge). It is summer - well lets rephrase that - peak tourist season when people come from all over the world expecting to see London in summer. The underground carried few English speaking people, and on the ground there were even less as school parties from all over Europe wandered around the gardens and around the palace. So, as we walked through the crowds, trying to catch a glimpse of the 'changing of the guard' we very quietly hummed the first two lines of AA Milnes famous poem and wished we knew the rest...

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
"A soldier's life is terrible hard,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
We saw a guard in a sentry-box.
"One of the sergeants looks after their socks,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
We looked for the King, but he never came.
"Well, God take care of him, all the same,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
They've great big parties inside the grounds.
"I wouldn't be King for a hundred pounds,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
A face looked out, but it wasn't the King's.
"He's much too busy a-signing things,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
"Do you think the King knows all about me?"
"Sure to, dear, but it's time for tea,"
Says Alice.

We couldn't take photos inside the palace. The staircase up to the rooms went up 2 floors, and a couple of the rooms were lovely - John Nash influence again. They had organised it well - having to purchase tickets early with a group allowed entry every 15 minutes to limit the number in each room. Went through 'airport security' and then through a great hall with lots of paintings - over to the balcony to view from a distance the Queen's private quarters and then through a number of the rooms - each one unique with large chandeliers and different colour schemes. Some lovely scotia boards - probably made of plaster of paris - but exquisite in their design. There was an exhibition of the Commonwealth - I didn't realise it started with only a few countries in 1949 and has grown to 53 countries now. Then out into the garden - which wasn't that impressive but I guess it lends itself to garden parties with a big lawn and little lake. Anyway, a place worth going to if you are ever in London - but sorry to have missed the Queen and her corgis!

Anyway, we sat and watched the world go by for a while in St James Park and saw the bands walk back to the baracks and the horses walking up the mall (and the little truck coming up afterwards to pick up what horses leave behind). We had a coffee and a pack of chips to provide that much needed energy for us tourists. Tyrrells are a new make of chips, and I wouldn't recommend them above any of the others except their packaging provided us with some laughs. "Our chips can be eaten as part of a healthy common sense diet along with plenty of broccoli and lots of exercise". Firstly, they didn't call them crisps like the English do - but what's with the broccoli? They even grow the potatoes so "we're in control from seed to chip" but here's the best "At Tyrrells we enjoy food and we enjoy life: something we often refer to as 'Tyrrelling'. Have you been Tyrrelling lately?" Wonder if that's a new word that will get into the Oxford dictionary one day. In the evening we wandered through Covent Garden, stood in some doorways to shelter from yet another downpour and ate dinner at a little Italian Restaurant (of which there are three with the same name in one block - not much good saying 'we'll meet at Bella Italia' is there?). Then off to see Calendar Girls which started off with a talk by a rather boring woman to the 'Women's Institute' on the History of - would you believe it Broccoli!! Anyway, they managed to disconnect the slide projector accidentally of course, so that the woman couldn't continue - it did have potential of being rather a boring play if the cast hadn't managed to do that but I couldn't resist on returning to Bristol looking at the History of Broccoli - so here is my version...its high in Vitamin C (one cup the same amount as an orange), Potassium, lots of Vitamin B's, Iron (one cup enough for your daily intake) - but these virtues weren't really appreciated in the 'ancient world'. In ancient Turkey the farmers first grew cabbages and then broccoli and around the 8th century it arrived in Italy where the Romans quite liked the little green vege and called in Calabrese. The first broccoli was purple which turned green when cooked. I think we saw some growing at Hampton Court flower show. It was cooked with cumin and coriander seeds, chopped onion with a touch of oil and sun-made wine or sometimes a creamy wine sauce. Now the overdose story - I like it - but not by itself! Roman Emperor Tiberius, who lived around the time of Jesus had a son named Drusius who rather liked broccoli - that is all he ate for a month. His urine turned bright green and his father scolded him severely for "living precariously" so that was that for his favourite vegetable. And I think thats enough of that famous vege described by John Randolph as "The stems will eat like Asparagus, and the heads like Cauliflower" and others called it "the five green fingers of Jupiter." You may think I missed the point of the show but not really - it was a fun and well presented with good acting and some laughs as well as a good message - just as good as the movie. 12 hours after arriving at the hotel we were back in London Central to catch up with Rebecca and Nylan. We wandered around Westminster Abbey (closed because it was Sunday) and decided that we might go to a service rather than pay the £15 entry fee, had lunch at a Thai/Chinese restaurant on the Thames, caught the underground to Madame Tussauds (but decided the queue was too long but pleased we had 2 for 1 vouchers at £25 entry fee each which we will save for another day) and ended up in Regent Park, eating ice- creams and listening to Jazz. Rather a relaxing afternoon.

And just because I love getting photos of the special people in my life here are a couple of photos of Shaz and Az's trip to Gold Coast recently. I also love getting comments on the blog - I've had a few lately.