Marysia's LONDON Blog - 27.9.18

Had news that my son Sam and his girlfriend Jo were off to Finland for two weeks to visit her parents there and he kindly offered his flat in London to me while away, so I grabbed the opportunity and invited my Beeston friend and fine artist Pam Miller to come with me. Keeping costs down to a minimum, we decided to National Express bus it to the capital and back which turned out not bad at all - £18 return! I hadn’t bussed it for yonks as prefer the faster train using my senior railcard for my one day trips.

Pam & I at the V&A

We arrived at Victoria bus station around 1.30pm on Thursday and tubed it to South Kensington to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum and on arrival sat and basked in the sunshine in its courtyard for a quick coffee and sandwich. Then off to wallow and gasp in their Jewellery department - always an incredible collection on the two floors there - and a meander into their Miniatures dept and Sculptures, and then further into their Medieval architectural, wooden relics areas and medieval gothic paintings. More gasps!

 Decided to walk up the road to Hyde Park and sit a while in the sunshine. Crikey, how busy it is nowadays with runners and cyclists! Good to see though and how fitness is key to the young and old. Pam and I took turns to use the exercise equipment in the garden park of the Bowls and Tennis Club…! Certainly something that Beeston parks should install in the near future. I know children’s play areas in our parks are being updated/installed but hey, remember us seniors wishing to keep fit outdoors will you Broxtowe Borough Council!?

South Kensington to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum

Headed back down to Knightsbridge Underground to get the tube back but alas, we found that Knightsbridge station and all of the Piccadilly Line were on strike action and thus closed. We were stuck, so had some quick thinking to do in the rush hour. Pam looked on her phone for any red buses going to Oxford Circus and lo and behold, it was the No 22 we managed to catch by corner of Hyde Park and after much driving and cornering round different streets, we tumbled out near Oxford
Circus and tubed it back home to Sam’s flat in East London via Central Line.

Then caught a taxi from his local tube station and were there in 6 minutes and £5 fare well spent! No, Pam and I hadn’t the strength to walk it there, goes to show how unfit we both are! It was 8.30pm by the time we arrived. What a great first floor flat in large semi-detached Edwardian house on leafy street they have, so spacious and comfortable with all mod cons, clean and big windows! Lovely park down the road for Sam’s daily run. 

We unpacked and decided to order a take-away from Star of India, recommendations left by Sam on a handwritten note for me. Justeat.com a great app which Sam said to use, and he also told me to use Citymapper app while in London which was great, so no need to use London A-Z books anymore as I did in the 1970s when I lived in the capital. What a fabulous yummy Indian vegetarian meal we had, in fact too much for us so saved half of the portion to be eaten the following night. Thanks Sam for the bottles of red Shiraz wine you left, perfect! Mind you, Pam and I only drank half a bottle over the two nights… when you get to our ages wine gets to the parts quicker lol!

Sam had previously sent me a video tutorial on how to use their TV Netflix channel via their laptop there so thanks again son!