Margy’s Neighborhood

We'd had a few days in London four years ago, and I had always wanted to return to see what I'd missed before. The sense of history in London just gets me every time. Mrs Snowy had lived in London in the late sixties, but there was much that she was yet to see, and she also wanted to take a nostalgia trip back to Earl's Court where so many young Aussies had congregated in those halcyon days.

We stayed at Royal Court Apartments in Bayswater, just a short walk from Hyde Park. Ours was a studio apartment with full cooking facilities. The location was just off Bayswater Road with a short walk to both Lancaster Gate and Paddington underground stations, and also to Hyde Park. We'd stay there again, if for no other reason than the convenient location near transport and also the London central district. This is the view of Gloucester Terrace from the entrance to the apartments.

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So, the obvious place to visit was Hyde Park. This is the view of the Italian gardens.

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We continued walking through Hyde Park until we came to Kensington Palace, which is of course where Princess Diana lived after her divorce from Prince Charles. We did the tour of the palace which dates back to William of Orange, and then walked through the room where Princess Diana's evening gowns are on display. Especially poignant were the videos of the Princess obviously enjoying herself at functions where she was wearing the gowns. Such a beautiful, vivacious, young woman with no knowledge of what lay ahead for her. This was also the residence of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones when they were married. That marriage ended in divorce also. This is a shot I took of Kensington Palace. Somehow it will always be associated with unhappiness for me.

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We took a stroll down to Speaker's Corner. The symbolism of this corner of Hyde Park where citizens are free to speak on anything at all, including criticism of the government, did not escape me. Britain has much to be proud of, and set a fine example of tolerance for the rest of the world to follow. Unfortunately, all the speakers were preaching religion when we were there, all different of course. I was tempted to point them in the right direction, but somehow I doubt they'd be interested in my atheism. This is Speaker's Corner.

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And this is a view of the Serpentine.

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My admiration for the British people knows no bounds. The world owes them a huge debt for the institutions they have bequeathed to it. To say nothing of the games, including football. No, not that poofy round ball one, real football, Rugby League.

 

I am finding this saving the planet very exhausting. All this energy saving, water conservation, recycling, shopping and trying to compare prices and quantities, fat content and packaging is bringing me to breaking point.  If I could just look into my crystal ball and see whether any of my three children were going to reproduce and present us with grandchildren then it would make it a lot easier to persevere. If on the other hand I could see that they weren't going to have children I would say,  Game over! I am getting off the merry go round and I am going to ruin the planet to my hearts content.

Bad attitude? But I am tired.....

My husband and I decided to go out for a quick late dinner, before finding a great spot to view fireworks.  Little did we know, pizza would be so entertaining.  We got to the restuarant, a little mom and pop type pizza place. Got seated, when this teenage girl comes in and says "this drunk won't quit hitting on me, keeps talking about sex etc, and when I told him I was 17, he laughed and said heck that didn't matter."   At this point the owner of the restaurant says, he could be put in jail for that!  And takes the girl and asks her again what happened.  She tells him and he gets madder.  He asks her if he went back into the bar next door and she nods.  We are the only people in the restaurant, and didn't know the girl was an employee.  The owner leaves and goes to the bar to talk to the guy.  He goes in and tells the bartender whats up and they agree its not right and he goes to talk to the drunk.  The guy of course gets mad, and the bartenders toss him for life out of the bar.  The owner comes back, and tells her what happened and she leaves to go home.  The phone rings, and its the drunk, screaming and swearing...the place has caller id...the owner writes down the number.  Next thing we know the drunk is in the door!  Swearing, screaming and going for the owner.  The owner doesn't back down, but tells the guy to leave and walks towards him looking pretty serious.  The drunk backs up to the door, still swearing.  We tell the teens behind the counter to dial 911, and the boss gets the guy out the door.  The drunk proceeds to tear up window screens and screams and swears more.  The owner goes outside to keep an eye on the guy til the cops arrive.  They disappear around the corner of the building and my husband gets up, better make sure Dave's ok (the owner)  He gets outside in time to see Dave (the owner) come back around the building holding his face, the drunk punched him!!  The drunk climbs a nearby tree and Dave and the Bartenders and husband, surround the tree til the cop arrives.  Of course they arrest the drunk and we have to fill out statements.  We laughed all night about the dinner and a show...oh and the fireworks were great too!