LONDON-2014

London

After what seemed like an eternity in a metal tube I arrived in Dubai. I shared my three seat row with a couple that didn’t do anything except sleep, didn’t talk, drink or eat….just slept. Lucky enough I had the aisle seat so my movements around the cabin weren’t inhibited by the upsetting and disturbing of the sleeping couple. After saying ‘hello’ to my fellow travellers when we boarded in Adelaide, I uttered my second two syllables thirteen hours later in Dubai…‘good-bye’. After two hours in Dubai Airport I boarded the metal tube again for the much shorter flight to London, a mere eight hours…a ‘doddle’…not many more syllables were exchanged between me and my fellow passengers on this leg of the trip either….thanks to my wonderful ‘Bose’ headphones. I’ve praised the A380 aircraft in a previous post….once again, ’fantastic aeroplane, the headphones don’t have to work too hard as the plane is so amazingly quiet.

 

The view from the eighth floor, so nice to wake up to.

 

I arrived at Heathrow and dragged my sleep deprived mind and body to the ‘Tube’…Piccadilly line to Green Park, change to Jubilee Line, then on to Waterloo. After some confusion in Waterloo Station I made it to the Union Jack Club, home for the next five days. I managed to stay awake until about 9.30, then the eyelids won the downward battle that I had been fighting for many hours, had a great sleep through to 5.30. I woke up feeling much better and fresher, ready to re-discover wonderful London.

An amazingly quiet and tranquil place, hard to believe that you are in of the world’s major cities until you walk outside

The building nicknamed ‘The Cucumber’ still stands out even though it is being ‘dwarfed’ by many newer buildings.

Wednesday

Camera in hand, backpack at the ready, I made my way towards the London landmark ‘The Shard’. I circumnavigated the ‘Tate Modern’, past ‘The Globe Theatre’, through lots of alleyways and tunnels and found myself entering the Southwark Cathedral. I arrived midway through a rehearsal that was taking place in the church, I’m not sure what it was about but there were many participants being ‘drilled’ and rehearsed ready for the obviously very important occasion.

Thursday…Manchester

I made my way from Waterloo to Euston to catch another ‘metal Tube’ on wheels, a Virgin Train and headed to the wonderful city of Manchester, a mere two hour journey….I could have done it in my sleep! After a refreshing ‘brisk’ walk I arrived at the Manchester Cathedral. As with my visit to Southwark Cathedral, the church was a hive of activity, full of school children being given a ‘run down’ on the days events…another rehearsal, possibly an end of year awards evening. I spent some time in the Cathedral even though with a couple of hundred kids in the building, it wasn’t quiet and contemplative…I spent quite a few hours wandering the streets of this lovely city. The first part of my journey was spent in an older part of the city, I then made my way to some of the newer type structures that I had seen stretching further up to the heavens than the older buildings in the city. There seems to be an incredible amount of building and infrastructure work going on in the city, lots of ‘glass and metal’ type buildings that really compliment their much more traditional and established structures of the past.

This Tower stands out when arriving at Manchester, I finally navigated my way to it, I found the footpath was all roped off while window cleaners worked high above.

I left having seen only a small part of this wonderful city and made my way to Chester. I had intended to visit the city on a previous trip that I did to Liverpool, but deferred because of the heavy rain I experienced in Liverpool, so this time it was happening. I boarded the train with moments to spare, stopped at about ten stations and arrived at my destination about an hour and a half later, about 4.35pm. I got out of the train to check the times of trains returning to London….last train…5.35pm, Platform 1, arriving London Euston Station 7.35pm…….Chester, maybe next time!!

 

 

I stumbled across this area which was set up to view Wimbledon on the grass, in a deck chair and a ‘Big Screen’

So, I’m, back at the Union Jack Club, sitting in the Bar, having a Spitfire Lager, Kentish Ale….very nice. I need a quieter day tomorrow to give my feet and legs a rest, so, up early and I’m heading to the Springfield Market, best to be there early…it’s all over by about 9am…I’ll finish my ‘Pint’ and head to bed and get ready for an early start in the morning…..