On hold in London… but we’re not complaining!

Nope, there’s still no Harvey for us to explore in, and I must say it’s testing our patience at this point.  When I ordered the part I addressed it to attention of Scott because he was the young lad who’d been helping us and was very engaged. Of course, when I placed the order, I didn’t know he’d be away on leave last week and when the part was delivered last Monday, they thought it was a personal delivery… which I didn’t find out until Thursday the day before Easter and too late. Sigh.

Today the prevarication at TMD Motorhomes Redditch continues, this afternoon they’re giving me the “it’s a short week and we’re short staffed” line again.  I’ll be honest and say they probably got 3/10 grumpy from Dave – there’s plenty more where that came from however as we sit here let’s just say they know my thoughts on the matter and I hope we’ll be up and running in the next day or 2.

My apologies for the delay between updates but Harvey was always the big question and I didn’t have an answer.  I was hoping to have a different headline on this blog which I planned to write on the train to Birmingham but here we still are in London.

Which is not at all bad.  We came to this part of the world to explore and explore we have!!  Each day we’ve been out and about sightseeing, sometimes in different directions but mainly together.  Here are the highlights with a few comments:

Hampton Court Palace.  Home to several of the Tudor monarchs and their successors.  A bunch of the dramas surrounding Henry VIII and his many wives unfolded there, like many of these places, the audio tour is well worth it.  Such amazing gardens and just so interesting to see how olden day courtiers and wannabes worked their way up to audiences with royalty through (essentially) sycophantism. 

Two shows:

‘Book of Mormon’. Theatre in London is always a special experience and we had repeatedly heard this was one of the best.  Side splittingly funny, totally sacrilegious and irreverent, with wonderful dance and music.

‘Back to the Future’.  We are both children of the 80’s and absolutely loved this stage show.  Our favourite character was George McFly, and the sets and special effects were brilliant.

British Museum.  8 million artefacts pretty much says it all.  Of them the most interesting was the Rosetta Stone which has been at the museum since 1802 (and which the Egyptians would very much like back).  An ancient tablet written in 3 languages, one of which was understood by ‘modern’ scholars, it essentially provided the code to Egyptian hieroglyphics.  I could write a whole blog just on this one museum but let’s just say one afternoon wasn’t enough to do it justice!

Being in London unexpectedly meant that I hadn’t done some of my usual research, in particular in relation to sporting events.  Some good friends kindly reminded me that there were 2 FA Cup semis over the weekend.  Fast forward a couple of days and there I am, in the grandstand at Wembley, smack in the middle of the Crystal Palace fans and making some new friends.  Truly that is one stadium I never thought I’d get to; let alone for such a big knockout game.  Dave is happy!

Live music is always a treat for us and so Anita suggested an evening at the iconic Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Bar.  Such a cool atmosphere with a very skilled pianist/singer to entertain us for the evening.

Imperial War Museum (D only).  Superb and lived up to all the hype.  What an impressive collection and although we know stories of the 2 world wars from a NZ perspective, it’s a slightly different and very interesting angle from the English point of view. Randomly on the way back I passed the house where the (in)famous Captain William Bligh grew up.

Anita’s bits:

Kensington Palace, V&A museum (A only) – with Dave busy with sporting events and being unwell I was left to myself for a couple of days.  A good dose of Georgian and Victorian history and a fascinating exhibition regarding the royals’ relationship with the media left me grateful to be living in current times.

Hyde Park, Kew Gardens (A only) – spring in London has always been one of my favourite times of year and the English know how to do gardens properly.  These two were just beautiful - bluebells, daffodils, tulips and blossoms galore.

Shopping in Oxford Street (A only) – Covid has obviously had a big impact and it was sad to see lots of empty shops and particularly some of my favourite department stores gone.  However I still managed a good fix and sore feet the next day.

Borough Markets (A only again) - one of the largest food markets in London, this is a sensory overload with food stalls from every nationality on display.-  The cheese didn't make it back home to Dave (but don't tell him, it's a secret)

That’s about it for this edition, hopefully the last without Harvey – thanks again for keeping us company, hopefully not such a long gap between updates from now on!