Forcing my reluctant brain back into work after the Easter break. Can’t think of much to write about, so here’s a few pictures of what we managed to do over the four-day holiday…
FRIDAY
Thanks to the 2-for-1 offer currently running in collaboration with National Rail, we headed up to Whitehall to explore the Cabinet War Rooms. War history isn’t something I spend a lot of time exploring, but so much of British life during the 20th century was formed by the influence of the two world wars, so I’m always intrigued to learn more. The CWR is one of those ideal museums… sufficiently small and specialised for a two-hour visit, and with a good mixture of easily digested overviews and precise detail.
Living in London, it’s easy to become complacent about all the tourist attractions. In part, this is a perfectly reasonable defence mechanism; there’s just so much to do here, at every cultural level, so you have to focus on the special things you can’t do every day. A new play, a gig by a favourite band, an interesting restaurant or whatever.
But even after living in this metropolis for ten years, I love doing the tourist thing from time to time. Everyday life takes us through the city on such rigid, predictables routes, where a ten-minute delay on the tube or train can leave us seething for an entire evening. When you’re a tourist, every street is worth exploring, and if you miss a transport connection, you just go somewhere else.
(On SATURDAY, I dutifully accompanied Nicola to Swindon for the crucial top-of-Division-Two derby against Bristol City. If his spectacular late equaliser is anything to go by, Rory Fallon is going to be a player to watch over the next few years.)
SUNDAY
One thing I haven’t become complacent about during the last ten years is the Surrey countryside. Surrey tends to get a bad press, the name suggesting miles and miles of suburban avenues and ostentatious greenbelt houses occupied by stockbrokers. That’s not without truth; a large part of Surrey has seen the same fate as Middlesex, being swallowed up by Greater London. However, most of the county has survived this fate, and you can easily spend a day walking through ancient woodland, rolling chalk downs and quaint villages, barely seeing a soul. We walked south-west from Dorking, working our way up the complex series of wooded hills topped by Leith Hill, Surrey’s highest point (don’t get too excited – it’s only 300m high).
MONDAY
Back into London again for a walk along the Thames, Putney to Barnes…
