Wednesday 29 February 2012

...And then there was a weekend in London (Part III)

Carrie and I opted to walk towards the City of London (on the ‘wrong’ side of the river), I don’t know where you end up if you step off the bridge and turn right… Perhaps that will be for next time. We walked and walked, and then walked some more. Sometimes chatting about nothing and everything, and sometimes just enjoying the companionable silence and the sun on our faces/ backs (depending on the direction).


The Old vs. The New (Just not sure what that 'new' building is.
You can never have too many poorly taken tourist shots.
We got all the way to Tower Bridge before realising that we needed to get all the way back. Neither of us fancied the tube, so we turned on our heels and set off again.

It turned out to be a very long walk. Four miles actually. But we didn’t mind, who would have thought London air could have been quite so refreshing. We weren’t the only ones to think like this. The riverbank was banked, and every bench or wall in the sunshine was crammed – as well as outside eating areas for pubs and restaurants. It seemed everyone was in a good mood.
How many Londoner's in one sunny space?


I also saw something I’d never seen before. Well, two things actually. First the controversial newaddition to the London skyline, which is set to be Europe’s tallest building (That’s sure to put us on the map…).

 Personally I think it’s quite impressive. But I wouldn’t fancy being the window cleaner employed there. It would be like the mammoth task of painting the golden gate bridge… once you got to the top it would be time to start all over again.

No thank you, I think I’ll keep my feet firmly on the ground. Or maybe they’ll hang a hose and a soapy brush out the side of a helicopter. I would quite enjoy watching that I think. And then enjoy watching the expression when I tell the pilot he missed a bit.
It's like a massively tall greenhouse - it better have good air con for the 'summer'.


And I must share this with you on account of its ingenuity. Have you ever seen anything so remarkable? Massive L.A.D points to the person who invented this. It’s not a car. It’s not a bike. But you can cycle on the road, use the cycle lanes (and hold up traffic) all whilst drinking because technically sober person drives whilst you cycle your little legs off to provide the engine power.

We saw two. A team of girls wearing pink sparkly cowboy hats and the lads following up the rear with tins of Fosters and Kings of Leon playing. It was a beautiful moment.

That was with 'zoom'... I could have walked into the road for a better shot if you'd have preferred.


I vowed to rent one for my birthday in June. Who’s in?



After walking for such a long distance we’d definitely earned food. The honey roasted cashew nuts just weren’t enough (although they were delightfully yummy). We perched our bottoms at a table outside the Southbank centre, at Giraffe. In the sunshine with a chilled bottle of Rose, what more could you ask for?

Well a foot massage would have been quite nice, or the England rugby team – but it was very pleasant without.

Wine on an empty stomach is never a particularly good idea, especially when staggering your drinking for a night out, and we’d probably got sunstroke (let’s face it, all Britons over react when some usual weather occurs!)

We left the restaurant a little merry, but prepared for a great night out in Clapham Junction.




All we had to do was select an outfit. As women with too many clothes, this was going to take a while….