Sunday in London

May 8, 2011 Happy Mother's Day in the US
Mothering Sunday is in March in the UK - today is just a regular Sunday here - albiet a very nice one weather-wise. After a lazy morning reading the paper (more on that later) we walked down to the corner of our street (Westbourne Park Rd. ) and Portobello Rd. The Castle Pub on the corner advertized Sunday roasts - beef and pork and also chicken specials. Down the block another pub had lamb but at a much dearer price. Of course, the bloody Americans wanted dinner at noon and the roast wouldn't be ready for another 30 minutes at best so we were forced to wander through a few shops. Back we went to the Notting Hill book shop (yes - the REAL one) - it is an all travel book seller so we enjoyed browsing but resisted buying. We've already bought new books on London, England, 1001 Days Out in England and a book of road maps for the second half of our month - the only England travel book we brought with us is a Rick Steves from 2002 and it won't go home with us!
After our dinner (melted camembert cheese, onion chutney and baguette for a starter, beef roast, yorkshire pudding, broccoli, carrots and roasted potatoes with gravy) we made a quick stop at the apartment and discovered that Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral starts at 3:15 - not 4:00 as we thought. We caught the #7 bus from near the flat and took it to nearer Oxford Circus - we waited for the #25 bus but gave up and took the tube from Oxford Circus to St. Paul's.
We were about 5 minutes early for the service but the Stewards led us to seats in the third row, under the cathedral dome. This service was "Evensong and Sermon" and was the 4th service of the day in the cathedral - with another to follow at 6p.m. The all male choir (perhaps 14 young boys with very high voices and 40 men plus an officiate or chanter) sang most of the service with the Sermon given by the Reverend Canon from Durham Cathedral. Many years ago our family heard the Messiah from about the same location in St. Paul's - but the choir that time was situated at the front of the dome and the acoustics were excellent. Today the choir was in the quire (yup, that's right) and the reverberations were amazing/terrible/annoying. It was very difficult to follow the words of the anthem and other hymns even though the words were printed in the bulletin. Nevertheless - just being able to sit for 75 minutes and take in the mozaics and grandeur of the cathedral was a luxury.
We stopped by another Vodaphone shop on Oxford Street on our way back to the flat - we've had AT&T on other trips abroad but switched this winter to Verizon so we would have use of our cell phones at home. Even though assured that Verizon worked just fine abroad that isn't our experience. Oh well, only 4 weeks without a phone - we'll live!
Back to the paper - a few quotes that made us laugh out loud this morning:
1. Story about Margaret Thatcher's security being increased because of the 20th anniversary of an IRA hunger strike: "They've also increased the number of people around her. Given the increase in republican terrorism and current threat to the mainland, it was thought they might well try and have a final pop at her."
2. Headline - Yanks turn off Charles the drip - "Just when the Americans had learnt to love our royal family again, Prince Charles was dispatched to Washington DC........The superannuated loon has been lecturing the Yanks about their dietary habits, and in particular their affection for steaks. According to Charles Windsor, the Americans are depleting the world's water reserves by eating too many cows. If they ate fewer cows, there would be more water for everybody else. However, as America neither imports nor exports water, and nobody in the USA is dying of thirst, it seems an odd argument."
3. "In between serving as Conservative MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire, the author Louise Bagshawe, has just published her 15th bonkbuster novel, Destiny: "This was her Destiny. This was meant to be. And now, with her eyes flashing, she gazed across at the man of her dreams - and oh, what dreams - to speak those words she'd been longing to say: 'Has the prime minister any plans to visit Northamptonshire:'" That's not quite how it reads, but wouldn't it be a good plot for her next novel?"
All of the above are from the front section of The Sunday Times - one of the more conservative papers here. Let's just say that it is great fun reading the paper everyday. Today they also ran a special 104 page magazine-style insert called Rich List 2011 - they list the 1000 wealthiest folks living in Britain as well as a bit about each. By the way - the Queen is 257th on the list with a 300 million pounds while Willliam and Harry are listed as tied for #11 among the 59 richest young people with 28 million pounds between them from a 12 million trust from their mother and a "small sum by the Queen Mother".
Lynda did not mention that Tim, being the sensative and loving husband that he is, let Lynda sleep in this morning while he visited a Sunday morning outdoor art show on Bayswater Rd. on the north edge of Hyde Park. This exhibition is held every Sunday. Most of the art was quite good. Did not see many price tags to know how expensive the pieces were. Hopefully Lynda will join Tim on a future Sunday.
That's all the news worth sharing (and perhaps a bit more than necessary). Have a good week all!

As promised - we've added pictures from the Portobello Market, including the paella stand - from yesterday.