Tim's Excellent Adventure

Wednesday, May 11,2011

Did we tell you that the London Town Council, in a generous act of international goodwill to make us feel at home, has placed orange construction barrels through out London causing traffic delays and bus diversions.

For those of you a bit put off by our constantly referring to the wonderful weather we are having, here is good news. Today was what the British call a "dull day". It was grey and overcast with occasional spots of rain.

Lynda decided that, due to spotty weather and her general level of fatigue(high), she would stay in today. Tim, undeterred, decided to go out on his own, with Lynda's blessings, to visit sites that Lynda has already seen or that he couldn't remember seeing. Thus, Tim's Excellent Adventure.

I started at Marble Arch and walked to Grosvenor Place, the location of the U.S. Embassy. With all of the beautiful buildings in London, why did we have to put up an ugly building for our Embassy? It looks so...so...American! In the same square I visited a statue of Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, both impressive. From Grosvenor Place I walked toward Berekeley Square. It is pronounced "Barkley" as in Charles Barkley. Don't ask me why. Berekeley Square is in the Mayfair section of London, the posh, extremely upscale part of town. As an example, I went into an art gallery and the art for sale ranged from 8,000 to 15,000 pounds. Not surprisingly, when I left the gallery, without any art purchases, I passed by a Porsche dealership. I had always picture Berkeley Square as this idyllic square with beautiful row houses surrounding it. What a disappointment. The square was lovely, if you could see it through the traffic, and it was completely surrounded by shops and offices. No wonder I could not hear a Nightingale sing! I continued my trek across Picadilly Rd. past the Ritz Hotel towards St.James Park. Along the way I passed by the William Evans shop, makers of fine guns and rifles, that also had all of the finest clothing that men and women would want to wear in the country. I also passed by Truefitt and Hill, a gentleman's hairdresser and perfumery. I thought of stopping to see if they could do anything about my problem with women giving up their seat for me on the tube, but decided it was a futile effort. Next I passed by St. James Palace and Clarence House. Clarence House is where Prince Charles and Camilla live. I thought of stopping to say "hi", I'm a very long shirt tail relation, but thought better of it. Next I crossed through St.James Park toward Birdcage Walk. I assume you are all following on your maps at home. Birdcage Walk is the location of many important sounding British government buildings, besides, who would not want to walk down a street call Birdcage Walk. Birdcage Walk ends at Parliament Square the location of the Houses of Parliament(duh). I decided after such a long walk I deserved a rest so I popped into the Red Lion Pub for a beer. Jil, Jeff and my parents will remember the Red Lion as the place we had lunch just down from the Parliament Buildings. While we were all having our lunch a loud bell sounded and a bunch of people got up and left. Concerned that there was an emergency of some sort we asked someone what was going on. Turns out the bell indicated that there was a vote going on in the House of Commons and the members of Parliament needed to get back to the House to vote. So all the people leaving were Members of Parliament leaving behind their lunch and gin and tonic to cast a very important vote. After my beer I decided I had had enough adventure for one day so I got on a bus and came back to our apartment for my de rigour gin and tonic. Thus ends Tim's Excellent Adventure.

When I returned to our apartment I found a beautiful bouquet of flowers had arrived, sent by our lovely children and their equally lovely spouses for Lynda for Mothers Day. She was feeling much better, so we planned to go out to dinner.

The pictures are of the U.S. Embassy and Lynda's flowers.

We have no idea what tomorrow's schedule is, but we will tell you all about it.