Thursday, 30 May 2024

Last night we slept like the dead and awoke with the wonderful realisation that we were not at the Southern Tip of Africa! Instead, I opened the blinds to behold the Thames waking up with boats and barges starting their day’s work.

I received a WhatsApp from a friend telling me that it was windy, cold and wet in Cape Town. I replied that it was overcast here in London and that the temperature was 13 degrees C. “Oh,” came the reply, “it’s warmer than that here!” Ha! Ha! I will never complain about our weather again.

But the day was not that bad. We dressed in layers and dodged the showers and sometimes had to remove our jackets when the sun came out.

The Earl decided that he would take a rest day. He did not relish the idea of buses, tubes and lots of walking in London! So after cooking scrambled eggs and bacon Lollz and I left the flat at 10, walked to Clapham where I found a Halifax Bank and sorted out some issues with an account I have there. I was seen immediately and had the most awesome help from a lovely young lady named Lisa. All is now in order and I have pounds to spend!

After that Lollz and I went to have a coffee at Neros. I try not to compare how much what I buy to eat and drink would cost at home! It is always way more than what I pay at my favourite coffee shop in Struisbaai! But my Americano was excellent and it went well with a small bar of Belguin dark chocolate!

I was so pleased to have Lollz deal with all the direction finding and bus/train negotiating. Thanks to modern technology she has these useful apps on her phone! Also she understands them and knows exactly how to use them. All I had to do was follow my leader! All the angst of travel was removed. I can highly recommend going abroard with a tech savvy younger memeber of your family!

We took a bus to Westminster and all I had to do was tap my credit card and climb aboard. I was as excited as a kid at Christmas boarding a red London bus and going up to the upper deck with his marvelous views of London flashing by as we travelled to our destination.

We had fun walking around, seeing the houses of parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey etc. We then hopped on the tube and went to Oxford CircusWe spent the afternoon shopping but not did not buy very much. Hopping on and off busses and riding the tube is very convenient and simple but we also walked a lot – it’s cheaper and good exercise! We clocked up over 20000 steps today! A tube train from Oxford Circus took us to Vauxhal and from there we took an overland train to Clapham, shopped for our dinner then walked to the flat. We thought it would take 10 minutes but only realised we took a wrong turn and got quite lost! It was all part of the adventure during which I managed to have an unfortunate accident! We stopped to get our bearings and I allowed my shopping bag to slip to the ground – crash – the wine bottle broke! Oh dear what a waste! But we found an Indian cafe that sold wine and we got a bottle of Savignon Blanc – a Western Cape wine called Secretary Bird!