Hyde-Away

This week in London Town, it's the mid-term break, and school is in recess til next Monday.

It doesn't really suit me- I'd much prefer to be earning a few quid- but because I really don't have much of a choice in that department, I've decided to try and do as much as I possibly can with my time.

I had some calls to make and a few little jobs to do this morning, but shortly after lunch I decided to catch the 345 bus over to South Kensington to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum. I didn't realise just how close we are to the Royal borough of Chelsea and Kensington, but the bus trip round past Battersea Park and over the Thames, took very little time.

We made our way over to Cromwell road, and passed the National Science Museum, before reaching the Victoria and Albert Museum- and like with the British Museum and the National Gallery, the buildings themselves are incredible structures. Given that I was calling the shots on the content that we were going to be viewing that afternoon, I decided to hit up the European Galleries and history sections. The most important things to note were the Cast Courts which were remarkable, and the dress up section, where you could try on an Inverness coat, hoop skirts from the 17th and 18th century and corsets.

By the time we had finished straining our brains at the V&A, we decided to make our way past Royal Albert Hall, through the Kensington Gardens and across Hyde Park to find a Tesco sandwich or two. When we entered Kensington Gardens, we passed by the Albert Memorial which is an absolutely amazing piece of work- it is a huge, largely blue and metallic gold, Gothic inspired structure that takes your breath away. It is a remarkable memorial, facing the Royal Albert Hall, and is equally as impressive as the Queen Victoria memorial fountain that stands outside Buckingham Palace.

As we walked through the beautiful gardens with the huge leafy trees (which would be great to climb!), we passed Kensington Palace, saw two people having a fencing-dual with large sticks, stopped at a large pond to marvel at the large white swans, and check out exactly how much it costs to rent out a deck chair in the lawns (2 quid for 4 hours, in case you were wondering).
We finally found a metro-Tesco, purchased some food and found a little spot in Hyde Park to sit and eat.

Hyde Park and it's surrounding gardens are absolute gems- and I only really walked along on two paths on the western side, and am completely taken by the lawns, the trees, the gardens and the general energy of the place... if you can't get onto me from late July til September, just letting you know now, that's where I'll be :)

Bank Holiday Weekender

The last three days have been perhaps the finest in London so far- well, certainly the 'finest' in terms of the weather. Given that it's been a Bank Holiday weekend (public holiday on Monday), the wonderful weather couldn't have come along at a better time. It's been mostly sunny, and around 23 degrees Celsius each day since Friday, and I, along with every other person in this city, have been out, about and amongst it!

On Friday evening, I went to meet Caitlin and Erin in the Clapham Common area for some Friday night drinks, and I really felt like they were deserved after my week at work! The Common is extremely close to where I am living, and incredibly easy to get to by bus. Many bars and clubs align the huge park with a pond in the middle.

We decided to meet right outside the Tube station around 6:30pm, and made our way firstly to a nearby Irish haunt, for some Brothers Pear Cider (much stronger than others I had sampled, but good all the same). Despite the fact that they were playing Nick Cave in the front bar, the place itself was kind of a dive, and so we decided to head to The Sun, in Clapham's Old Town. With an extensive beer garden (providing lots of shelter), reasonably priced drinks, and a 'trendy' crowd, The Sun is certainly the place to be on a Friday night.

The following morning, I was awake early, and was keen to head on down to the Battersea High Street. Every community/suburb here in London has it's own High Street (what Australian's might refer to as the 'main drag'), which usually feature one if not all of the three 'main' banks (Lloyds, Nat West, Barclays), various coffee shop chains (Starbucks, Nero, Costa, and Pret a Manger if you're really lucky!), supermarkets chains (Waitrose, Tesco, Marks & Spencer), a Boots (chemist chain), shoe and clothing shops, off-license convenience stores (selling cheap alcohol!) and of course at least three pubs. Some are better than others, but regardless all are unique and special in their own way.

When I first went for a walk to explore the Battersea High Street, I first thought it to be a bit of a non event, compared to the High Streets in Hammersmith, Putney and up around Clapham Junction. However, on Friday I found out that each Saturday there is a Farmer's Market along the Battersea High Street, and I was keen to see what produce would be available...and I was not disappointed! There were fruiterers selling ridiculously cheap and fresh fruit and vegetables (I managed to pick up some sensational bananas and nectarines for next to nothing), a butcher, a variety of French and Spanish food stalls (featuring paella, sausages, salamis, crepes, waffles, cheap blue and brie cheese wheels and other traditional dishes from both countries), as well as lolly, fudge and chocolate stands, and nuts and eastern European desserts laid out fresh on carts.

There was also a variety of baked products, and decorated tins you could buy to fill with biscuits.

Aside from food being sold along the High Street, there was also clothing, cards and hat stands, and stalls were you could by toys and games. There was also a bloke selling crappy wooden statues (sourced directly from Taiwan), and I saw amongst his lot a little black and white cat, which reminded me of Caitlin's cat Ziggi. Given that it was only one quid, I decided to buy it for her, and when I asked the guy how much he said, "Ah, you're an Oz then?" and I said that I was, and he proceeded to tell me that he had lived just out of Coolangatta or Tweed Heads, "Oh right" I said, and smiled. "Yeah, it was the only place in the world I've ever felt homesick", he said, and took my coin... Jeepers! They're a whingin' lot these poms!

Around lunch time we headed back to Cabul road, to start getting organised to head over to Bayswater, to a friend's barbecue. The barbecue was set to start around 1pm, so we had to organise food and alcohol, and make our way across town. We made our way by bus to East Putney Station, then caught the Tube to Earl's Court, where we changed onto the Central Line, and made our way to our final destination, which happened to be an absolutely amazing apartment overlooking Hyde Park. So there we sat, on the edge of the balcony, waving to people as they zipped by on their opened roofed tour-buses, drinking stupid amounts of white wine and Moet champagne, listening to the Beatles (as well as an eclectic mix of Australian tunes) and dressing up in fur coats until the sun set late on Saturday evening.

By 10pm, it was time to head back to the South side (a trip I remember very little about, except for trying to feed a pigeon with my bare hand...). We stopped into the local Slug and Lettuce in Clapham Junction for a cheeky Pear Cider, and collected some late night greasy food from Chicken-2-Go (faux-KFC) on our way home, where we introduced ourselves to the mono-browed owner (we've been in there a bit since we moved into the neighbourhood!), and have now sworn off it for good. Dirty bird indeed.

The following day, we awoke to a magnificent Sunday, and naturally decided to return to the Clapham Common in our slightly hung-over state to lie on the grass in the massive park that the Common is, along with all the other hundred of others who were looking to soak up the sun's rays.

There were people kickin' the fuse ball, wearing two piece bathing suits, drinking cider and smoking herbal jazz cigarettes- there was laughter and ice-cream, public-displays-of-affection a-plenty, and people with their i-pod docks playing tunes. There were even people with their remote control boats having races, and doing tricky stuff in the Common's pond.

We ended up being there for most of the day, lying under trees and people watching, with some trashy magazines, cans of cider and Tesco salads, til it was time to head home to watch The Hills (series 5 is being aired in the UK at the moment!).

Monday, the actual bank holiday, was much the same as Sunday- glorious sunshine, and a chilled out vibe across the city. We decided to high tail it over to Hammersmith first, to hit up Primark (affectionately known as Prim-ani) to purchase some homewares and other items for Cabul road, before busing it over to Fulham for some Gourmet Burger Kitchen goodness and then to a local pub for a lazy afternoon.

Everywhere you look, it is obvious that Spring has sprung- the days are getting longer, birds are chirping (the same birds whose song I hear in Australia tell me that spring is on the way) and I'm recognising all these flowers in English gardens and flower pots that my mum used to grow back in the 80s before our continent started to run out of water. After beeing cooped up and locked inside during the epic London winter that I keep hearing about (from every person I speak to), I can understand why the people are busting out to enjoy the sunshine, the warmth and nature's ambience.

Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as... Parklife!

It hasn't taken me long to work out that the Parklife culture is huge here in London, and I really dig it.

The lush green grass and the leafy trees overhead make parks a perfect refuge here is this concrete jungle.

There's always a park close by wherever you are, where you are sure to find plenty 'a dirty pigeons (and sometimes sparras too), people kicking the soccer- I mean- football, mums with prams and their [rotten] children, high school students cutting classes, and joggers going round and round and round...

These parks have served me well: a place to eat your £2 meal deal lunch from the local Tesco, have an afternoon nap for an hour or three, a place to dry out your hankies or to wait until the time has come for you to check into a place- they're also ideal for drinking pear cider in when the gawd-damn laundrette is closed (nb: you can drink anywhere in this city- except for on the tube or the bus- it's an alcoholics dream...and there are many living out that dream here, might I add!).