London smiling

Wednesday 15th November 2023

Another cracker of a day. The sun came out and made the world look shiny and clean. I sat on the front seat of the double decker bus and grinned all the way to London Bridge. London buses are different from the Glaswegian ones, it's like the league of nations, and there was a loud Spaniard talking on his phone that made me feel like I was back on the Camino.

I planned to check out the Southwark Cathedral, which is right beside the Borough Market and I was thoroughly impressed. The details of the church are amazing. Parts of the current Gothic style church were built as long ago as the 13th century. With its stained glass windows, detailed roof, golden alter, shrines, chapels and special stones carved everywhere, it's a fascinating place. There's a monument in memory of William Shakespeare and apparently there's a resident cat! Unfortunately I didn't see it today but I did spot the welcome stone mentioning Nelson Mandela, who opened the new Millennium wing. "In 2001 Mandela opened a new northern "cloister" on the site of the old monastic one".

After a hot cuppa, I took a walk across the London Bridge and did some building admiring. A stunning art deco building caught my eye and I went into the lobby to take some photos.

I had made plans to meet up with a childhood friend, who I hadn't seen since 1983 when I was at his (first) wedding. Chris and his Irish family welcomed us on arrival on South Africa in 1971. He was like a naughty brother to me and today I suddenly remembered sitting on a roof with him, where we spotted their kitchen going up in smoke. Turns out it was forgotten food on the stove that he said he got the blame for. We ended up having a great lunch trying to hear 80 years of condensed history in 90 minutes. He was always charming my school friends and would tell me jokes, which I would recall at school and I got the reputation of being the joker. He met his wife in the skiing town of Verbier, where I worked although at different times. He's still an adrenaline junkie although it's helicopters now and not motorbikes, like he used to give me a lift on, when I was 15. Lunch was fabulous and I'm so pleased to see that he's done so well for himself and happy, with me making him promise he'd give me a flip in 'his' helicopter. We said our goodbyes and I travelled on my front seat of the bus with a huge grin on my face (again)

I took my friend's dog for a really long walk while she finished off her work and I got a little lost. I'd left my phone on charge and was contemplating asking someone for directions when I realised that the clever 8 month old puppy, knew exactly which way to go, so I followed him! He took me right through all the short cuts to the front door. I am impressed! We popped in at a Jamaican restaurant for some dinner which was great ambience but a little disappointing food wise.

I'm feeling super chuffed that I came down to London again. It's a fantastic city that I love visiting. Back on the train, northwards tomorrow.