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Busy, busy ticking things off the list!

What have I been up to lately in the seven days since I've been back from Prague?

Friday the 20th was laundry day...not cheap as a load in the washing machine is six pounds and then another two for the dryer.  Ah well...it is what it is...  That evening I went down to the Italian pizzeria near the house and had a mushroom, mozzarella, soft cheese and tomato pizza.  It was delish.


Saturday morning I visited St James's Park before heading over to Waterstones for a browse...and no I didn't buy any books.



Yes the water was frozen.


Tourists were laughing at the gulls and pigeons skidding in for a landing.



And these guys just happened to be prancing by - on their way to the Horseguards Changing of the Guard.

That afternoon I took part in the worldwide Women's march.  It was an uplifting experience.  I walked the short (very short) route and only stayed for half an hour of the program at Trafalgar Square as my knee was so sore. The march was peaceful and I am so glad I took part.












They had expected 15,000 to 20,000 and there were over 100,000 of us!  They were still marching towards Trafalgar Square when I left.

Sunday I attended the Adventure Travel show specifically to attend a Blogger seminar.  I found out I am doing it all wrong.  Ah well...I have decided I am happy with my blog the way it is.  I came so close to booking a trip to South India for February of 2018.  It was one pound down and 20% off and the young lady told me I could take it anytime. I wouldn't have to pay the balance until 60 days before the tour and by then I would know the state of my knee.  I thought having a trip to look forward to would encourage me in my rehabilitation.  Okay let's do this!  We were scrolling through the trips (I knew which one it was..) when her co-workers burst my bubble and said the trip had to be taken by August of this year.  Boo!

Monday I visited the last of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries - Tower Hamlets.  It was easier to find than I had envisioned and turned out to be very close to where I stayed in the east end in 2015.  It was a chilly dank day as I wandered around.  I just could not find a couple of the monuments I wanted to see no matter how I tried - I had to give up as my knee was not happy with me.  I did enjoy what I saw though.  It started off rather strangely as some kids were lined up to go into the recreation centre that was just inside the cemetery gates.  There was a fence around but the gate was open and I went in to have a look at a couple of statues and some graves and was told to leave by a teacher "as there are children here".  Excuse me?  It wasn't a play ground and with about three teachers there what did he think I was going to do?  Grab a kid by the neck and head for the hills? My my... how did we children of the 50's and 60's and 70's survive?  I was a bit miffed about that and huffed and muttered for a while.  Then less than ten minutes later I was asked to leave an area as two fellows were filming a music video with a drone.  Lovely! (Well he did call me "Miss" so guess I will forgive them)  It was obviously background footage as there was no one around but them.  I was starting to get a complex about being there!






I will be writing more about this cemetery when I get home.

From there I headed over to Exmouth Market (on the list) on the tube followed by a ten minute walk. Again, not much that appealed so I headed to a coffee shop and had a flat white and a bagel.  Okay truth..., some of the vendors food looked nice but by then I needed a loo - badly!  But another thing ticked off the list.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I visited York for the day.  Again, I will be writing about this in detail later.  I had gotten a train fare for ten pounds return which is an unbelievable price and it's the best ten pounds I've spent.  I finally visited the Railway museum which is right behind the train station.



I'm not a train spotter by any means but it was pretty cool to see a couple of the Royal Carriages that carried Queen Victoria.  A particular thrill was seeing an actual carriage from the Japanese bullet train as I was on one in 1977.  Turns out this series was the one operating when I was there.   I will write more about it later.  The museum is free although donations are welcome.  I spent 90 minutes there but could have stayed much longer.  I took a "road train" into town which dropped us off by York Minster.

I wandered around a bit...and then had a pub lunch....


That was one big yorkshire pudding!!!


The pub where I had lunch.

The Shambles...more on this area and the trip to York in an upcoming post..


The beautiful Yorkminster.


One of the rooms in the beautiful Castle Museum.

Yesterday Claudia and I went for a cream tea at Browns in Mayfair, Central London.  While we both agreed that the mini scones were below par the rest was scrumptious!  It was a perfect size - we were able to eat every last morsel without slithering on our bellies out of there.


Today it was down to Brighton to see my friend Judi.  Brrrr...there was a cold wind blowing and I've been huddled in bed and still can't warm up!!!

A dozen more days and still lots of plans.  I've been having a hiatus from shows but next week I start back at it again.  Then there's the huge travel shows, a day trip to Winchester and more.  Stay tuned!


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