It ain’t half hot Mum

Every other time I’ve visited London, it has been firmly into the autumn/winter weather, think November and December.  Jackets, gloves, beanies - layering up to be able to remove the heavier stuff when you enter stores, buses, the Tube etc.  So you can imagine my surprise and indignation when I find myself in the middle of an end of summer heatwave here. 

“But you live in Australia”, I hear you say.  Yes, I know that, and I don’t mind a hot, Australian summer’s day, but bear in mind that we know that it gets hot in Australia, and we have accommodated for it.  If there was ever a case for climate change, it is London in Summer.  They are just now realising that they need to build buses and trains with air conditioning.  Think about that for a second.  The Tube is 160 years old, and hasn’t been air conditioned in that time.  But now, there are signs all over the network showing the lines that have been air-conned and about to be air-conned. 160 years with no air con and yet here we are the year 2023 rolling out air conditioned trains.

Today’s adventures involved both a half hour tube/overground train ride to Richmond, and about 1 hour cumulative bus ride to Twickenham and then onto Hampton Court.  The most popular side of the bus was the one in shadow, the windows were all open and it was like sitting in a sauna at the local gym, without the benefit of a shower at the end.  So when you say, “you’re from Australia”, yes I am, but we have bloody air conditioned buses and trains to offset the heat.  You get hot walking outside, go into a shop and it’s air conditioned.  Not in London!  The local Primark was a sweaty, heaving hive of humanity, and there is no way I was going to try on anything before I bought it - because they would have insisted I buy it after putting it on my sweaty self!

So to the task at hand, my day.  I had a whole day of locations visits planned from my favourite television show, Ted Lasso, which is set in Richmond.  However in the true spirit of “mixing it up” and trying not to be so rigid, I knocked a few of the locations off to make it less of a travel day, and then promptly ignored that once I got to Richmond and jumped on a bus to Twickenham, where I explored Eel Pie Island and some of the locales there.  While doing this, I thought, hmm every trip I’ve wanted to go to Hampton Court Palace, maybe I’ll just hop a bus and do that, so I did.  

Hampton Court Palace has always been a draw for me, because of my interest in Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn.  The grounds and gardens are absolutely beautiful, and to get to see them at the end of summer before the autumn/fall transition was really special.  Palaces are a wonderful place to escape the heat too - once inside those thick stone walls, it wasn’t so much cold as cool, with only the occasional stuffy room - usually due to the number of people congregated in there.

Back to the bus, into the shaded side, and as we trundled back towards Hampton Hill, looking to my right, I did a double-take, as I watched some huge, antlered deer swimming in the local creek, right by the side of the road.  I wish I had been able to get my camera out fast enough, but I had left my power bank at the hotel, so had it switched off to conserve power (translation, to stop me looking at my phone and draining it faster for the hour bus ride).

In Richmond, I walked down to Richmond Green via Brewers Lane crossed the street (looking the right way of course) turned to look back towards where I’d come and was immediately transported into the world of Ted Lasso.  The benches, the phone boxes, the Princes Arms Hotel (renamed the Crown and Anchor in the series) and Paved Court stretched out before me. Up to Church Ct to see some of the eateries featured in the show, and down to the river to spot the War Memorial, the embankment, all with a big goofy smile on my face!  Had lunch at the pub, a delicious chicken and ham pie with sautéed greens and mash, swimming in gravy, and a pint of cider replenished my energy and it was back on the train to London.

What to do?  I didn’t have anything further planned, so made the decision to get off at South Kensington and do the Victoria and Albert Museum, which again, had been on my to-do list every visit but never quite got round to.  And that was when I realised, I don’t really care for art.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the work that goes into it and all, but I’ve never been one for wandering through art galleries and looking at masterpieces, and the V&A Museum is rooms and rooms and rooms of this stuff.  I did find one area I loved though - Reimagining Musicals, a collection of props and costumes from musicals across the ages, so spent about an hour roaming through there.  The best room in the whole museum though, was the photography section, which was well air-conditioned to protect the photographs.  I did spend some time wandering through there.

No more plans for the day, so I returned to my studio, showered and changed, planning a curry at the local and an early night.  Of course, that didn’t happen, as I got onto TodayTix and won a ticket to see Frozen in their daily rush, so instead of paying £65 for a good-ish ticket, I paid £29.  So another 20 minute sweltering bus ride (it’s weird, the temperature doesn’t peak here until about 3pm and then it stays high until about 6pm) where I got off feeling like I’d just had another shower.

The show was amazing and I think the air con in the theatre was pumped up to match the name of the show.  By interval, I was wishing I’d worn layers - and I wasn’t the only one, the girl beside me was in a singlet and shorts, and I could almost hear her teeth chattering during the first act.  But I wasn’t about to complain, after all, this was the most comfortable I’d felt all day.

Final bus ride of the day home, and now I’m tucked in my steamy little studio, with the fan going a mile a minute, ready for my trip to Paris tomorrow.  Hoping sleep won’t be far away after this, and that we won’t have a repeat of the 2.00am fire alarm that we had yesterday. Checked the weather for Paris and there is an extreme weather warning with temps to 34 degrees all four days I am there.  Quickly checked the booking of my hotel, and yes, it is air-conditioned, thank the gods!  Until tomorrow…