Some questions for my English friends, and some other stuff

 Genuine question here, and then a few observations.

To my English friends, you are all friendly and welcoming, chatty and nice to be around.   Did you leave England because you didn’t fit in?  Or is it just London.  Seriously, everyone walks around avoiding eye contact, muttering under their breath, and looking at you with absolute disgust if you try to engage.  I’ve had to remind myself daily not to greet people with a hello and a smile, to avoid small talk and to not try to have a little joke with people who are paid to serve me.  There have been a couple of exceptions, but not many.

Secondly, are the walk/don’t walk lights just for show?  It’s so easy to spot the tourist - they are the ones sitting at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change.  Everyone else just waits for a break in traffic and just crosses willy-nilly.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, and have gotten equally proficient at reading the lights, racing the breaks and crossing on my terms and not the traffic light’s - but just interested if there is actually a fine for jaywalking here like there is at home.

Thirdly, if you wait for the lights, how much time did you lose scrolling through your phone only to find out that the lights have been red then green then red then green again, all because you are waiting for the blip blip blip noise like we have back home.  Cos if waiting for the lights says “spot the tourist”, then missing the crossing change to green and having to press the wait signal button again just pushes the point home!

Anyways, back to my day.  Made my way to Buckingham Palace today full of good intentions of finally seeing the Changing of the Guard.  I know, right, I’m not that much of a tourist - this is my fourth visit and I still haven’t seen it!  Got there ready for a 10.30 display (at 9.00am cos they said it gets busy early so if you want a good spot, you need to be prepared to arrive early) only to find out it was starting at 11.30, so found a little breakfast nook called crumpets, bought myself an egg and sausage burger and a coffee and found a comfy bench in the shade in St James’ park where I happily spent an hour playing spot the tourist and watching the squirrels and ducks play.

One little squirrel was particularly friendly as he saw me eating, and climbed up onto the bench, ran along the back and sat just behind my shoulder just waiting for a crumb to fall.  Poor little fellow - he also jumped down to the ground and sat up begging for a morsel, but I can tell you something - I will never share an English sausage.  English friends, seriously, is that what you miss the most about home?  Great sausages? Because I can fully get behind that.  Every time I visit I think about finding a way to import real English sausages, cos the ones that proclaim to be the real deal at home are woefully lacking.

Today was pretty relaxed again, following a previously planned map, but changing it up to work around the heat.  Caught the tube to Tower Hill, where I found parts of the old London Wall and the Roman Wall, and the former scaffold site of the tower where men like Sir Thomas More were put to death for disagreeing with King Henry VIII (you can call it treason all you like, Hank, he just wouldn’t work to get your marriage annulled).

Short walk to St Dunstan in the East Church where there is a beautiful little garden providing shade on these hot days, followed by visiting the London Fire Monument.  Over London Bridge to the Borough Markets for some Humble Crumble (google it, it’s very decadent) and then onto the UberBoat to explore the Battersea Power Station redevelopment.  There is a lift that goes up column A of the decommissioned station - think Willy Wonka and the Glass Elevator type of emergence from the top of the column - with 360 degree views of London 109 metres above the ground.  Really worth a visit if you find yourself with some time in the city.

Back to the unit for a shower and change before bussing it to the Adelphi Theatre for a little musical called Back to the Future.  Really enjoyable, if a little parody-ish in parts, a great way to spend a couple of hours - some great new songs and some memorable old ones too.

Finally, waiting on the bus home at 10.45pm looking for a bite to eat.  All of my Brisbane friends are like “good luck with that”, but most of the restaurants around Leicester Square are open til late, unlike home, where everything is shut once the theatre is done.  To be fair, a lot doesn’t open here much before 10am, so there are some trade-offs.

Anyhoo it’s off to bed ready for my most anticipated day yet.  Until then, cheerio and pip pip and all that jazz.