Having arrived
back in London we kept ourselves busy by doing extensive research for our
Europe trip. The starkest thing about
Paris for me was the absolute need for the girls to have young company if our
time in Europe was to be a success for all.
This meant trying to find a school in an area that we could possibly
call home for the next 5 months. We also
had to go through the numbers regarding the car (buy, rent or lease) and where
we could set up a base in which to explore the area. In amongst all of this planning we did however find some time to brave the cooler (freezing) weather and get out and about in ole blighty.
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| Regent Street, London |
The boys
decided to give Bumcyzna and I a night off (or should I say we decided to give
ourselves a night off!). We headed into
town and up Regent’s Street where we ended up in Liberty a fabulous high end
store with a Tudor house exterior. It’s
just off Regent’s Street, heading towards Oxford Street so keep your eye out of
you might miss it. Even when I lived in
London I only went into Liberty twice as there are just too many beautiful and
unusual things to temp you and £100 does not go very far at all. I was happy to accompany Bumczyna and help
her part with her hard earned cash though.
We then found this fabulous Moroccan restaurant called Momo Café
in Regent Street Quarter. Having surveyed
what the packed house was ordering most of, we followed suit with 2 tagines– I
had lamb with prunes and Bumczyna had chicken with lemon – both were
devine. I so want to buy a tagine
cooking pot when we get home as they are just so delicious.
Although Big
A and I desperately wanted to take the girls to see an Arsenal game we just
couldn’t justify the £100 per ticket price tag.
So, thanks to Groupon’s “2 tickets for £30” offer, we were off to see Fulham
v West Brom (not exactly the same but at least a premiership game). It was a night game so we headed out at 7pm
in minus 6 degrees (what were we thinking). The first 30 minutes were fine as we stayed
huddled 6 rows back from the front in the middle of the row. At about minute 31 a little breeze came
through and the next 14 minutes took a turn for the worst as the girls and I
started to literally freeze. Luckily Big A agreed to head off for home at
half time – I have never been so cold in my entire life!
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We took the
opportunity to head off to see a couple of old friends. Big A and Little A headed south while I
headed west to see Big Knickers and her Small Boys with Middle A. The journey was well planned. Get the 12.20 tube to Richmond to connect
with the 12.40 train to arrive in Wokingham at 1.25. Well the tube to Richmond wasn’t working so
Middle A and I got a bus with the last couple of quid we had (Big A had yet
again failed to give me any cash from his UK bank account stash). Got off at Gunnersbury because the train
called in there before Richmond – but no the train overground between
Gunnersbury and Richmond wasn’t working either.
Went back out to the high street to get the next bus. Begged the driver not to charge me again (he
didn’t – so one small blessing) and finally got to Wokingham at 2.05. Anyway once we arrive it was so fantastic to
see my old friend as we used to work for a global IT company in the 90s and
have stayed in contact ever since. She
has become a bird and deer watcher – enough said really. Small Boy was around at the weekend and
became great friends with Middle A as they fought off Small Man to be the best
at Lego construction, Mario carting and scaletrics. This was great as it gave Big Knickers and I
some time to catch up on what she’s been doing.
She handed over some spare material to make Middle A and Little A a
dress for their teddies, alas even after master seamstress Big A’s attempt the
teddies continue to go nude! Big
Knickers gave us a lift home which saved us about 30 mins journey time and
dropped us off out front – love her to bits.
When we all
arrived back in London we joined the Storman crew and headed off to the Cinema
at Westfields to see A Monster in Paris and dinner at Jamie’s Italian
Kitchen. We even managed to grab a
souvenir napkin for Bumczyna (which I am sure is in the bin by now). The food, service, price and atmosphere were
all spot on.
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Since being
in Vegas I was desperate to take the girls to see some theatre so I ended up
taking them to see Wizard of Oz and meeting up with a dear old friend of mine
Lich. Big A decided to busy himself with
a coffee and book for the 2 hours while the girls and I stayed glued to the
stage to watch one of my favourite stories bought to the West End. Michael Crawford played Oz but to be honest
the standout was Dorothy (although the girls voted for Toto). After the show we caught up with Big A and
Lich and headed down to one of my old favourite restaurants Live Bait. Unfortunately it was closed and in administration
so we went to PJ’s in Covent Garden.
Lich was his normal gorgeous self and it was wonderful catching up with
him and his cars, hobbies, trips and work (even though I thought he retired a
few years ago!). He’s a fantastic mind
and spirit and we are so lucky to have him in our family.
We got to
take the Bumczyna and Storman out for dinner without our little people which
was a real treat. We went to J Sheekeys
(another couple of napkins – thank you very much). It was a great old restaurant with fantastic
service right in the middle of Covent Garden without a tourist feeling. Frankly we could’ve been anywhere as it was
lovely having a conversation without worrying about spilt drinks, pencils
running off the table, DS’ running out of batteries, etc etc. Big A and I tried to corrupt the others into
chancing our luck at a bar with a bit of a bop afterwards but they sensibly
declined and we headed back home.
Big A and I
even got some time out from the children to see a film The Decedents (I loved
it but Big A decided it was just another crap move with George Clooney in it)
and have dinner at Mandaloun. We would
have gone into Convent Garden or Chelsea but it was so bitterly cold it was
hard just getting me out of the house.
The coldness was worth it though as we stepped from our restaurant to
discover snow falling. It was so beautiful
and I was like a kid in a lolly shop (that would be “ice” lolly as we waited 50
minutes for the bus back to Chiswick).
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| Meet Bruce |
In terms of
the snow, the pictures speak for themselves (just beautiful).
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| View from our window |
We had two
lovely days in the snow with the Stormans before we had to pack up and move
onto France to begin the next phase of our trip. It was a very sad farewell for us all.
Big A’s
Perspective
After returning to London after Paris I organized to catch up with some
old mates.
Flash hails from Reading and although he hates to admit it, is a big
Howard Jones fan. He had a meeting in London where he was making a pitch for
new business for his company that from what i can make out plays games with
prisoners. So we arranged to meet up and have a few beers. He was fashionably
late so I had partaken in a couple by the time he arrived - in a tiny pub down an
alleyway off the Strand. His meeting had apparently gone very well so he was in
a jovial, boystrous mood and so wanted me to talk to another mate of
ours called Captain Colon on his mobile. Naturally when he dialed
the number and passed me the phone I spoke in Farsi to the person at the other
end, thinking it was Colon - then I hung up. Flash then called the him back but
thought it was a bad line so kept calling out "Colon, Colon"....then
hung up. A few minutes later Flash received a call back...but not from the
person he though he had called..Colon....but from the guy he had just met to
pitch for his business....dear oh dear...well done Flash.
So Flash took it upon himself to get me hammered. He is an astnishingly
enthusiastic drinker and anyone that knows me knows that I drink very very
little.So naturally after 7 pints between 3pm and 8pm I was a little worse for
wear. Flash had to catch his train back to Brighton at 8 pm or so we said our
slurred goodbyes and I was left to find my own way home.
Having lived in London for Over 10 years I've probably wandered home
hammered hundreds of times. But this time I decided to wander around London
first stopping in to various pubs for a pee. I remember being refused entry to
a couple and looking up at the Post Office Tower...god knows what I was doing
in that part of London!
Anyway, I finally arrived back at Stamford Brook tube station at around
10.45pm. I didn't have house keys so I sent a garbled text to the child bride
telling her I was at the station. Luckily she can understand gibberish so she
opened the door and waited for me. A few text messages and phone calls later I
finally arrived at the door....20 minutes later. It's only 100m from the
station to the house so who knows wherei went or what I did...I don't know. I
laid down on the couch in all my clothes and coats and slept. Suffice it to
say, I felt awful the next morning. Not only that the left side of my entire
body inclduing my face was covered in black dirt. The child bride believes she
has never seen me that drunk before.....thanks Flash!
The next beers I had were a week later when Storms, the Child Bride and
I went to the pub to watch the Arsenal versus Man Utd match on TV. Storms is
not a big football fan....he prefers watching netball, womans gymnastics,
womens volleyball and women's diving! Suffice it to say The Arsenal were robbed
2-1 ...I was further disappointed that a pub in London watching a London club
play could be so full of Man Utd fans...id bet that 90% of them have never even
been to Manchester.....typical and appalling! I wasn't happy much to the
amusement of Stroms and the Child Bride.
My next adventure was a few days later when I took Little A down with
me to rural Hampshire to meet up with Furls. I had met Furls 15 years earlier
when I was a mountain guide in Switzerland. He was a 'punter' that paid me and
another barely capable guide to guide him around the mountain in Flims and
Laax.
Little A and I arrived in the morning after navigating the London
morning rush hour on the tube...that's hard work with a big bag and a little
pooka in tow. Having arrived at his cottage we went straight to his mangled
wreckage in the back yard. After years of what my father would call 'neglect'
his beautiful and very rare BMW was written off by a woman driver that fell
asleep at the wheel of an oncoming car. Luckily neither Furls nor his bride-
to- be were critically hurt but all involved required hospitalization.
The car however was a write-off...so so sad.
Furls has a sailboat moored at the Hamble down on the south coast so we
headed off down there. Furls had grown up on that boat and I had spent
many a boozy weekend on it with him over the past 15 years. We took the tender
over to the Jolly Sailor pub and met a friend of his for lunch.it was freezing but
the pub is one of the nicest pubs you could ever wish to go to. It is right on
the water.
We had a few pints and a couple of seafood platters and then headed
back to the tender by which time it had started to rain. Jumping in his
replacement classic BMW we headed back to catch up with another friend...Lord
Durley and his lovely Swiss wife. We caught them in the 'garden' of their
'house' fixing the sewer...nice. Now when I say house I mean mansion...their
kitchen is larger than my house! And when I say garden I mean grounds...and
they could fit about 100 of my houses in it. Just wonderful.
But it gets better for when we left Lord Durley's estate we headed to
an unassuming little farmhouse. We were met by a wonderful eccentric English
farmer in an old woolen sweater that looked as though it just been attacked by
a pack of badgers. Obviously he had the obligatory check shirt, cuff links and
tie on under this sweater....so English and so wonderful. However, the wonders
were only just beginning for after we had a nice cup of tea we headed off into
the fields towards an old decried wooden shed. Expecting to see a pair of old
gum boots, a broken rake and a tractor tyre i was actually greeted with two big
heaps of blankets....thanks for that.....however, once there, blankets were removed
and you cannot imagine how surprised I was to see not one but two 1920's
Brescia Bugattis....one a racer and the other a tourer. He even started the
racer up for me.
I am a genuine old car nut having grown up with a father that thought
any car less than 30 years old was a 'new' car and having raced vintage cars
with him for the last 10 years...so this was hog heaven for me.
Whilst Little A played with Farmer Bugatti's two gorgeous black
Labradors we the headed to another similarly grotto shed. In this shed under
some old blankets was a 1930's Bentley he had just purchased to tow the racing
Bugatti (as one does thank you very much!) and not one but another two per-war
Bugatti's. One in particular was an extremely rare prototype that was the
ore-curser to the amazing Type 35A. By this time I had become a complete
embarrassment to Furls....I was completely overwhelmed by what I'd seen....so
we said our goodbyes and headed back to Furls's cottage.
Feeling like a real under-achiever Little A and I returned to Furls's
cottage to lick our wounds, thaw out in front of the open fire and terrorise the
cat, Mr Boots. Little A was addicted to him, poor thing...he had a nervous
twitch when we left!
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| Middle A's Birthday - Rainforest Cafe |
We spent the next week or so visiting various museums including the
British, Science and V&A which I absolutely loved. We had planned to head
to another of my favorite places London Zoo but just after purchasing cheap
flights to Nice it started to snow in London...too cold for a visit to the Zoo.
The girls had never seen snow and so they were in the garden playing in it for
what seemed like hours. Together with Zar and Pickle Little A and Middle A
built a snowman that Little A subsequently named of all things 'Bruce' ...as
you do.
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| The Bridge that the As Built |
Before we left we decided to organise a babysitter for the kids and to
go out for a meal with Storms and Bumchina...to J Sheekeys...a veritable London
institution. Unfortunately for Storms who hates seafood, it's a seafood
restaurant so he had to settle for chicken. The ambience is very English and
traditional.....I'd call it dependable Britishness. The oysters were very fresh
but very expensive...I could have bought an oyster farm in Oz for the cost of
these! Whilst the sea bass the Child Bride and Bumchina shared was unbelievably
good my Dover sole was very rubbery and quite poor. We had a great night out
and overall I'd give Sheekeys a 7/10.
We packed
our vast number of bags and headed off to the airport at around 6am. Naturally
London was dark and very cold so we had said our goodbyes to the Stanormans the
night before. The Child Bride had sorted out a ‘special deal’ unbeknown to me.
Apparently she had uncovered a deal tat would save me a fortune….yes another
bag…well we do only have 23 bags with us on this trip …but apparently we needed
another Mulberry Tote!
Luckily the Mulberry
store at the airport was unable to fulfill her demands in time so we had to
leave without the bag….naturally I was just distraught….and although I’m not 100%
sure I’m fairly confident we might just be able to get away without it.
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