Sight Sighting

One Saturday a while ago (before Edinburgh) I had to get out of the house so I walked to the tube station and got on a train and then thought, 'hmm where will I go?' I hopped around a bit and got off at Picadilly Circus (I think) and went for a good old fashioned stroll, following crowds or tall monuments or familiar street names. This was a place something to do with horses.

Oops, got their family snap

I walked through some nice gardens, and a body of water which may have been a big pond. I also went to Buckingham Palace, which is actually as brown as the picture and almost as boring. I didn't take many photos of the surroundings which are big and important looking. Lots of people there. Unfortunately the little easel with Prince George's arrival announcement wasn't there anymore. Then I sat in Green Park for a bit until a wasp wouldn't go away. I started walking again, and ended up on Wimpole Street and thought, 'that sounds familiar!' So I whipped out my smart phone and googled 'wimpole street in popular culture' and eventually found that 21A was Henry Higgins' address in My Fair Lady (possibly Pygmalion). There you go! So I walked towards it but had gone too far by the time I realised, and it had started raining so I sought the nearest tube station. Then I saw a very fancy looking horse and cart going down the street, and the drivers were wearing old fashioned suits. For real. It was cool.

This was somewhere near Shepherd's Bush I think.
I was on a bus and it looked cooler before those seconds of getting my phone out.
Anyhow it's the London you don't see. But you do.

Almost forgot a title.

The don't have mailboxes here.

Oh and my iPhone woke up, I tried turning it on again and it said "charge me, fool!" So I did. Now it's fine. Jerk.

Church yesterday was nice, the people really are friendly. The congregation was a lot smaller, partly due to Bank Holiday Monday being today. I've got another day off to sit around on Spotify and watch Robin Hood... I was thinking I might zip into the city again but I'm not sure what I'd do, and what would be open.

Anyway here are some photos I took on Saturday. I got off at Baker Street and when I came above ground the photo on the right is the first thing I saw. It's not real! Rude! There was a building exactly like it right next door, but a man was standing on his balcony so I didn't take a photo. Then again, if you live in Central London you would probably expect that kid of thing.
So I went left to Regent's Park. It was really pretty! Huge, though. I didn't see the whole thing.

After this photo he ran almost to my feet!
But he was off before I could zoom out.

There was a 'buggy push' for a charity or something.

At least I didn't go super tacky
and take a photo with me in it.

That was the queue to get into the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221B.
Obviously, I saved that for another day.

Not sure what this building was,
but there are some buses.

Anyway they're just a few snaps. As I said before I didn't go far or see very much, but I'm here for a year. I can space it out. Being on foot is fun and not at all stressful - I never got lost. But it's tiring.

For next time I might book some tickets for Madame Tussauds (man, you should have seen THAT queue) and the zoo.

Not much more to say, really. I miss home awfully. The people at the local church are very friendly but I'm still waiting to see younger people... away for Bank Holiday Monday, I presume. They had a visiting preacher now that they are in vacancy. I went along and couldn't help thinking that I could change everything but that's pretty stupid - I have a lot to fix up myself. I don't remember why I left home but I hope one day I'll be really glad that I did.

I burnt myself on the oven rack,
but it'd be fine if you thought tiger.

Can I also just say that arranging photos in a post is like arranging sheep on a road. Don't blame me if it looks bad.

Brambles

I'm sorry to disappoint, but I haven't been able to take photos of the pretty streets because every time I'm outside there are people around, and I wouldn't want to give the wrong idea. I think it's probably better that I don't anyhow because it's the internet. You know.

You'll be pleased to know that we're enjoying some lovely freezing grey weather and that it rained all of yesterday. On the way home from the school drop off I took a peek up the river behind the house and here are some photos -

Beautiful, huh. Nettles, ivy, brambles, grey sky, wet grass. I hope there's sunny day soon to go out again. Apparently if you walk further out it becomes fields. I must definitely be in the best part of London.. for a country kid. (I couldn't bring myself to write 'gal,' I hate that word).
You know one thing I find hard to do? Lip-read. Different accents are fine enough to understand if you can hear them but not if there's no sound. Just an interesting part of adjusting.

Funny words? Yoghurt - pronounced like bog-ert (if that were a word); privacy - the 'i' is like is snip; singlets are called vests and one of the kids mentioned flip flops the other day so I better be careful with that one. Is their word the same as America I wonder? The milk, I noticed, comes in 4 pint bottles (a little over 2L).  What I would call corn (or corn on the cob) is called sweet corn, but maybe that's not just Britain. The kids watched some Top Gear this morning and the theme music actually made me smile even though at home I would have groaned since Seamus watches it all the time. I'm thinking about cooking scones this morning but that could be kind of... pretentious? (Thanks for your word Izzy). Seeing new birds was exciting, and they sing from sunrise even when it's cold. But all in all it's a similar place - there are people who walk to school (in coats), ride bikes, drive cars, go to the park. The gardens are just lovely - tulips, bluebells, other plants that probably each have a name as well... Everything is so green. SO green. But I'm comparing it to Autumn in Armidale where there's been no rain for ages and all the flowers are dead.

And now I am most definitely rambling. Hope you liked the photos!