Friday 1 July 2022

Roving around London

Thursday 30th June - 2022

Hello again from my rest day here in Harpenden.

I really do not know where to start my report today because of the huge day I had swanning around all my old haunts in downtown London yesterday.

Because of the threat of rain I decided to give my appearance on the Centre court at Wimbledon a miss yesterday, instead I decided to spend the day reminiscing of days gone bye when I used to frequent London on a monthly basis in a previous life.

Knowing that this will probably be my last swan song visiting the ‘Old Dart’ I spent most of the morning & afternoon walking around some of my favourite landmarks. 


My first port of call was to catch the Tube to the vibrant heart of London, Leicester Square which is almost slap bang in the West End. I wanted to check out all the Theatre Shows that are currently performing. It was wonderful to walk down Shaftesbury Ave towards Piccadilly Circus checking out all the famous shops & buildings. 

One of my favourite places to visit in Knightsbridge is Harrods. I absolutely loved the fresh food department of this magnificent store, yesterday I decided to see if it was still as good as it used to be previously.

Of course, I definitely was not disappointed, I will let you into a little secret about their fresh food department. The fascinating thing about their fresh food section is that you can purchase almost any type of fresh Cuisine from any where in the world, bar none.


Of course I decided to bite the bullet & hang the expense as you do when you are on holidays, especially when you are fortunate enough to be in the fresh food department of Harrods.

It was very hard for me to decide what l wanted to pig out on for lunch yesterday with such a large variety & selection to choose from. Seeing that l had not had the opportunity for over 5-weeks since departing Australia l decided to settle for one of my favourite meals. l settled on a Big Ben pie with mashie peas with mash potato & Rosella tomato sauce splashed all over everything, washed down with a caramel (double malt) milk shake, how does that grab you?

When I walked out of there l was completely satisfied.

Once I had satisfied my hunger pains it was time to move right along to Westminster Abbey, nearly all the Kings & Queens of England have been crowned in Westminster Abbey; it is also the burial place of many of England’s monarchs & some of the nation’s leading figures. (Photo below).


Not only that 'Big Ben' is only a stones throw away from the Abbey. I desperately wanted to check it out once again. After nearly five years under wraps, was Big Ben ready to chime again?

Six monarchs & 41 Prime Ministers have come & gone since Big Ben first struck its now familiar sound across Westminster. The refurbishment of the London landmark, which has seen costs already spiral to at least 80 million Pounds, or in real Aussie dollar value, that's $141 million.

The famous bell has been largely silent since 2017. Big Ben's time period. 1843 - May 1859. Standing 96mtrs tall.

As you can see by my photograph (at the very top), how magnificent does Big Ben looks after its refurbishment?


In one of my other photos you can see the London Eye which is a giant Ferris-wheel on the south Bank of the River Thames, also known as the Millennium Wheel, over the past few years it has also had a few other names, however as of mid - January 2015, is now called the Coca-Cola London Eye.

The structure is 443 feet tall or 135.03 metres. The London Eye was built between 1998-1999 & has proven to be one of London's most popular tourist attractions, if you like Ferris Wheels.

The building on the left hand side of the Hop-On, Hop-Off London Bus is the entrance to Westminster Abbey. In the middle of this photo the building with the Union Jack flying high is the Parliament House building.

Later in the afternoon it was now time to catch the Tube to South Kensington which is the closest station to the Royal Albert Hall where I needed to be by 19:30 to see Glady’s Knight & the Pips concert. (Midnight Train to Georgia).


Tomorrow night (Friday) I am back there to the Royal Albert Hall to see Frankie Valli & the 4 Seasons. Once I have seen Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons I will let you know all about both shows with my critique & expert opinion & how I rate them both, stay tuned.

Wish me luck on Sunday that I can jag a ticket to the British F1 Grand Prix from the Pommie Scalpers trackside at Silverstone.

I am feeling lucky, so I recon I can pull it off.

Cheers from your roving reporter here in London.

Warbo


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