Rangers on a Killer Trail in London

My last batch of Rangers are now all about to go to university, I'd been saying for a long time I would take them to London to get some experience of the transport systems and just to give them a confidence boost.

Covid and life got in the way, so we were up to our final possible date we could all make it and the weather annouced 35C.  I really wondered how sensible travelling would be and reconsidered my risk assessment a number of times, if these girls had been younger I would have cancelled but they are old enough and few enough that we could be very flexible with the plans.  

I had asked a couple of my now ex rangers that live and work around London what they thought might be good and cheap, these girls had done the monopoly challenge with me years ago. They recommended a 'killer trail'.  

So armed with laminated cards, a heavy duty sun umbrella, more water than I felt happy carrying and the refill app off we went.  It was interesting that I was the only person I saw using an umbrella for sunshade - the one I use now is a silver reflective vented one. It's fantastic and created shade for the whole group at the right angle. 

Luck was on our side, the long hot summer meant a track fire which had upset all the trains, initially it was a worry we would be able to get there at all but our planned train started at our town rather than the big stations further up line so we got onto an on-time empty train and had a 'converted to standard' first class carriage - we played cards all the air conditioned way in.

 

The tube was hot, but most people had decided to stay away I think and it was quieter than usual even at peak times.

We did walked our way around the WestEnd killertrail (murdermystery type tour/quiz). I recommend them as a cheap way to fill a 3 hours. 

You are looking for clues on streets, statues etc to help you solve a mystery.

It's not particularly hard but it is a better focus than just walking around,

We stopped many times, just sitting in a shady area, we took advantage of different places to refill water bottles some were happy to do so, some took a little buttering up, but a uniform and a necker can take you a long way and with a lot of neck I even managed to get Greggs to fill our water bottles whilst we were stood next to a fridge of bottles selling water!

We did also buy water on the south bank but also got Pret to turn on the refill tap so we could do a double top up, buy & fill. 

An ice-cream stop sat on the steps near the Duke of York statue lasted nearly an hour, just cooling, chilling, chatting, they even starting to sing some camp songs and tourist took photos of us!! That is the beauty of an itinary with no time pressures at all and the flexibility of rangers in small groups.  

I’m pleased with how I led them,  which was my usual style of from behind. I let them get off at the wrong tube station, work that out, all get back on and have another go, gives them confidence to know it doesn’t matter. Showed them that it’s normal to have 300+ people waiting for platform information before the barrier opens and those pushing through don’t know something you don’t! How to get water bottle refills without buying it! And how to manage ‘broken’ tickets (after one Ranger kept her ticket in her phone case). It was interesting watching what worried different girls at different times.

I was a little worried about taking them on my own, I normally like to have a second leader around to bounce off.  But actually it was a boost to my confidence in my leader skills too. Leading from behind is sometimes very swan like, you look calm and all knowing whilst your mind is constantly doing overtime! 

We did the trail, we had a bit of fun in M&M world, we had a wander to Horseguards and Downing Street, passed Westminster, a sit on the Southbank soaking up the buskers and summer atmosphere.

Before heading  home in a non-airconditioned train. Which was an opportunity to show them how long a bottle of frozen water can stay frozen in an isulated cover, how putting it on the back of your neck is an instant cooler - we passed it around the group each having a go more than once!

Another grand day out.

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Tutankhamun on the Kings Road London

It's been a while since we went to London, a few years a go I seemed to be there at least monthly.   But the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery was enough of a draw to take me back.

We walked from Victoria to the Kings Road (the long way round no thanks to me!) but neither HWMBO have ever spent non-work time in this area so it was pleasant and we knew we were getting close as the number of Land Rover Defenders (with low profile tyres obviously) grew.    We wandered past the Sloane Square carpark which was a about £50 a day (or £224 a week) to park the London City necessary off-roader off road.

Pavillion Road was a plethera of artisan food shops where if you needed to ask how much a pound then you couldn't afford it!

There was a amazing little barbers shop that a little boy was having a hair cut in an old fashioned sweeney-tood type chair next to an incredible till, seriously worth window shopping but at £50 a shave,  HWMBO said he'd rather shave himself.










The weather was good and we decided to wander on, I was drawn into an 'active wear' shop and HWMBO and I looked at clothes we'd actually have really liked and then looked at the prices!  A pair of leggings in an orange colour to die for were £120 - now don't get me wrong if you were going to a gym in Chelsea they are probably uniform, I can see that - but given the brambles and clay stain mud I run through I decided to stick with my (cheap by comparison but it's all relative) Reeboks!  HWMBO decided Sainsburys gym clothes were perfectly adequate for his needs and that is why I love him - he doesn't spend his own money, so I can do it for him!

This is the world of Ab-Fab and the stereotypical and the want-to-bes are there for the watching.  It is  fun and at the same time horribly disconcerting that this country is really such an unfair society in which so many can't afford to eat and so many can afford to live this life.

We had a wander around the Duke of York Square fine food market which is right outside the gallery and decided what we would be eating afterwards and I gave some money to the big-issue seller to get over the guilt (amazing how quickly you can filter out the uncomfortable feelings.)

Anyway, onto the Saatchi gallery and the queues, tickets are timed and the queues are very well organised, get there 15 minutes before your time on the ticket and they open up a queue lane for your ticket time.  There's no point in being there any earlier.  But you know exhibitions in London, never knowingly undersold tickets since 19-canteen.

Once in we declined the Theme park type photo and headed into a film room (or holding gate as layout designers probably refer to them as)

It was short enough not to be a pain and interesting enough to get me a little more excited but I don't consider myself to be small person and this was my view of the screen so I can only assume I was there on tall person day or the room is on a downward slope.




Once inside,  the exhibition was heaving with each case surrounded by people waiting to take a photo before moving on.

There was limited historical information, just snippets of  what seemed more like prose than data and a brief description of the artefact.

In fact some people seemed to take a very long time reading a very limited amount of words,  I came to the conclusion that the lettering colour and font was not conducive to fast information intake, which for the number of people they were pushing through was needed.

Overall it had a cinematic rather than historical/museum feel to it and my social media trained snippet brain liked it.  It reminded me of a phrase my brother used about musicals "Opera for idiots"

 This was Tutankhamun for the bling not the detail.

 But all the same I kept awing over the age of the items and that in the 100 years we have been man handling them, they haven't been totally ruined.  There's time for that yet I guess.

 I also decided I'd prefer it if my own grave wasn't turned into a mass tourist event without properly touching on my life.  But I guess the ancient Egyptian's importance of remembrance in posterity makes it a trade off.


















We headed back out into the cold for chicken broth and dumplings and walked the straighter route (thanks to HWMBO) to Victoria.


It was a pleasant day which reminded me why I like a day out in London and why we should make the effort to go more often.

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Having seen the Poppies at the Tower and at Middleport, I decided to go to see them at their last stop on the tour

The weeping window is at the Imperial War Museum London (Wave is at the IWM Manchester) 

They will be on display like this in London until the 18th November

On display outside, under the eye of a security guard, you can see them at any time.





















The part I found most moving was the scattering in the grass amongst the leaves.

The sadness of seeing the memorial to so many lives lost to war next to guns and shells.

There are a number of special exhibitions on too.  The one about regeneration after the war was particularly interesting.

Some sentiments never change.

This was an aural exhibit.

The dark room in moments of silence was an interesting experience.

We went to the Extraordinary Heros permanent exhibition on the top floor, which I can't recommend enough, I could have read forever in there and when not with HWMBO'd I will go back.

And we went through the static world war one exhibition too. 

This glove memorised me, shrunk by gas.

It was a good day out, added to by the Canadians we met and spent a fair amount of time with in the cafe.  I wish I'd have asked their name. 

I remember this museum from 10 years ago being more hands on; the trench experience was gone, I'm sure I sat in an air raid and there was a mock up of  house in there to go around.  It all felt much less orientated for children's engagement.  I know it is important to respect the gravity of war but without engaging children in history so they learn it, they will never learn from it.

Too many lives, too much blood spilt.

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Ocean Liners: Speed and Style

HWMBO and I like trains, planes, boats and trams (We aren't too bothered about automobiles much to be honest unless it's a wander around a car museum)

I heard an interview on Radio 4 about the V&As  exhibition Ocean Liners: Speed and Style (Discover the romantic and remarkable age of ocean travel) and it sounded interesting so we caught a train to London to go and have a look.  It's interesting really that once in London you are constantly shown posters about what is on and interesting stuff that is happening.  Outside of the M25 it is harder to get a handle on what things are on that will catch our interest.

Anyhoo - Ocean Liners:  It had a lot of pieces from the opulent end of Ocean Liner travel.

 Model ships  (of course)

 But mostly grand pieces from the best of the best.

 First class art pieces and chairs.

 Cinema lights

 Flags, pools, bell boys and a promenade.

It actually all flowed really well for me, not over loaded with reading, large pieces to look at and admire, smaller art work, china and menus.

A deskchair from the Titanic, taken out of the water after it sank.

It felt very strange looking at pieces that you knew had slide down the deck and perhaps had been desperately clung too.

The story of the Normandie was interesting I didn't know about, lovely ship which caught fire and sunk because the water from putting out the fire finally capsized it.  Dreadful mess of events.

 There were more interesting pieces

 And a lengthy discussion to be had about how this folding washing stand worked.





















The rather beautiful tiara saved from the Lusitania.  Lady Allen, her 2 maids and the tiara survived the shipped being torpedoed, her 2 daughters that were also on the ship did not.

Private dining rooms and original suits (that should have been a black tie not a saville row fashion statement!)

 And the largest part of the Titanic found  floating in the water.

All in it was a really well laid out and interesting exhibition.   Well worth the journey for.

(It's on until the 17th June 2018)









We found time for a bit of opulent dining ourselves (even if it was with 100s of other tourists) and I was sad not to be able to have a general wander around the V&A.  There is always something different on.

But we had to head to the Australian embassy to be subjected to their usual  security style of egotistical, power monkeys that like to make life as emotionally uncomfortable as possible for anyone that has the misfortune to deal with them...if you've been through Australian customs you'll understand...so that was fun.

And drained by that we left a wet, cold London to its blattering rain and headed home.

A good day out on balance!

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My favourite excuse for a euphemism

My favourite excuse for a euphemism died this week.

I had no idea until Cog spotted it on a post on Facebook. We all live in a quite a disconnected real world considering how connected we are online.

The men at work referred to my friend as Giles. I guess because he had money and lived in the country, so Giles he will forever be to me.

We lunched about every 3 months, with an awful lot of 'must catch up' texts in between.

Lunch or dinner was often in London and usually attached to another event. An art exhibition or private viewing. I was never entirely sure why he took me, I didn't ever feel like I fitted the mould of people attending and he would often look at me with bemused despair.  Over meals he'd tell me funny stories of the famous people he'd met at various times in his life and then I'd talk at him for hours about guiding or one of my many social faux-pas and he'd laugh and roll his eyes again.

He took me to places I'd never otherwise have been and he had a wonderful 'do you know who I am?' way that took us to tables rather than queues.

I was never entirely sure if he was really someone they should know or if it was a game he played but I'd just follow him and continue to tell him how to keep your feet warm in a tent!

He took me to some special places with a 'must catch up soon' parting.  I generally took him to local garden centre cafes accompanied by his 'let's not do that again' quotes. The worst being what I thought was a lovely sunny court yard cafe that turned out not to have a license: 'Well I didn't know, I don't drink!' was my defence which got the laughing rolling eyes response.

I sometimes worried that I irritated him (mostly because of the laughing eye rolling) and wondered why he took me out but one lunch time he said 'you are such a special friend, you really care'. It turned it around for me, I felt like I mattered to someone.

I did care. He'd had dreadful health issues and I'd done the odd prescription pick up for him but mostly I was just offers and no action. But I guess help is a two way street. You have to be able to accept it as well as offer it.

I shall miss being called Angel, being taken to champagne bars, watching very expensive art work changing hands and being introduced to the shop owners in the Portobello road and anywhere else we went. I have no idea how he knew so many people but it was never dull. I just nodded politely and concentrated on not doing/saying the wrong thing and laughing as I knew it would happen at some point regardless!

But most of all I will miss feeling that as sure as eggs is eggs we'd be going to dinner soon after the obligatory number of 'much catch up darling' text messages.

Life is becoming pock marked with holes of missing people. Each one creating an ache, a sadness for missing them and a happiness for having had the experience of knowing them and sharing part of life with them.

And I will never be able to look at this again without a pang of pain.


Angel.

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Critical Pink Floyd

So Manchester happened and the government raised the security threat level to critical and even though your Facebook friend's statuses say "we will not be cowed" (they are all the ones that live on farms in the middle of nowhere) it leaves you feeling slightly jaded about the trip to London you've been looking forward to for some time.

Having laid awake overnight deciding that I would definitely not be going as there are lovely places to be in the middle of bleeding nowhere with no people anywhere near, we diligently got on with it and stood next to the armed police on our local train station platform.  Armed police there! Seriously?! Even I, in my cowed state knew that the only gun related incidents we are likely to have there are farmers gone loopy but hey-ho.

There was one odd person on the train, I pointed him out to the train manager


because I had his ticket.















It was a purposeful 'lets stay out of the crowds' that took us out of the train station quickly and eating sandwiches at the rejuvenated area near the  University of the Arts

with 100s of others!

It's really nice around there now though.








Cog perked up with a credit card hammering at the Nike store and we headed down a tube tunnel I'd never been down before.

The tube was pretty empty which made light work of it, if slightly perturbing.

We stopped off in Knightsbridge ('because you don't shit on your own doorstep' was my probably rather bigoted thought process) and had a wander around Harrods.  We had a cursory bag check there but nothing too lengthy to get in the way of getting the wallets through the door.

Before going onto the V&A for the Pink Floyd exhibition 'their mortal remains'

They were taking security very seriously and we queued in for a full bag check of the tampax included variety.  We left Cog in the sunshine in the cafe garden and joined the queue for the exhibition.

I wasn't much in the mood for it to be honest and the staff did not help.  I didn't understand why HWMBO'd was given earphones and I wasn't despite me standing in front of the lady holding them.  I had to ask for them twice before I appeared from under my invisibility cloak of middle aged woman  beigeness. I then asked another member of staff how long it takes to go round (I wanted to know so I could pace myself to not leave Cog alone for too long):

"we don't ask you to leave"
"yes, but how long do you think it will take?"
"I have told you there is no time limit"
"yes, but on average how long does it usually take?"
"I have already explained that"
"No, I would like to know if it takes an hour or 2 hours on average to go around"
"yes"
"sorry?"
"yes you can take one hour or two hours, you can take as long as you like"
"are you being obtuse on purpose?!"
silence



So, as I said, I was now definitely not in a great place mentally.  As usual with the V&A they let a huge amount of people in at each time slot, they don't stagger it and their audio is location sensitive so you can't stand back from the crowd without the sound dropping out.

So I shuffled with the crowd hitting them with Nike bags I had forgotten to leave with Cog.
















I left HWMBOd miles behind as he likes to read every thing on every exhibit in everything we have ever been to including who printed the signage.













I used to worry about it being OCD but after all these years I now understand him, it is about getting his money's worth.
















I think maybe I was a bit too young for it all (judging by the age of the people around me) and most of the early stuff I was interested in about Syd I felt I had seen in the many documentaries HWMBOd had subjected me too in our early courtship days.












There was enough technology to keep me interested.

And as a teenager of the 80s, The wall obviously had an effect on me so was fairly interesting.


But mostly I scooted around it at a pace thinking I bet this would be interesting if you had been to see them live.

So after being impressed by the art work, technology and some of the technical stage drawings  I went to the final area where they show the huge walls of visuals.  At the Bowie exhibition that had been pretty impressive but I was confused at this one by what I was looking at.  I wondered again if I was too young and had I tripped out a few times to the music I might have had a whiff of nostalgia.

The barriers confused me and there seemed to be ageing hippy wish-they-weres all over the floor, so I gave up and went out to the sunshine.






 and a sterling cream tea.












and watched the V&A staff telling happy little children to get out of the water and stop enjoying themselves.


I think the V&A need to move away from the 'we are entitled' school of staff training to 'lets make this a pleasant place to be' staff awareness program.


Once HWMBOd had finished reading the carpet cleaning instructions we all headed back down the tube.

Cog's anxiety decided this would be a great moment to have a panic attack.  Bless the people around us that offered a seat (a young guy that looked as hard as nails, home made tattoos and the gentlest politest voice I'd heard all day),  chocolate (an American couple) and more space around her (an elderly couple that needed the lean area more than she did).  She breathed through it and we headed back into the train station to out.

Seats were as rare as rocking horse shit but there was one occupied by a bag. I asked the man sitting next to the bag if I could sit down. He was loudly insistent he sat in aisle seat. It was VERY important and he snapped it at me twice and made an issue of bag moving. I said nothing. I felt it was best. Life is sometimes very very kind. About 30 minutes into the journey he ran out of power on his phone, he was watching TV programs on it. I was sat next to the plug. I said nothing. I felt it was best.

I love a day out in London, as you know, but just for once I was glad to be home in the fields and not a soul around.

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