Brilliant day at the BBC

Today has been a tremendous day.  At midday we took the tube to Oxford Circus ……….

………  and waiting for the train on the platform at Paddington we were in good company, and so much reminded us of Oscar when he used to travel with us here. 

We had to be at the BBC for 12:30 to meet Adam, a good friend of ours who works in the news department, who very kindly invited us for a tour around the news studios.  We couldn’t take photos around the studio area unfortunately but Adam showed us around and explained the “workings” of news broadcasting.  We watched (from a distance) the transmission of the 1 o’ clock news on BBC1 and we were able to visit the studio area where the weather reports are transmitted.  We saw Alex Deakin and Phillip Avery, two of the weather men, as well a couple of other BBC news readers.

Adam took us up to the seventh floor where we had a view out from the front of the building towards the city.  The church of All Souls, Langham Place now sits incongruously in front of the new building.

One photo we could take was from the seventh floor looking down through the massive atrium onto the floor of the newsroom below.

We had lunch with Adam in the BBC club before he took us on the second part of the tour to the Radio 2 studios.  If the earlier treat wasn’t enough we were able to go into the control room and watch the end of the Jeremy Vine program.  Down the corridor we walked past Michael Ball sitting with staff and discussing his program and THEN we were “accosted” by a charming, and wonderfully fragrant, bubbly blond lady who happened to be Sally Boazman (the national treasure known to millions as “Sally Traffic”!!!!!)  

She was so very kind and spoke to us for quite a while and was delighted to have her photo taken with us.  She liked James’ shirt very much and wants it when he’s finished with it!

If that wasn’t enough – the treats kept coming.  Adam took us to the studios of Radio 6 Music where we watched him prepare for his broadcast of the 2:30 news at that channel which he was reading today instead of Radio 2.  James even sat in with Adam as he read it!

What a day we’ve had – the experience was wonderful and we have to thank Adam very much indeed for the invitation and his time today.

Of Grave Concern.

The last couple of days have been a real treat.  Yesterday we visited to Highgate Cemetery where we were simply awed by the shear grandeur and style of the place.  The east side is the “poor relation” of the two parts but still has some very interesting resting places.

This recent grave has a certain humorous finality about it.

This one contains Jeremy Beadle’s remains.

Malcolm McLaren lies here.

Someone’s last recital perhaps?

Karl Marx, of course, occupies the most famous plot in the east cemetery.

You can only go round the west cemetery on a guided tour at a cost of £12 – and it’s worth every penny.  It’s the oldest part and contains some of the the most striking and spectacular tombs and vaults.

The cost of some monuments have been extraordinary, but then it was very much the thing in Victorian times to show your place in society and your respect for the departed.

We had a tour of the catacombs which held the coffins on shelves.  We could see many of the coffins in various degrees of decay. The wooden outer layers giving way to show the lead coffin inside.  Some were very grand leather covered affairs.  We were forbidden to take photos in this area, very sadly.

We went into more vaults and catacombs, this circular area was crowned by a 300 year old Cedar of Lebanon tree (growing well before the cemetery was built.

There are over 52,000 graves at Highgate, some were badly vandalised in the 1970’s, but a lot have been repaired.

This Egyptian area was all the rage during the mid 1800’s but very quickly lost favour and not all plots were sold.

There is a lot of restoration being undertaken – some of it requiring heavy lifting equipment.

Well,the rain held off and we were delighted with our afternoon with the dead.  The tour was incredibly informative and interesting, with so many funny and sad stories behind the burials.  Highly recommended!

Today we accompanied Sue and Richard on nb ‘Indigo Dream’, helping them down from Paddington Basin to their moorings in Limehouse.

We started in wonderful sunshine and leaving Little Venice the autumn colours are looking terrific.

Passing through Regents Park, some of the residences are very imposing.

This is the Snowdon Avery at London Zoo as we pass through it.

Camden Market was busy as usual as we negotiate the three locks. there.

At 3 o’ clock, just as forecast, the rain started, and it was heavy!

But it didn’t dampen our spirits and, as we approached the end of our journey, we could see the massive Canary Wharf dominating the skyline.

Safely arriving at Limehouse Marina we relaxed and partook in more ‘Indigo Dream’ hospitality – which, as per normal, had been continually forthcoming throughout the whole trip.  We thoroughly enjoyed being with Sue and Richard – a great pleasure as always.

Such a Buzz!

Yesterday morning Maffi on nb ‘Milly M’ left the basin and we’d promised Richard and Sue on nb ‘Indigo Dream’, that we’d move their boat into Maffi’s space for them as they weren’t around.

Richard and Sue had to moor ‘Indigo Dream’ in the only space available which was right over the “aeration” pipe at the entrance to the basin.  It does a wonderful job of keeping the water crystal clear but effectively knocks out two mooring spaces (one either side if the canal) as the sound of the bubbles under the boat is too loud to put up with!  So we successfully moved the boat and then went off to Kensington to do some shopping.  Three shirts later we took the bus to Trafalgar Square but, not concentrating, we went the wrong way and ended up in Hammersmith!  Taking the correct bus we had a long ride through London……….

…….. passing places like The Ritz…………

……… St James’ Palace ………..

……… and finally arriving in Trafalgar Square.  It was very warm and sunny so the tourists were lucky to be able to enjoy a great autumn day.  The National Gallery dominates Trafalgar Square with the church of St Martin in the Fields in the far corner.

Close to St Martin in the Fields is one of our favourite eating places, The Chandos, (with the Coliseum behind it) where we had a late lunch.

After lunch we walked over to Soho for some quick refreshment in our favourite watering hole, “Compton's” in Old Compton Street, where they’d just completed the Halloween makeover (no it’s not an explosion in a knicker factory!)

It’s a common, but reassuring sight, to see police on all forms of transport in the city both day and night – on this occasion as we left Soho to get back to ‘Chance’ for a wash and brush up.  Returning to Soho in the evening we had a marvellous time meeting and taking to both locals, and visitors from Dubai, America, Finland, Germany and Bangladesh.  It’s like being in the centre of the universe. 

After such a great night we are afraid to say it was another 2.30am getting back to Chance!!!

More London fun!

Yesterday, after the weather cleared up we planned to go into town when the toilet decided to play a different tune to normal.

So James ended up stripping the whole thing down (a lot of the time in his favourite position with his backside higher than his head!) and extracting the offending wad of toilet paper.

After the toilet incident we were able to go out for dinner to a very good Spanish tapas restaurant just off the Edgeware Road.  Afterwards we went over to the St Pancras Cruising Club to meet up with a few of the members ………..

……… one of which, Micky, is one of our blog readers and knew exactly who we were even though she’d never seen us before.  We had a great evening chatting to Micky and others before returning to ‘Chance’ just after midnight.

Today we met up with our “neighbour” Maffi on nb ‘Milly M’ and had a drink with him in a local pub in Paddington before enjoying an al fresco lunch in Merchants Square next to Paddington Basin where, on Thursday lunchtimes, there’s a whole host of mobile “eateries” to choose from.

The afternoon saw us visiting the Cabinet War Rooms where Winston Churchill controlled so much of the war effort from 1939 – 45.  They were left completely unaltered from 1945, when they were locked up, until the 70’s when they were opened up again.  The above pic. shows Churchill’s private office and sleeping quarters.

After our tremendously interesting underground experience it was nice to pop across to St James’ Park and have a chat to a very large pelican. 

There were great views looking across the lake, with Buckingham Palace in the distance.

This little Swiss chalet on the edge of St James’ Park was built in 1841 as the home for the parks’ bird keeper.  It was intended to be in contrast to the grand government buildings opposite.

With a bit of time to spare we made our way to the Palace of Westminster and visited the House of Commons strangers gallery for a while.  There wasn’t a lot going on (situation normal!) but it was very interesting all the same.  We spent time in Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the complex, where the bodies of several monarchs of recent times and Sir Winston Churchill have laid in state.

A view of the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben, taken from just outside Westminster Hall.

This evening we’ve had an unexpected pleasure and had a drink and evening meal with Richard from nb ‘Indigo Dream’ who moored up in the basin this afternoon.  A good way to end a great couple of days.

Home James!

Yesterday, James had a routine appointment to see the heart specialist at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester regarding his atrial fibrillation.  We caught the 10 o’ clock train from Victoria and getting to the house by late morning meant we could do the washing which we took with us. 

(the basin at Paddington looks very good now that the construction work on the far buildings is almost complete)

James’ appointment at the hospital resulted in the possibility of an operation in the future although there’s nothing to slow down life in the fast lane!

We travelled back to London by car, leaving it at Packet Boat marina so that it’s available when we get ‘Chance’ back there later this month.  The journey was an easy 1 hour 40 mins - good to have such easy access.  Catching the train from the nearest station to the marina (West Drayton) to Paddington we arrived in the basin at 10 :30 in the evening to find follow blogger Maffi on nb ‘Milly M’ as our near neighbour.  It was a very quick hello to Maffi as we’d planned to eat out and it was getting late.

It was very late after we’d eaten (and got chatting to some of the locals) and, returning back to the boat, we were able to watch the men putting up the Christmas lights in Oxford Street.

There were lots of vans and trucks full of decorations and mobile cranes winching men skyward clutching tightly to big white balls.  It’s a good reminder of how much work goes on at night in London when most of us are asleep (or should be asleep!)

Our new neighbour Nb ‘Milly M’ this morning.

The rain has been very heavy at times today but by 1 o’ clock things had brightened up.  Looking out of our front doors to the better weather we spied coal boat ‘Archimedes’ turning at the far end – chance to by another bag of coal to keep us going.

Wandering the city.

Yesterday was a wondering day – wondering where we’d end up! After booking tickets for the evenings’ performance of “Barking in Essex” we wandered down towards the South Bank and ………

…….. over the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Bridge …….

……… with great views of some of the great landmarks…….

……. and up and down this great river.

The beach in London only appears at low tide.  The OXO Tower stands behind the red  building  with St Pauls to the far left.  Two of the newest buildings, known as the “walky talky” and the “cheese grater”, are nearing completion in the far centre.

The original insignia on the bridge at Blackfriars station has been  beautifully restored.

A closer view of the “Cheese Grater” and the “Walky Talky” from underneath Blackfriars Bridge.

This is all that remains of the Winchester Palace,just south of the river, founded in the 12th Century.

Southwark Cathedral.

We stopped for a pint in The Banker and the Barrowboy in Southwark.  An atmospheric but refitted “old” London pub.

We continued on through the Hayes Galleria – redeveloped from the old warehouses on the south side of the river.

The old warehouses at Shad Thames are now mostly apartments but the narrow streets still retain much of the character of the days when they were working buildings.

After crossing Tower Bridge we made our way back to ‘Chance’ for a wash and brush up before going to the Wyndam Theatre to see Sheila Hancock and Lee Evans in “Barking in Essex”.  Despite the good reviews we thought the content was poor but Sheila Hancock’s performance was excellent.

After that we walked to Soho, where a quick drink turned into a long drink, when we got talking to Rob.  It’s a small world – he used to live in Chippenham in Wiltshire where we also used to live.  We enjoyed a chat and a drink with him and it was a great finish to the day.

This blog is being written today on the train to Sussex as we’re going back home for the day so that James can see the consultant for a regular check up at St Richards hospital in Chichester.