Weekend sans car

Well, we had grand plans to rent a car and go camping for the weekend. Alas, 'twas not meant to be because the rental car company would not rent to a foreigner. Never been so irate in my life.

We made the best of the weekend though. Took the train down to Richmond. Got Albert off lead in the park. Big day for Bert.

Next day took another train down to Brighton. Beautiful warm day in the sun. Walking along the white pebble beach.

Here's what's left of the Brighton Pier, burned down about 15 years ago.

These adorable tiny beach house line the boardwalk. Just enough room inside for two chairs, little table for cribbage and a cooler for a couple beers. What else do you need?

Mo votes in her first EU parliamentary elections

Go UKIP.  j/k

This day in made up history

This past weekend, we took a fantastic walking tour of London put on by our friends Mark and Gavin.  

I was fantastic.  Saw so many off the beaten path spots around central London, with so many interesting stories only a local would have the insight on.  Only problem was that these son o bitches decided to play a trick on us simple foreign rubes.  Everything Mark told us was a true and interesting historically accurate tie bit about the nooks and crannies of London.  Everything Gavin told us was an outright lie concocted out of thin air.  We being the simple rubes we are, ate it all up and now can't remember who told us what.  So, we have to dismiss everything that we learned as false.  Anyway, some of indisputable facts were that we saw:

The Monument to the fire of 1666 dedicated to the spot where the fire was started on pudding lane, or to the chess match argument that started it.  who knows.

Buhill Fields Cemetery, where either Princess Anne climbed a tree to protest the Vietnam War, or William Blake is buried.

Smithfiled Market, where William Wallace was dragged, hung, drawn and quartered, and disemboweled.

 Roman soldiers barracks dating back to 110AD, revealed only when London was bombed by the Germans during The Blitz.

Guildhall Art Gallery, where there is a fully restored Roman amphitheatre in the basement.

And of course what tour would be complete without a stop in at the Cheshire Cheese, where Sam Johnson and Charles Dickens frequently.

Chris, Thames, Greenwich

Great weekend started out with our friend Chris visiting from California. Just went out for few drinks with his sister from Scotland.

 Saturday, we did the Parkland walk.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkland_Walk
It's an abandoned rail way converted to a jogging path through a few North London boroughs. It's beautiful, lush and leafy, but the interesting parts are when you get to the train platforms along the way. How they must have looked 100 years ago bustling with activity, and now overgrown with vegetation.

 Sunday was something I can't believe I've gone this long without doing.  Mo arranged for us to take a ferry boat down the Thames to Greenwich. Along the way, great views of BB, St Pauls, Shard.

In Greenwich, went to the Naval Museum, saw the Cutty Sark (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutty_Sark), relaxed with a picnic lunch with Albert, and of course stood on 0* longitude.