Stephen had booked us into another BBC radio recording, this time the BBC singers. We arrived as early as we could for the 2.00 p.m. concert, had our vouchers stamped, then stood in line to enter. We were able to get good seats about a third of the way down on the centre aisle. The music was really beautiful. During the mass, the singers were allowed a short break to sit, which can be edited out for broadcast. The audience were very appreciative.

We had brought a picnic lunch with us, and ate it before the concert. A nearby hotel allowed concert goers to use their toilets and a woman we spoke to said it was a first, she often goes to these concerts and they have never allowed it before. It was such a posh hotel that it didn’t have the name outside – I guess you either know it or don’t know it. The doorman had a bowler hat – lovely! In the toilets they had face washers for drying your hands, as happens in the better places. This can be more often than you would expect in Chinese restaurants and hotels, perhaps it’s where the idea comes from.

Afterwards we walked towards the shopping district and eventually found a Neros. We first found Starbucks, but there were no seats and anyway we suspect they don’t have the Italian style coffee that the British and Australians prefer. Nero cafes are a great place to relax and read. There are usually spare tables and even armchairs and people tend to stay for a long time.

Then it was time to catch a train home. We didn’t have to wait long.

Yesterday (Sunday) we decided to go to Farthing Downs and The Fox for lunch. We made a booking, but after we had both read the bad news regarding food and service there, we decided to do something else instead. We went down to the restaurant street of Croydon and found a Thai Restaurant. We had lunch at about 2.00 p.m. and stayed there for the afternoon. It was really lovely to have Asian food again. We then went down to Croydon Minster for the 5.30 Evensong, which turned out to be 6.30 p.m. We found another cafe to sit for about 45 minutes. The service was well worth it. Very short sermon on Remembrance Day and the choir were as good as we had been hoping. We had been told it was High Church, which meant that they use the old Book of Common Prayer, I think. Anyway, we like having that as well as it is traditional for us.

We walked home from Croydon Minster feeling really relaxed and happy.

This morning the weather was windy, but promised to be fine and cloudy, with about a 40% possibility of rain in the afternoon. We decided to try walking from The Fox back through Happy Valley and across Farthing Downs, the opposite way to our previous walk. We took a picnic lunch and set off at about 12.00 p.m. At first the wind was challenging, but we got used to it and for most of the walk it was behind us. By using our jacket hoods we could avoid getting chilled.

We really enjoyed being out in the fresh air and having a walk that wasn’t too difficult. We went to a cafe at the edge of a park, which we discovered last time, and were able to enjoy a pot of tea and a scone with jam and cream each.

The wind was quite cold coming home and because we had been resting we felt colder than earlier. We were able to catch a different bus, get off and do some shopping in East Croydon, and then take a tram one stop to get close to where we live.

Yesterday being wet and rainy we didn’t go anywhere except for a little walk down to Waittrose for groceries and the paper. We spoke to Matthew on FaceTime, with some of that time with him on his own, which we like. He has had a meeting with Lesley and someone else about the electric wheelchair, which Hidde attended with him. Hidde says they are thinking about buttons on his headrest to operate it.

Mum appears recovered from her fall and is looking forward to seeing Robyne, Marie and probably Jamie and Tracey as well on the 13th, which is her 85th.

We are going out shortly and as I don’t have a photo from yesterday I will include one from our visit to Kew Gardens.

The British Museum was open yesterday evening until 6.00 p.m. Even then, they did not appear to be in a hurry to get people out. The shops were open late in the city as well, but it was a bit surprising that so many people wanted to take advantage of the Museum being open late.

We caught a bus to Victoria from near the Museum and it was interesting to see the crowds in the streets. The more expensive stores such as Selfridges were brightly lit up, we are not sure if this is normal or because of Christmas.

As it was getting late we had a meal in town before heading home on the train. We canvassed the options at Victoria Station. There is a shopping and restaurant mall to one side of the station and there we checked out a variety of options, but settled on a French style cafe. They had a good 2 course option, which we shared. The food was tasty and plentiful and the service was excellent.

I took a couple of photos of the Camera Cafe, plus a few in and around the Museum.

We don’t have anything planned today (Saturday), but might do some shopping later. It’s probably not that bad outside but it looks very wet and windy from our apartment.

We arrived at Victoria at about 12.30, and after catching a bus to the British Museum, got stuck into our lunch. A good use of time and Stephen appreciated it as it makes his pack lighter. As I’m not a fan of museum, no matter how splendid (as this one is from the half hour I spent there), so the plan is for him to spend a few hours there and me to do some writing nearby. So, I bought my smallest camera (Sony A6000 with collapsing pancake zoom) and the laptop.

Yesterday (Thursday) and today are rather wet – not really heavy rain, but grey all day. Stephen seemed to have a hangover of sorts from the night before where he drank a whole pint of cider and also had some red wine – we think an interaction with his meds. So, it was a lazy day for me, with him in bed for most of the day.

St George’s is an interesting church. When you walk in it feels more like a ball room than a church, with a big chandelier in the middle and quite a lot of light coming through the windows. This was part of the design, apparently, so that people could actually see to read their prayerbooks. Strangely sensible! It was built in 1711 and has a classical design and most unusual spire.

This cafe is an oddity, with lots of old Hasselblad camera bits and lenses, nothing modern. There is a small gallery downstairs and they serve light food and coffee – and it’s just down the road from the Museum.

Stephen made contact with our exchanges from Knebworth to see if they would like to catch up whilst we are here. Jan arranged tickets and meal in central London. The drawcard was David Suchet playing Lady Bracknell, but I have to say that I didn’t feel he was brilliant in the role, the young men and one of the young women carried the show more. Still, it was very interesting to go to one of the many small theatres in the Strand. It is narrow and has very steep seat racking, with lovely mouldings around the ceiling and little places to have drinks. Quite challenging for people with walking sticks.

Afterwards, as part of the package, we had a meal at an upmarket hamburger place – really a large restaurant. We had a nice bottle of red wine for about $12, that doesn’t happen in Australian restaurants where the wine is usually very expensive. We enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion about politics and music and social issues. John is a lot quieter than Jan, plus he had the bad experience of train delays and almost not getting to the theatre on time. Jan had come in earlier. The food was good and also moderately priced, and we paid roughly half our way, we think.

There was also the buzz of being in the busy part of the city after dark. With sunset at 4.30 p.m. it wasn’t very late, even when we finished our meal.

We had a delay on our train, the Brighton train which stops at Clapham Junction and East Croydon, but it all seemed worth it as this is usually quite a comfortable ride, as is needed by people going all the way to Brighton.

Stephen is a bit under the weather this morning. He drank a bit more than usual and thinks it may have interacted with his meds. He said he enjoyed the feeling at the time, which is something!

I was thinking that the day did not involve much walking, but still when I checked I had done over 10,000 steps, about 7 kms. I was particularly tired on the way home, even though I sensibly did not drink more than about half a glass of wine.

Jan and John are doing another exchange in spring next year to a place in Fremantle, a more sensible choice in terms of weather and location near their children than our house. We felt a bit disappointed, but then we have other options for exchange as well and probably wouldn’t have wanted to go to their place again at this stage. There may be an opportunity to come back here to Croydon, for example, although Stephen wants to come here in summer next time. That’s when everyone else would want to come as well, of course.

Photos from iPhone.

Yesterday we went to Kew Gardens, taking advantage of lower entry price after November 2nd. It was cloudy skies all day, which did not appear to diminish the beauty of the place at all, and was also good for photography as it evened out the lighting.

We began walking around together, then Stephen went to see a gallery and I kept going. We basically did the same things, but I more slowly.

In the first greenhouse we found an exhibition of Australian plants. That section smelled particularly lovely – not sure why. Perhaps I needed to examine it more closely and read all of the labels.

We saw a beautiful old oak tree that was completely uprooted a few years ago in a freak storm. It was replanted and helping beams put in. Apparently it has had a new lease of life from having the soil disturbed, so they now do this with other old trees in the park. The beams grew into the tree, so cannot be removed.

The variety of plants and trees, and the intentional setting up of beautiful areas within the park make it a wonderful resource. If I lived nearby I would definitely become a ‘friend of Kew’ and come often throughout the year. How nice of Queen Victoria to donate it to the nation.

We caught a train to Kew Bridge, then Stephen wanted to try a different way home, via Earls Court to Wimbledon where we could catch a train. We had a cup of tea at a traditional cafe first, then went on our way. It was interesting, but very crowded in rush hour, so we did a lot of standing.

We had lunch at The Orangery – the large white building in the photos. We spent 17 pounds, very unusual for us, on basically vegetarian food. A good idea as most of our walking was after lunch and we had lots of energy.

I couldn’t resist – so after processing my favourites from the photos in Lightroom I made an Apple slideshow to show them off. Last time I did one I had much difficulty getting music from iTunes into the slideshow. But, having managed to do so, thought it would be easy this time. But it wasn’t, so have used one of slideshow pieces.

Yesterday we had been thinking of going to Kew Gardens, but it was very foggy and we thought it wouldn’t be a good day. In the evening we saw a news report which showed how beautiful and atmospheric it had been in London, so we half wished that we had gone. We plan to go today even though afternoon rain has been forecast.

We have heard from George about our home exchange in Brandys nad Labem, so we have booked our coach tickets for Sunday 13th December at 2.30 p.m. His son has a proper coffee maker – YAY!

Not only have I had to buy a plunger coffee maker for this place, I have also bought a top sheet for our bed so that I don’t have to change the doona cover so much. There is heaps of linen here, but no flat sheets. Anyway, the next people to stay here will no doubt appreciate being able to make coffee.

Some photos from when I was walking home at about 1730 HRS.

Today we went by train to a lovely location with a variety of landscapes – the Farthing Downs, where we started, to Happy Valley and the Chaldon Church. The first part was quite challenging as it was into the sun on a ridge, but the views were lovely, first of the township and chalk cliffs, then of farmland and woodlands. At the end of that stage we sat on a bench to have our lunch.

We then began the next stage of the walk. We knew that we wouldn’t be able to do the whole of the area. We set off too late in the mornings and it is getting quite dark by 4.30 p.m. Our aim was to walk to the Chaldon Church, the take a short cut through to The Fox, a pub on the outskirts. From there, we could catch a bus home.

The next one came about 20 minutes later, fortunately. Taking the bus meant that we were able to travel straight back to the East Croydon Train Station. If we decide to walk further into this area, The Fox would be our starting point, and we would hope to be able to catch our bus at a different location so we don’t have to walk back to The Fox.

The paths we were walking on were often muddy and slippery. I didn’t want to carry my camera around my neck and risk having it end up in the mud if I fell, so most of the day’s photos were taken with my iPhone, which I could easily get out and put away as we were walking. I do have a camera bag that sits on my hip, but had decided to bring the camera in my backpack, not the best decision.

This area has been set aside and is managed by the City of London. Walkways were marked on our map, but it wasn’t really to scale and there were many more paths than were marked, so we were often a bit confused as to where we were. Sometimes Google Maps could help, but it didn’t include much detail beyond actual roads. We often asked other people for directions, but most were visitors like us and didn’t know very much.

We felt very pleasantly tired by the time we got home. Yet we had only walked about 12 kms, with some climbing. I got a bit sunburnt, but Stephen wears his peaked cap, which was just right. It was really bright on the downs and really dark and cool in the woods. We heard lots of birds, but sometimes traffic as well.