Tramping tales from UK

At the start of the northern hemisphere winter it snowed in North Lincolnshire. Otto alerted his grandmother that flakes were falling as he dressed for school. Lea opened the window and savoured the sight and touch wearing a summer nightie – just glorious! As the tail end of our time in Tetney came to a close, the sheer beauty of snow was back.

The view from our bedroom window

Blue skies yet beautiful snow kept floating down and newspaper headlines like Blizzard chaos set to hit Brits made us decidedly nervous as Thursday 17 January and our train journey to London approached. Pippa Gammage from Hereford sent a message of concern that we were possibly being snowed in for our departure. All seemed well as Lea anxiously drove about. Snow didn’t seem such a problem. ICE puts the fear up Lea! Alleviating the emotional trauma of ‘departing’ is a London sojourn. Justine put together a family plan of distraction. It began when our daughter took us by train for two days in the big city with her. The dire snow reports had George try to ‘cry off’ and come to London by car with Daniel and the children who were joining us, early Saturday morning, but. They were bringing our luggage. Justine wouldn’t have a bar of that as her plans were all arranged and in place. Further alarm arose with media alerts of Snow-mageddonas the country faced more heavy snowfalls and drifts as a mega storm from Russia brought in a big freeze. Travellers were urged to stay off roads and there was a likelihood of train and plane cancellations- all affected us in one way or another.

With bare minimum in our backpacks, at first light we arose to find Dan had cleared the snow off the little blue VW polo and warmed up the engine for our early departure. Justy was to drop off ‘our wheels’ at a garage close to the station for a final service before resale. Although the dreaded black ice across the parking lot prevented a short cut we were soon safely on the train and on our way. A winter wonderland followed us to the outskirts of London without any hitches. So much for dire reporting and it was a perfect winter’s day in London with the sun shining. On arrival at Kings Cross Station we decided, for safety sake, to check out the exact whereabouts of Elmwood Hotel in readiness for Sunday night- just in case we were faced with dragging our luggage during shocking weather. This prelim walk was to make it very easy later. Thereafter, we caught the tube to Leicester Square. George took refuge in an immense Foyle’s and lost himself in books while Justy and Lea walked until feet said ‘no more’. A leisurely lunch of unusual dishes in Chinatown went down well. Nuala and Jack Starks were putting us up in their home near the O2 Stadium where Justy was to attend an NBA Basketball match and the warm-up that evening. Justy mysteriously mentioned ‘other’ plans for us. As the clock ticked on a text from Nuala informed that ‘tickets were to be picked up at the theatre’ and just as suddenly Justy was hustling us towards the tube station and on to Covent Garden where Lea’s birthday surprise was to occur and away Justy went to attend her event. Following instructions we found Drury Lane shortly after 5p.m. – Lea stopped short at seeing the massive poster for WARHORSE – What excitement! When last in England “Warhorse” had been a top theatre talking point with seats difficult to come by. At the start of our stay, Lea found many Michael Morpurgo’s books amongst Otto and Roo’s library and was amazed to find ‘Warhorse’ belonged amongst this very popular author’s books for children. A beautiful story as are many others written by Morpurgo. Tickets in hand we proceeded on to a pre theatre dinner – quite sure we weren’t hungry after Chinese lunch but Justine had insisted we do things nicely and the atmosphere and pleasant service in “Machiavelli” soon had us tucking into a most tasty Italian meal. AND ‘Warhorse’ was gloriously impressive particularly the mechanical reality of the horses. We were on such a high as we caught the tube to O2 Stadium to meet up with Justy and Nuala. Successfully found them in the mass of people coming out from the basketball game. Nuala works for O2 and it was easy access to her car park and home in next to no time. Not what we have come to expect from London lifestyles. The severe weather warnings had Jack and Nuala put us in their bedroom for fear we would freeze in their attic.

Jack said the Horniman Museum and Gardens were ten minutes down the road – faster by car than bus so he dropped us off. London folk’s travel time scale is not the same as ours- a good half an hour later we were at the entrance amongst a milling throng of weepers and wailers, before the doors had opened. Free admission had the nanny brigade out in force to escape the weather. George eyed the scene apprehensively. All went well - we were to barely notice the mob of little people inside. The museum dates back to Victorian times when philanthropist, tea trader and inveterate collector, Frederick John Horniman, opened his home and extraordinary collection to the public. His collection continued to grow and was eventually housed in purpose built galleries. With no time constraints we happily wandered, learning and enjoying the many galleries. The British Wildlife Photography Awards 2011 had drawn us there. The Natural History Gallery grabbed a large amount of our time; a Centenary Gallery containing the anthropology specimens even the African World Gallery of art and cultural had plenty to fascinate but the discovery of the Music Gallery with Horniman’s renowned collection of musical instruments blew us away. Interactive panels captivated toddlers and adults alike and we’d easily have spent hours in there but tummies were rumbling. Little appealed in the cafe and Justine fancied Turkish. During her London research she had read about Levante Pide.

We departed Forest Hill for Lewisham from a bus outside the museum gardens, that didn’t keep us waiting long in the gentle ever-falling snow.

From the top of the red double-decker Justine fortuitously noticed the restaurant and we delightedly hopped off at the stop virtually opposite. Another lazy lunch with an array of dishes to try and beers to wash them down with, gave us another memorable meal as snow kept coming. Totally replete we decided a film in North Greenwich would best fit weather conditions.

We found the wonderfully comfortable cinema and there we became ensconced for two sessions (very nearly three!) First warming up in the coffee lounge with its wide glassed vision of the street below and snowflakes floating by, choices were made and decided by their scheduled times . It veered towards Lea’s choice of The Sessions. The story line had no appeal to Justine and George but fortunately they were won over ten minutes into the film. Polar bear weather outside easily persuaded us to stay on and see The Impossible with a drink in hand as the cocktail bar alongside had opened. What decadence! Django Unchained tempted us until we saw what a long film it was and we made our way back to the Starks on the bus.

Exultation of spirit had Lea hop over a garage chain onto a pristine piece of snow to make an ice angel!

Despite media scaremongering, all fears and inner anxieties fell away when a very early Saturday morning knock on the door awoke and alerted us to the safe arrival of Daniel, Otto, Roo and Kiki with our luggage. Daniel had taken no chances, left at 4 in the morning fully prepared to dig his way into London! With ‘departure’ looming we refused to let emotions spoil our time together and according to Justy’s‘London itinerary’ we caught the tube at O2 and effortlessly reached Wood Green where shuttle buses carted us to the London Model Engineering Exhibition at Alexandra Palace. Parents and children, making the most of the snow on the park hillsides sleighing was a sight to behold. Inside the fine venue there was a notably high percentage of grey headed ‘boys playing with toys’ and walking out like Cheshire cats with bulging packets! By the time we realized it was well past the lunch hour, the place was packed with queues waiting for a bite to eat – so we ate on the run, returning the way we’d come to the O2 Stadium as we’d all been given tickets for Britain’s Museum of Popular Music. This museum bombarded our senses as it took us on a music experience through the decades. The use of a personal ‘smart card’ at sensor points befuddled us at first – some were out of order and others didn’t work easily. We wanted more than a mere sound bite particularly for the sixties era! Overall, we preferred Tamworth’s presentation of Australia’s history of music. The British museum rather overwhelmed us with its technology. We found dinner at Cafe Zero. After a long day out we returned to the empty Stark home for an early night.

Once the Stark family returned from their night away and our bags were packed and reloaded into the car, the mob made for a heritage listed pub The George close to London Bridge to enjoy a fine roast lunch alongside a wood fire. Nuala and Jack helped lift the mood of the occasion as the clock ticked relentlessly on. The hour came... Dan and Otto helped us down to the tube for our direct line to Kings Cross amidst the tears. Thanks to the earlier survey we had a direct walk tugging our luggage through the snow to our hotel and there we stayed holed up with TV. The safe option of a tube to Heathrow early next morning changed when we spotted a flyer on the reception desk for cheap airport shuttle service- door to door. We booked that. Text messages from Justine kept us reassured the airline was on schedule. Despite wintry conditions we couldn’t have had a smoother, carefree journey to the airport bar a baby screaming its head off.