Abbey Wood - A day out

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 After a lovely nights sleep I awoke not to birdsong as I expected, but to Ian grumbling about cover theft. He clearly does not have strong handclaws like me. As I opened the  blind over our bed I was in a perfect position to watch the Green woodpecker feeding her chicks. How lovely. 


The woodpecker tree

We did the crossword off, which I won due to Ian not knowing what a Penny Dreadful is, then sat outside to eat our breakfast of porridge and toast. Not a cloud in the sky.


April breakfast Al Fresco

We did a lot of pfaffing then Ian began his exercise routine. What with this and that, his routine has expanded recently to about an hour and features a whole plethora of extras. These include a ball, a rubber band thing, a massive foam roller the size of a Rottweiler, and a spiked medieval torture thing. Every single inch of his body is pummeled and prodded to keep him in prime condition. It can be very soothing for me as it gives me a lot of free time. It can be most annoying as we can never leave anywhere before lunchtime.

As was the case on this sunny April Saturday. Ian wanted to check out the route into London and to the start of his race, so we headed down to Abbey Wood tube station and jumped on the Elizabeth Line. The Elizabeth Line is the Brazil of tube lines. The trains are wide, clean and comfy, and they run smooth as butter. All the stations are brand new as well, with those perspex barriers to stop people jumping off the platform. In 25 minutes we were changing at Bond Street onto the Jubilee line. It was like chalk and cheese. We popped out at Green Park and set off for Downing Street and the race start. It’s a long way to walk before a half marathon but that’s what one of the options the organisers suggest, The other is Piccadilly Circus. 


Buck House

After looking at the start, we headed for Trafalgar Square where the finish would be.



Trafalgar Square

We then decided to have some lunch, and opted for a Bella Italia where we had 10% off. I couldn’t resist a passion fruit martini to remind me of the Caribbean. Ian, top athlete that he is, had a soft drink. We both had a lovely sea bass and finished off with coffee. We were in a lovely window seat too, so could people watch to our hearts content. 



Bella Italia

As we were right next to the National Portrait Gallery, and as Ian had never been, we decided to nip in there for a bit. We had a good look round the Tudor section, and some more recent portraits. We both particularly liked the one of Mo Mowlam. Whilst in there we were getting regular updates from Vicky. We were winning, they got a pen, scored, they got someone sent off, we scored again, last minute winner! Marvellous. Ian, prime athlete that he is, had expressed the desire for an ice cream so we spent most of the kids inheritance and got one from the stall outside. She did give me raspberry sauce on my 99 though!


Expensive Ices

We then walked up to Piccadilly Circus just to see which would be the best route. It was heaving up there. We came to one road crossing where people were about ten deep on each side and it was every man for himself when the green human symbol came on.  Ian thought it may be a bit closer, but not as nice going that way. It’s in the balance for tomorrow. 


The stunning Elizabeth Line



We jumped back on a second class line, then the lovely Elizabeth line back to Abbey Wood, and the campsite. It was getting dark by then so we both showered, Abbey Wood needs to up its game in the shower stakes, not the best, and hunkered down for the night. Ian, prime athlete that he is, rustled up a beef, cheese and Branson sandwich which I washed down with a nice glass of Spanish red. He’s too much of an athlete for that. A few quizzes later we were ready for bed.







Musings

Woodpecker chicks are always hungry

There are a lot of annoying people on tubes, even the Elizabeth line

London Ice cream prices are crazy

Even on hot days London people like to wear furry coats

There are some rubbish portraits in the world

Rotherham United have got their mojo back


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