Blog 18 – What to do when you can’t leave the UK

Once we returned to London from Prague, Andy jumped right into the process of requesting a replacement BRP card. This includes paying a fee, completing on online questionnaire, and going to the Home Office for duplicate biometric processing. This part, his part, was completed within a few workdays of our return. Their part can take up to eight weeks. What shall we do?

We could go to London’s Camden Market. London has lots of ‘markets’ with food, souvenirs, crafts and vintage clothing. (Think: Lexington Market, Reading Market, Quincy Market) These are usually some combination of permanent covered or built space with room for expansion with pop-up tents and tables. Most have existed for hundreds of years. Boroughs Market goes back to 1014 in the London Bridge Area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_markets_in_London  Camden Market is the combination of a few markets, both open and closed. All together there are over 1,000 shops and restaurants. This is a whole day’s activity by the time you include some snacks and a meal. Great, I mean great, people watching here.

Looking almost literally in our own backyard; we could go to the Chiswick House and Gardens which is a summer stopping place for several events. We went to the circus! Gifford’s Circus. https://www.giffordscircus.com/ At the gardens. One ring, no elephants. Dare I say it reminded me of Bozzo’s Big Top. A few hundred attendees filled the entire semi-circle of seats. We have seen more polished acts before – but never this close, or to such cheers and squeals of laughter from the kids and grownups in the audience. We saw jugglers, and acrobats, and the silliest clown routine just about ever. I can personally vouch, that when they brought out buckets pretending, they were going to throw water on the crowd, they were not pretending. I was unfortunate enough to sit behind a person who had heckled the clown routine. I got soaked. So much silly fun.

Not long after the circus, the Gardens hosted The Great British Food Festival. https://greatbritishfoodfestival.com/ There was music, a market tent, food, demonstrations and contests. We ate a food truck lunch while we waited for the Master Class on gin to begin. In a surprise to us, the class included not just presentation but also samples of six different gins. We both picked a favorite – but not the same one. In a great marketing move – all the gins we tasted could be bought at the festival. We resisted buying gin (especially since we had been drinking gin) and went on to the market tent where several wineries were also giving out tastes. At this point, this qualified as ‘day drinking’. To take a break, I went to a Chef Demo being given by a previous contestant on The Great British Bake-off. He was making a gluten free cake roll. (Yum) Andy went to listen to the current singer at the music stage. We met back up at my tent when it became the location of the Chili eating contest. They were looking for five contestants. Initially Andy did consider it, he can eat very spicy food, he turned down participating – but, then, one of the five contestants was a no-show, so Andy volunteered to take the fifth spot.  In the end there were the two of them – but his mouth and sinuses were on fire, while the other contestant was ready for the next round; game over, she won, Andy was second. And, then we both ran to the ice cream truck for something to put his fire out.  A little more music and we had just about done it all.

Walpole Park in Ealing, 3 District Line tube stops from Chiswick, also presents several festivals. For two weeks they host a comedy festival inside a huge, blue, circus tent. Of course, outside the tent is a huge bar area and several pop-up food stalls. We went for the first night because it had a comedian I wanted to see, Alan Davies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Davies  He is the one regular on the BBC program, QI (Quite Interesting). It is a panel show with four comedians who discuss and make jokes about trivia based on a letter of the alphabet. The older shows were presented by Stephen Fry, this job has now been taken over by Sandy Toksvig (also of Bake Off) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI It’s silly, but I like it. We had quite a bit of fun at the comedy festival, and it was a good evening on the whole. Alan Davies, though, was a bit of a disappointment. He had the least time on stage, and while mostly funny, was not the best of the evening. The best was Boothby Graffoe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boothby_Graffoe_(comedian), who you would just have to see to understand how funny his routines, with and without a guitar, could be.

On to other adventures. We could go back to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. We have been to the parks before, but not to the Serpentine Gallery there. https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/  Aj reminded us that the gallery holds a yearly competition which results in a new pavilion being installed every summer, only for the summer. Some of architecture’s biggest names, star-chitechs if you will, have been previous pavilion architects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentine_Galleries,  The winning rock-mounded roof over the coffee catering area was interesting, https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-pavilion-2019-designed-junya-ishigami , but what truly caught our attention was the exhibit inside by American artist Faith Ringgold. https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/faith-ringgold Ms. Ringgold’s work with fabric, paint, and words was inspirational and a reminder that we all have a voice.

We could do something touristy; we could go to Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth does not summer in the city, she goes to Windsor Castle for ten weeks a year. During these ten weeks the state rooms of the Palace are open for touring. With Andy’s brother, Alan, and his wife Linda, visiting for a weekend, this was a great fit; none of us had been inside the building before. https://www.rct.uk/visit/the-state-rooms-buckingham-palace  This is something to see, and if you happen to be in London during the ten weeks, all four of us would recommend taking this tour. Buckingham Palace has evolved over the hundreds of years since Henry VIII acquired the Manor of Ebury bringing the site which would hold the palace into royal hands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Palace The current configuration of a quadrangle of buildings goes back to the addition that Queen Victoria requested for her growing family. The finished building has been revised and restored since that time, including recovery from bombing damage sustained in WWII. The state rooms are impossible to describe in their scope, beauty, and history. Click the link for more information and pictures. Note that taking pictures inside the Palace are not allowed. The visit ended with a quick run through of the Royal Mews where the Royal carriages, horses, and cars are kept and maintained. The Mews are mostly open year-round, and we would recommend that this too is worth a look for the history and beauty of the royal modes of transportation. https://www.rct.uk/visit/the-royal-mews-buckingham-palace Unfortunately, I cannot give a personal update on the Gardens of Buckingham Palace. The combination tickets that would have included the Gardens were sold out for our weekend trip. We were allowed to exit the Palace via the Garden path and believe that this aspect too is worth a deeper look – another time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_at_Buckingham_Palace 

During our travel break we have also attended a few concerts at the Hammersmith Apollo. Hammersmith is three stops the other direction (east) on the District line and the theater is right across the street from the underground’s station. But, if the weather is nice, and it generally has been, then the best way to get to, or from, the Apollo is to walk along the River Thames. Our first event was ‘An Evening with Jerry Seinfeld’.  For the record, I was not/am not a fan of the Seinfeld tv show. But as a live act, he is just one of the best. We have seen him before and continue to be impressed and deeply amused by his hard work as a stand-up comedian. He is clever, funny, and has the best timing. Definitely worth a walk on the river. The Apollo also hosted kd lang. I would not call myself, or Andy, a fan of kd lang. But, I love, love her rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Halleluiah. This show did not disappoint. kd’s voice is as clear and controlled as you might remember from ‘Constant Craving’ or ‘Miss Chatelaine’. The performance of ‘Halleluiah’ was simply awesome in every aspect of that word.

And, it turns out we won’t be hosting our Baltimore friends Barry and Leslie Thomas in early August either – they have needed to cancel their trip because of a small, but painful, knee issue. Hmmm, what shall we do? I know – but I’m not going to write it here, not yet. I need to make sure I have something for the next posting.