What I did On My Holidays - London

This is a somewhat late blog - I am not on holiday  any more, but my laptop has been playing up so I haven't been able to blog for a bit, but it has randomly restarted, so I'm making the most of it!

I decided to go to Amsterdam for a few days, and went via London. I wanted to see the exhibition 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red'',  the installation by Paul Cummins, at the Tower of London, commemorating WWI. 

There will eventually be 888,246 poppies, one for each British fatality during WWI.

It is pretty sobering to see the vast numbers of poppies and to realise that the installation isn't complete yet.

You don't have to go into the tower to see the poppies, but once I got there, I decided to go in and have a look around.

I have been to the tower before, but I was about 8 at the time, so I don't recall it in huge detail.

I was there on a Wednesday, so it wasn't too crowded, and I was able to wander around.

It is impressive - the Tower itself was built by William the Conqueror in around 1078, although  there are Roman ruins on the site -  and it still holds the crown jewels (I went to see them. They are proof that the Royal family has never allowed good taste to

Raven and Yeoman Warder

 stand in the way of Really Glittery Stuff)

There is also an exhibition of armour and wooden horses and stuff. It had my favourite ever caption for an exhibition - after boating that the exhibition has, in one form or another been at the Tower since 1652, it adds proudly "the exhibition was changed several times over the next 300 years"  which you have to admit, is nice, as even the best exhibition can get a bit dull after the first hundred years or so!


There is a dragon on the top floor.

After spending several hours wandering around, I decided to go and hunt book-benches - the National Literacy Trust had arranged for lots of benches, decorated by various artists and celebrating specific books to be placed around London. 


I didn't get to see all the  Books about Town, but did find all of the 'Riverside Trail', from Tower Bridge down to the Globe. 
My favourites were The Librarian, Paddington Bear, and Shakespeare.

And then there were trains and a boat, to get to the Netherlands. It was an interesting day.

More pictures on Flickr for those who may be interested

War Horse

I've been hearing about the play, War Horse, for years (I think it has been on stage for 6 or 7 years, now), but have never got around to seeing it. 

I still haven't seen it on stage, but on Thursday evening, I was able to see it at my local cinema as part of the 'NT Live' programme.

I love the NT Live broadcasts.

I love going to the theatre, and I'm lucky that I manage to see a fair few shows, both locally and in London, but the broadcasts make it possible to see shows I wouldn't otherwise see, (or to see shows I enjoyed, again ) and of course it gives so many people the chance to see things they wouldn't otherwise be able to (and generally for much less than the cost of theatre tickets, particularly once you factor in travel!) 

I enjoyed the show. The initial scenes are set in Devon, and I did find it slightly distracting that the actors accents ranged from actual Devon, to 'generic yokel', with a smattering of Irish, but fortunately it didn't throw me completely out of the story.

The puppets, which are made by the Handspring Puppet Company of Cape Town, are astonishing - the puppeteers are always visible, and the horses (and other puppets) are very obviously puppets, but at the same time they are completely convincing as horses - even while you can see the puppeteer moving the cogs and rods to make their ears move, or their flanks heave.

The plot isn't a complex one, but it manages to be gripping, and I admit that I may have been a little teary when Albert and Joey are finally reunited!

Well worth seeing if you have the opportunity!

Not an Invasion, despite initial appearances.

Summer seems to have finally arrived, and bizarrely, this weekend has been full of bright sunshine despite the fact that Glastonbury is on, not far down the road. I'm not regretting that i'm not there, as I don't do well in crowds, or with limited sleep, and I'm not a big fan of camping, but I've been enjoying watching bits and pieces on the TV,and I'm happy for all those who are there, and enjoying themselves.

 I've had a pretty lazy weekend - I pulled up some weeds in the garden, and walked into town to go to the library. at which point I discovered that there were rather a lot of tanks and armoured cars and stuff all over the park.

It appears that this was because it was Armed Forces Appreciation Day.

So  there was also the Mayor, and some spare Mayors and deputy Mayors from neighbouring towns, all looking very hot in their robes and chains of office. (Mostly the robes. I don't think the chains make them any hotter)

There were lots of cos-players / re-enactors -most were in  WWII costumes (although there were some WWI Germans, who seemed to be getting on very well with the WWI Tommies next to them)



These guys even brought their own bombed out building (and stuffed chicken)with them.

Nor was it limited to the World wars. There was (On Sunday) a splendid gentleman with a tent and accoutrements appropriate for the Zulu or Boer War (He had suitably Victorian mutton-chop whiskers, too, and a solar topee, but I carelessly failed to take a picture of him.

There were also some people with lovely vintage cars - which I admit I like rather better than the tanks and armoured cars (although should we ever find that the town is invaded, I concede that a Scimitar tank or two, and a few armoured cars, may be more effective as a defence than an elderly MG and similar...)


I was a little bit disappointed that the Spitfire wasn't there this year, as it has been in the past (I like planes better than tanks, too) but after I got home on Saturday afternoon, there was a fly-by by a Dakota, which conveniently went over my house.

When I wandered into town again on Sunday, to buy a paper, I found that the event was on for a second day.

There was  a slightly different variety of tanks and things, and with additional silver band, plus some 1940's style live music.

It wasn't until Sunday evening that I remembered my half-formed plan to go to Old Sarum this weekend. Perhaos I shall manage it next weekend.

So; How was your weekend?