Before I continue with the whirlwind schedule which is my lockdown stay in London, let me just rant a moment. Does anyone else feel like they are living in an alternative reality? I do every morning when I read the news. Between the pandemic and Trump it's like we're in a distopic B movie. Have ya'll LISTENED to Don's taped phonecall to Georgia? HOW DID THIS MAN BECOME PRESIDENT!!!! OK. Good now. So Sunday G and I met a friend of hers in Greenwich, south of the Thames and famously at 0 Longitude. (On 0 Longitude? At...on??) Anywho, there it be! It's the location of the famous Cutty Sark, one of the last and fastest Tea Clippers, wooden sailing vessels that transported tea to the UK. There is a tiny touristic center on the riverfront with shops and eating establishments but apart from takeout all was shut. Greenwich is also the site of the Royal Naval Academy, a university, some museums and the Queen's House which is a former royal residence. All of which ia shut. Then there is Greenwich park that used to be the grounds of a now extinct palace and the current site of the Royal Observatory through which the Prime Meridian passes. Guess what? Shut. BUT we did climb up to the Observatory perched atop a high hill in the middle of the park. From there is a fantastic view of all the above mentioned sites and of the London skyline. Pretty spectacular. Of course it started to rain as we were heading down the hill so we scurried into town and caught a Lyft back here. Lyft is the UK version of Uber. I refuse to take public transportation this time around because these damned Brits won't mask up, so if I can't walk I take a Lyft or a cab. We are now in the highest level of lockdown, tier 5. Boris announced it last night in an hour long speech on TV. Not once did he mention masks. I am really dumbfounded.

Some shots from Greenwich. xxoo me

   Saturday I hiked up to West Hampstead and over into Hampstead proper to meet G when she got out of work.  I walked through some pretty damned exclusive places.  What I like about London is the "social" mix of almost every neighborhood.  There are public housing buildings next door to multi-million dollar homes across the street from middle class "attached" houses.  On G's street alone there are privately owned, rather shabby townhouses, (one in which my daughter and 2 roommates live), across from a long row of very nice Victorian homes that grow progressively bigger and more expensive the farther west you go.  Across from those are two high-rise apartment blocks for low income folks.  These public housing buildings are recognizable by their green signage with the name of the complex, which might be "something" house or mansion, terrace or court.  Some fancy name of that sort.  I discovered St. John-at-Hampstead, one of the oldest churches in London, they think first establish around the year 1000, rebuilt in the early 1700s.  The churchyard and cemetery are overgrown with trees and ferns, the paths all perilous with roots.  All sorts of famous people are buried there.  None of whom I have ever heard...

A path thru the churchyard

St. John's

xxoo me

 It's the New Year!  One of the crappiest years in history is over!  As bad as 2021 may still be, it can't be worse....  Can it?            

We went for an evening walk on the 23rd to see the Christmas lights and London was eerily quiet with it's empty streets.  These shots were taken around Oxford Street which would normally be wall to wall people.

I've taken long walks on our few rain-less days.  One day I walked all around Hampstead Heath, the huge park (790 acres) in the northwest of London.  I've been to the park many times but have never done the whole circuit.  Apart from the bathing ponds and Kenwood House, both of which I've written about previously, the park is mostly woods and vast fields and lots of boggy areas.  This time of year it's mostly mud.  All of the paths are packed dirt and the evening before I ventured forth it had, of course, rained.  I almost fell on my a## a good number of times and had to wash my sneaks in the bathtub when I got back.  Next park outing I'll wear me rubber boots!

Above is a false bridge originally built in the 1700's over a pond in front of the Kenwood House.  It was built when the house and lands were a private estate and it made for a picturesque view towards London proper.  Though it looks like a real bridge, it's actually just a false front and in fact the photo is from behind to show how it's propped up.  Kenwood house, now a museum, is reflected in the pond.

Two days ago we had a rare thing, sunshine!  I took the opportunity to walk to 221b Baker Street to see, sadly only from the outside, the Sherlock Holmes Museum.  Baker Street is just a road away from Regents Park, my favorite.  The park was packed with runners and strollers, nary a one with a mask.  Nuts these brits.

As London almost never gets a deep freeze, there are flowers all year long.  By the time I got back I had fast walked for about 3 hours.  It gave me a great excuse to eat 1/2 a package of chocolate covered digestives.  Tomorrow another adventure!  xxoo me