Thursday.

 Going to have to precis this week- it's been eventful. As youngest daughter (who lives in London) together with her oldest daughter, Georgia,  is on the high seas in a ship called the Balmoral (I think) retracing the voyage of the Titanic, and as her two younger children, Matthew (19) and Beth (17) are home alone (well, there are two of them, but you know what I mean) we decided that we'd spend a few days in London with them. This would also allow me to view and attend Bonham's Arms and Armour auction. On Monday we caught the morning train at Manningtree Railway Station and arrived at Liverpool Street Station at about ten thirty a.m.
Then caught a 'bus to (or rather towards) Leicester Square and took above photo of St. Paul's Cathedral form the top deck thereof.

 Took above photo of 'The Norfolk Hero' after getting off the  same 'bus at Trafalgar Square. We'd arranged to have lunch with Ann's nephew William who has (among other interests) a wine bar (The Cork and Bottle) in  Leicester Square,  and as we'd just over an hour to spare, we wandered into Saint Martin in the Fields Church. Here we struck very lucky indeed for various musicians were rehearsing for a concert in the afternoon, and for nearly an hour we sat in a pew and listened to various scraps of music, and the occasional complete recital of a piece of music. Lovely. Below is a snapshot of the organ there.

Met up with William and had excellent lunch. Then another 'bus and a walk  to Knightsbridge, where we viewed most of  Wednesday's Auction. Then tube to somewhere near Chiswick High Street, where Beth and Matthew were busy preparing the evening meal. The really nice thing about our stay was that, although we'd gone prepared to look after the grandchildren, they'd had quite the opposite idea and did all the necessary cooking, although Beth did eventually allow Grannie Annie to assist with the preparation of Wednesday evening's meal. It just proves that if children and grandchildren are kept long enough they do come in useful.

On Tuesday morning we nipped back to Bonham's and completed our viewing, then (again by 'bus - and should stress that provincial senior citizens'  'bus passes are accepted without question in our Capital) out to Cambridge Circus and a short walk to Covent Garden Market. Above is a glimpse down a back alley somewhere near Covent Garden.

From almost  the same spot I took the above photo of a very beautiful and complicated sun dial. I think I'm going to have to complete this record of our visit to London tomorrow.
 But first- a memory of a former visit to the same area of  London. In the summer of 1963 we stayed in the Strand Palace Hotel - Ann's parents had stayed there before the war and recommended it as a good  hotel. We'd booked 'a nice quiet room at the back of the hotel' - I quote the booking clerk at the desk. It turned out that our room backed onto Covent Garden Market, which was then the major London fruit, vegetable, and flower market. The trouble was that the market (and a very noisy one it was too) started business outside our bedroom window at about three in the morning. After half an hour or so of deliveries by lorries, iron tyred market carts going over the cobbles, and the cries of costermongers extolling their wares, we got fed up, got up, walked round to the market and bought a huge bunch of flowers (very reasonably) to take to the aunt with whom we'd arranged to stay that evening in the midlands, and hit the road a good deal earlier than we'd originally intended.

More tomorrow (D.V.)    
Goodnight all.