Greetings from London!

Travelling is so much faster and easier than it used to be. Entering a country means feeding your passport, photo down, into a machine and looking into a camera for the face recognition software. The downside is you no longer have a stamp in your passport you can look at later to remind you of your wonderful trip to wherever – in my case – New Zealand and then to England.

A whole day in London stretched out before me. How best could I make use of it?

I chose to follow segment 1 of the Jubilee Greenway. The Greenway, comprised of 10 walks to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, provides maps and the occasional medallion in  the sidewalk to let you know you are still on the right track. I was a little tardy this morning, however, and only made it to the Edgeware Road tube station, just past Paddington,  before my time ran out. I did not want to be late for The Play That Goes Wrong.

I passed the Memorial Gates and Wellington Arch, shooting them from the middle of Constitution Hill which is closed to traffic every Sunday.

No time to settle into a park deck chair aside The Serpentine on my way through Hyde Park, though I got took time to peek at The Albert Memorial. The route was lined with trees in bloom. A quick search of the internet did not reveal the name of this tree. Perhaps one of you can help me out.

Along the way I passed remarkable buildings. One had the largest living wall I have ever seen, two had prow-like architectural features, and then there was this lovely mews. How civilized it must feel to live on this street.

Gasoline costs about the same as in Vancouver until you remember the exchange rate. £1.32 ≈ $2.16 Canadian. Ouch. No wonder taxis cost so much in London!

An almost empty tube took me to the Leicester Square area for The Play That Goes Wrong. And did it ever go wrong, right from the get-go. Fifteen minutes to curtain time, the “stage manager” asked the audience to search for Winston, the dog, who was lost and had an appearance in Act 2. Come Act 2, Winston’s leash appeared but no dog, the actors having to pretend he was dragging them round the stage and make barking sounds. By the end of the play, the set had been entirely destroyed, the walls had collapsed, overhead lighting equipment had fallen, and yet no actors were hurt. It was hilarious, and I give full marks to the artists who pulled off this demanding physical farce so well.

On my stroll along the Embankment returning to my hotel, I was treated to the juxtaposition of old and new. The sphynx was erected in 1878 to guard Cleopatra’s needle (but is facing the wrong way, is looking at the needle rather than guarding it). The London Eye was erected to celebrate Y2K.

My day in London has been delightful. Not only was I able to take a good walk, I wolfed down two of England’s national dishes – fish and chips (passable) and curry (excellent).

Hadi wakati ujao Tanzania!