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A day in the life of the Big Smoke...


A wee mini adventure in-between house clearing chores took us to London town to enjoy and rather stunning space spectacular concert at the Royal Albert Hall this last weekend.  This was my first visit to this venue and we had a brilliant night out.    Dr Fred and I were guests of two very dear pals who treated us to a private box, we made a serious effort - you know brushing hair and  proper clobber and all looking the bees knees we had a very enjoyable evening - fab meal at a nearby Lebanese restaurant and then superb music from various composers (including John Williams) performed by the London Concert Orchestra with Raymond Gubbay, accompanied by a laser light show and indoor fireworks.  ET turned up as did Superman and Darth Vader - the music was amazing - varied and it surprised me how much of it I instantly recognized from the various film sound tracks - many movies that I have grown up with over the years...


The next day we got up and organised and went to the Tower of London - another place I had not visited before. we have always felt that if we did ever get in power as a group of dissidents we would rounding up a lot of people and sending them to the Tower so it would be a good idea to scope it out!!!  

It was heaving with tourists!!! So we joined the various queues and had a really informative day out... we wandered around with one of the Beefeater tours - very entertaining and full of the gory details so often associated with the Tower (less than I'd imagined) - the Crown Jewels were very sparkly and seemingly lacking much security but we decided not to test this theory - bloomin thick doors on each end of display room but we had expected more visible armed protection - after all the single diamond in the sceptre is worth a mere 400 million squids!!!


The ravens were evident but really not happy to pose for photographs - I expect it gets a bit wearing being so responsible - legend has it if they leave the tower it will fall and the country will be ruined - they are well cared for ... meanwhile their wings are clipped, but they are on rations ... probably get fed better then some families....

The Tower is a institution, run on routines and rituals.  Its not quite as fanciful as Gormanghast but similarities emerge... traditions are upheld and played out daily, there is even a room with bright carvings - the wooden horses date back to the 17th century (some earlier) and they are quite exquisite and beautiful. 

It was a long day - so much to see - we got museum leg after about 4 hours, just couldn't take any more in so we headed of to a very fancy patisserie to eat lovely french cakes and coffee before returning to the car to head back into everyday life...

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