This summer has been a strange one for me. Living by the seaside should have meant that I was able to get down to the beach most days. We have managed to do this a handful of times but not as much as we would have liked. The fishing gear has barely met the water and Steph's paddle board has only been used once. With the weather forecast looking just as bleak for the remainder of the summer I booked a spur of the moment, last minute city-break to London. Obviously the grey weather would continue, as forecast, while we were away.
Monday 21st August
The bad weather persisted in Torbay as we loaded our car up ready for the off. It never fails to amaze me just how much stuff a baby requires, and our seven-month old son had more bags, boxes and loose items than everyone else put together. With the boot squeezed shut, and an agreement made that we wouldn't attempt to open it again until reaching our destination, we hit the road. The journey was largely uneventful and a typical drive to London up the M5 and along the M4. Joseph slept most of the way and Arthur used his 'new' portable DVD player to watch the recording of his dancing show, repeat his own dance on a loop for some time. Eventually the M4 ran out and London began to grow around us. As the buildings got bigger, so did the traffic jams. Our route to our accommodation was never going to be a straightforward one and so we picked the 'as the crow flies' option, accepting that coming in through Chelsea, crossing the Thames over the Vauxhall Bridge, driving past the MI6 building and then the Oval Cricket ground on a night where there was a 'Hundred' match taking place was never going to be simple. We were all a little frazzled then as we finally arrived at the The Salvation Army's William Booth Training College in Denmark Hill. I am very familiar with the college having worked there in 2014 and, after checking at reception, showed Steph round to the side entrance and into our flat. We didn't do much more than unpack the car before all of us were in bed.
Tuesday 22nd August
The Training College sits on a busy bus route, over the road from Denmark Hill train station and
directly underneath the arrivals flight path for Heathrow Airport. Needless to say therefore that Arthur was fascinated by everything going on around him. The dining room was a very short (five minutes tops) walk from our room but, with a four year old who was stopping every few seconds to look up at the sky, it took us a lot longer than that to get to our breakfast. Speaking of the sky, booking a city break because the weather forecast was miserable had already backfired, and it was with factor 50 suncream liberally applied that we walked across the quad that morning. Breakfast was an excellent bacon sandwich and, after totally demolishing his, Arthur was keen to get back outside to watch planes which, we duly did from the play park whilst Steph was changing Joseph.
The delay in getting going actually proved a blessing for two of us. After exiting the college, purchasing tickets and making our way down onto the platform at Denmark Hill Station, we were aware that there were a large number of people positioned down the far end of our platform, and the platform opposite, with cameras in hand. I couldn't get Realtime Trains to work properly and so we were left wondering what was going on. Eventually a platform announcement was made, advising people to stand clear of what was approaching but alas we couldn't hear what was being said as the approaching train was BR Standard Class 7, 70000 Britannia, and the noise this powerful steam locomotive generated completely drowned out the announcement.
Excitement over we boarded our much less exciting train and headed to Covent Garden. We caught the train to Blackfriars, got off by accident (because I wasn't concentrating), boarded the next train from the same platform before disembarking at St Pancras. There I was able to show Arthur Eurostar trains, before we then took the tube to Covent Garden, losing Steph at one point after changing after realising, too late, that the lift and the escalator didn't arrive art the same point on the platform.
We were travelling to Covent Garden in order to take Arthur to the London Transport Museum which we hoped and expected he'd absolutely love. We weren't wrong. The Museum itself was absolutely heaving with families and children enjoying themselves during the summer break. Arthur, true to form, was in to absolutely everything and took all the time he needed to fully appreciate each exhibit he saw. On the upstairs levels, these included horse drawn buses and trams, the early steam locomotives that ran on the London Underground, a TFL Living Room, a play-tube train which he was able to drive and fix and, most excitingly, the cab of a London bus the drivers seat of which kids were allowed to sit in. Arthur was not alone in wanting to stay in there all day, but the enormous queue of children meant that, sadly, this was not possible. We then went down to the ground floor where, after a brief look at the exhibits, we exited to the shop and café where Steph's parents were waiting to meet us. After
having lunch in the café, Arthur bought himself a wooden underground train to go on his Brio train set. During this time Helen and Mel had been walking around Covent Garden, and once we'd finished we joined up with them and walked down the Strand to Embankment and over the Golden Jubilee Bridge to the South Bank. We walked along, showing Arthur the street performers and had an ice cream. Whilst Arthur enjoyed this, we could tell he was starting to get tired and so we headed back towards the Royal Festival Hall and had dinner at Wagamama where Arthur demolished an adult portion of edamame beans on his own. Full and satisfied, we headed back across the river to Embankment where we said goodbye to Helen and Mel. They were walking to Charing Cross for a train back to Tunbridge Wells, whereas we caught the tube to Blackfriars station changing onto a Thameslink Service back to Denmark Hill. Despite hardly being able to stand, Arthur insisted we play a game of Pokémon Monopoly before bed. This, unsurprisingly, didn't last very long before he flagged completely and fell asleep. It wasn't long before Joseph, Steph and myself followed suit.
Wednesday 23rd August
Wednesday dawned bright and sunny and again, Arthur and I had great fun watching planes go over the college grounds as we walked to breakfast. We had decided to get up and get into London early today, and so having enjoyed eggs and bacon for breakfast we were soon at the station and boarding the first off-peak train to Victoria. To Arthur's great disappointment there was no steam train this morning, however he did consider the freight train with 20+ wagons a reasonable replacement.
The temperature by this point was already reaching 'unbearable' on my personal thermometer and takingthe tube to Green Park and, in particular, getting in the lifts with a pram and several other people was an unpleasant experience, to put it mildly. So, hot, flustered and just slightly sweaty we exited Green Park station and walked through the park itself down towards Buckingham Palace. It never fails to amaze me what, seemingly small things, cause such delight for Arthur and he was absolutely fascinated by the deck chairs that were being laid out by park staff in readiness for a day of sunbathing. He looked at them for some time before noticing two mounted police officers riding circuits in the lower part of the park and ran off down the hill to see them. We then crossed the road to Buckingham Palace, searching for a spot to watching the changing of the guard which was taking place that morning. We watched as a pipes and drums band marched down the mall (which was to our left and behind us) around the Victoria Memorial and into the Palace. Simultaneously, a group of mounted Blues & Royals came towards us in the opposite direction, from constitution hill, and the band of the Welsh Guards marched from Wellington Barracks and into the Palace. It's at this point that the ceremony begins but both our boys were getting unsettled due to the heat and so once the horses had gone past we moved on to St James's Park where we encountered the pelicans, and then eventually made our way back onto the mall where we saw The Life Guards riding back towards the Palace, having presumably been changed for the Blues & Royals we'd seen earlier. We carried on up the mall , past Trafalgar Square and, after stopping briefly to use the facilities at Charing Cross Station, hopped onto the Bakerloo Line to Paddington.
Thursday 24th August
We were aiming, ultimately, for the world famous Hamley's toy shop. It was another unbearably hot day (or as Steph would describe it 'about right') and the Victoria was, once again, the ultimate sweat box. After exiting Oxford Circus Tube Station we made our way down Regent Street drawn by the promise of toys, games and excitement. Steph and Arthur headed straight up to the top floor café (to use the loo!) whilst I took Joseph (in his pram) up in the lift. From there we worked our way back down, floor by floor, shelf by shelf, Arthur absorbing everything he saw. He raced RC cars, had a kickabout with a hover football and rode around on a miniature motorbike. We had promised he could spend some of his holiday money in here and he chose polystyrene planes which come back to you, boomerang style, and 'magic' colour changing pens.
We departed Hamley's and stopped off at a nearby Nando's for lunch. I'm not certain how long we were
in this underground restaurant, but we came out again to discover that the heavens had opened while we'd been inside. We carried on down Regent Street, finally coming to Piccadilly Circus tube station where we caught the tube back to Covent Garden, and the Transport Museum. Finishing what we'd started on Tuesday we briefly revisited the top two floors, stopping for a while at the bus cab where because we were later in the day, there was now no queue to be seen. We spent most of our time on the ground floor exploring trams and buses, receiving vintage bus tickets, and Arthur had a whale of a time repeatedly using a mock-up pelican crossing. As far as he (and I) was concerned though, the big hitters were still to come and we both enjoyed the Underground train simulator, and the new Elizabeth Line train simulator. If we'd let him, he'd still be there now.
Sadly all good things must come to an end and, with some persuasion, we left the Transport Museum and started to head for home. After a brief pause to watch a magician while Steph bought Ben's cookies, we walked down to Embankment Station. Whilst waiting on the platform Arthur got chatting to the train dispatcher, showing her his new London Overground train he'd just bought, and telling her all about his love of trains. When the District line service approached the platform she began making her standard 'stay back and mind the gap' announcements, before telling everyone on the platform that there was a VIP called Arthur, and to let him on first. This small act of kindness made his day, and he was still talking about it as we arrived back at the flat.
Friday 25th August
There's not much to say about Friday really. We had to be up and off early as the new Cadets were going to be moving in over the course of the next few days. Whilst hanging around in the park after breakfast, Arthur helped one of these new arrivals, taking her to reception to have her card reset. After driving round much of Peckham and Dulwich looking for a reasonably priced petrol station, we were soon on the road and heading down the M3 towards Salisbury. Here we left Arthur with my parents, as he was extending his holiday by another week, staying with them in their caravan. After getting caught in a badly signposted diversion and doing an entire lap of the city, we were soon on our way again, battling torrential rain before arriving back home. The sun had been left in London, but we'd made memories that will last a lifetime.
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