Trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon 21-23 June 2014

We were invited to an English wedding in Charlecote near Stratford-upon-Avon which is about a 1.5hrs train ride from London.

We left from Charing Cross station along the Bakerloo line to Marylebone Station. We saw the Betjaman plaque again, one of Athol's favourite writers.

We then grabbed breakfast from one of our favourite sandwich shops, Upper Crust, and hopped on the First Western Train to Stratford-Upon Avon.

From the station, we walked through the town along the main street and had our favourite Bruschetta at Prezzo. Then checked in at The Premier Inn. Strangely there was no reception except a Self Service Check In. This was the first that I've seen! We then went to the St Lenard's Church in Charlecote by taxi, it was about 12 min drive. The church was a lovely, small, old English Church. There were about 80 or so people. We knew the groom, who used to work with both Athol and I. The ceremony started at 4pm, it was a short ceremony with hymns and two readings. The second reading was an excerpt from the Velvetine Rabbit! Quite unusual :)

The reception was at the bride's parent's farm nearby. There was a big white marqee set up in the lovely garden. The English countryside is beautiful. Athol had a rather bad case of hay fever, and was sneezing constantly - perhaps too much fresh air :) It was a sit down meal with cheese and cold meats for starters, lamb, potatoes and veggies for mains and meringues and strawberries for dessert. The wedding cake was a home baked red velvet cake. There was a dancefloor and a band as well as a photobooth for guests to take pictures. A bus took guests back to the hotels at 1pm.

http://www.clarewestphotography.co.uk/index.php/2014/06/family-farm-wedding/

Stratford-Upon-Avon is a little town where Williams Shakespeare was born.

The Avon River flows through the little town. You can cross the river at one point via a Chain Ferry for 50c.

There was a band playing in the park.

Above is the RSC - the Royal Shakespeare Company, where they host Shakespeare plays.

Stratford-upon-Avon is a nice, small quaint town.

How tall am I?! :)

The Police Station

 The Railway station

Some of our favourites while in London

As our adventure in London slowly draws to an end, I'd like to reflect on some of the our most memorable favourite/worst things.

Favourite Indian Food - Vegetable/Chicken Tikka Masala from the Tamarind Tree near Regents Park.

Favourite Sitcoms - The Office, Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, House of Cards, Homeland, Scrubs

Favourite Sushi - You Me Sushi

Favourite Vegetarian Place - Food For Thought in Covent Garden

Favourite London foods - Falafels, Bruschetta, Burritos

Worst things about London -  The noise along Northumberland Avenue! Small spaces. It is expensive! Pollution is bad. The constant grey rainy weather days are depressing. All the walking can be tiring. London is crazy over Easter and Christmas.

Favourite things about London - The ability to just walk around with complete peace of mind. The vast amount of things to do. Things just work. Service is great. The parks are beautiful. Self service tills at shops and the post office :) it doesn't matter how you dress, nobody cares :)

Lessons learnt - One can survive with very little. The less you have, the less worries you have. The only way that we can change the world is by either changing the institutions (which is virtually impossible!) or by changing the way people think (which too is virtually impossible!).

Watching 1984 at The Playhouse

We decided to go watch George Orwell's play 1984 at The Playhouse, which is just down our road.

I have hear about the book and was interested to see how they would do the play, as it was written in 1949 and was about what the world would be like in 1984 and Big Brother is watching you!

It was brilliantly done. A thought-provoking play, somewhat disturbing as the world they describe is pretty much like the world is today.

"Big Brother" is like a communist party which controls everything and everyone.

It paints a world where everybody is watched all the time and ignorance to the truth is bliss. "Big Brother" will make you believe what they want you to believe. They will torture those who seek the truth and try to go against "Big Brother".

People wear only clothes that the party gives them, eat only what the party allocates to them and speak how the party want them to speak!

Newspeak is the new language which has a smaller amount of words. For example, there's the word "good" and "ungood" - you don't need the word "bad" :)

There is "thought crime" and "though police" so people are not allowed to have impure thoughts or wish to go against the party.

The story revolves around a character Winston Smith who finds love but wants to overthrow the party. He seems like a madman. The play is done quite cleverly, with repetitions of the same/similar scenes and jumping from scene to scene, you often don't know what is real from Winston's point of view.

The party tortures Winston until he accepts the party and becomes ignorant like the rest of the people, which they refer to as sanity.

If you are up for an intense, thought-provoking play, I highly recommend it :)

6 weeks to go till we head back to CT

Time is going so quickly by, it's only 6 weeks until we head back to CT.

Athol has been busy with his papers, he has to submit his last 6000 word paper for Global Justice today. Then he has an exam on 10 and 12 June. After the 12th he has to work on his thesis which is due 1 September then graduation is in December.

It's been raining a bit in London, we've had some warm day i.e. 20C but on average the temperature is about 18C.

Today is another Bank Holiday, the second one this month.

I've been shopping around for a dress and finally found one yesterday. We have been invited to our first English wedding next month near Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's home town) which is about an hour or so train ride out of London. I'm not quite sure what the dress code is, but guess that it is somewhat formal as it is an old English church. The ceremony is at 4pm then the reception is at a nearby farm.

The clothing sizes in the UK are a bit different to SA so it's best to try on the clothing to see if it fits. I seem to take about an 8/10 or a Small. Jeans I take a 28/30 inch. I haven't really bought much clothing recently. In our big move from JHB to CT I gave away tons of clothing. It makes you realise what a waste of money it is. Clothing is relatively expensive in London especially when you convert it to our weak ZAR :( I walked along Oxford Street a few times, but didn't find anything. Shopping is also a bit hectic here, it always seems SO busy!

There are the big departmental stores like BHS, Debenhams, John Lewis and there are clothing chainstores  like Espirit, M&S, Primark, Next, H&M and New Look.

I need to shop for a while outfit as I didn't bring anything smart/formal with. Also I didn't want to bring so much things over and even buy much things here as I'm not sure if all our things with fit in our suitcases when we leave!

Fortunately, a lot of the shops have sales but then size and colour are a challenge. To me, it is easier to shop online, the searching helps! Except size might be an issue.

I landed up buying a long black and white dress from TK Maxx, I must say that I think that I look pretty good in it :) plus the price was good too! I discovered that TK Maxx is a good place to shop for dresses, they claim that most things are 60% of the regular retail price. Now to hunt for shoes, a bag and a jacket. Apparently for English wedding woman sometimes wear a hat or a fascinator (like a flower or lace thing that you put in your hair) - not sure if 'll go that far :)

Visiting Greenwich

We decided to have a little break and visit Greenwich for the afternoon yesterday.

We caught the City Cruises boat from London Eye to Greenwich, which was about a 75 minute trip. There was a stop at Tower Bridge. During the cruise, there was commentary about the interesting spots just off the Thames River.

 Tower Bridge

 Tower of London

 Apartments designed to look like 3 soldiers

 Pub

 Canary Wharf looks like a mini Manhattan with the dense, modern buildings

Just off the Greenwich Pier, we could see the Cutty Sark, which is a famous clipper which used to carry tea from afar.

There is a lot to do around Greenwich, a nice little place just out of the city. There are museums, galleries, shops, Greenwich Park and The Royal Observatory which is on the top of Greenwich Park and this is where the Prime Meridian Line is - East meets West! It is quite a steep walk up to the top but the views are spectacular.

You have to pay 7 pounds to get in to see the Greenwich Meridian Line. So here Athol and I are, with me in the Eastern hemisphere and Athol in the Western hemisphere!

There were a lot of people on the hill but luckily not so many people inside, it was just a short wait to take our photo along the GMT line.

There is a few other interesting things to see around Greenwich, there's the Royal Maritime Museum and the Queens House (fine art gallery).

We walked around Greenwich and then caught the last boat out at 5:30pm. Such lovely views from the boat.

I think that Spring finally has come to London, was 20 degrees today and no jacket was required :)

So a great afternoon exploring Greenwich!