London, 2nd attempt, (see Monday) and I made it – after a slightly eventful walk with the red lab first thing – two unruly springers came bounding up uncontrolled, and before I could say sit, the lab had scarted off over the common – thankfully she knows her way home, and she was dutifully waiting for me at the front door.
10:14 train to London, with a quick stop at Clapham to meet a friend – and from there, I headed up to Waterloo and ventured via the tube to Covent Garden with the aim of visiting the London Transport Museum – the one museum in London I hadn’t so far had chance to visit.
Before going in, I searched for somewhere sensible for a lunchtime snack, (without paying a mortgage) – instead I found a quaint toy-shop inside Covent Garden, Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop – it was a toyshop from the past, full of interesting and rarely found toys like children’s play theatres, and fairy-tale or ballet based advent calendars. I would recommend a visit, and browse.
Mortgage spent on a slice of pizza and coke, then finally into the transport museum – the ticket price gave me a year long pass, so this trip was very much a quick browse of the exhibits.
As you would expect, full of interesting examples of London transport, from a sedan chair, to the modern double-decker.
I was surprised to see that the sedan chair gained a reputation for rather risky behaviour in the Covent garden area – how a chair carried by two men at either end could lead to risky behaviour, leaves the mind pondering….!
The vintage tube trains, including one pulled by steam, (not very practical in a tube) and the historic horse and carriages were other items that I enjoyed studying.
From Covent garden, (by foot I should add) I wondered the London streets back to Waterloo station – stopping in the Lego shop to look at the model of the Big Ben tower – and pay my respects at the Cenotaph.
A worthwhile day. Annabel, if you are wondering had a day of work at home, I had cleared mine the night before…. 🙂