Terry's Unreliable Blog: The Journey Continues

Thankfully the rain some of the country has been copping has kept clear from London, the poor things in Somerset haven't had a break from rain and/or flooding for FIVE WEEKS.

Yesterday into Tower Tube where I was disappointed to see Tower Bridge is now pretty much obscured by a new office building. I went on my first London Walk, a company that I'm very fond of as they have terrific guides who tell wonderful stories, spread fascinating facts and just make for a fun two hours. So it was with Shaughan who took us around St Paul's, Ludgate and the St Brides' area. We learnt about the various Guilds, saw where the first printing press was, some lovely churches including St Brides and the church where Dick Whittington attended (and his cat). Stopped at St Clements for a rendition of 'Oranges and Lemons' and even saw a piece of the original London Bridge (now residing in the Arizona Desert). Great tour and a lot of

fun. We started at Monument and finished at Blackfriars which covered a bit of territory. Funniest thing was that the tour included a stop at the London Stone so I could have saved myself a bit of frustration in my looking for it.

Popped in for lunch at the Earl of Sandwich and then basically wandered around a bit, including the Royal Opera House Arcade and around Haymarket.Grabbed a warming cuppa before hopping on the bus back to the hotel for a bit of a relax before heading out for the night.

Hopped on the tube at 6.30, quite busy, and into Temple station. The show started at 7.30 and I breezed out of the station at 7.10 and went in the wrong direction! Well there was one sign at the station to direct me but then nothing once you get to the end of the street so I guessed and it was the wrong guess. Not to worry, a few minutes of high anxiety and at 7.25 I walked into the theatre. No one in the lobby which was weird but I was upgraded from a dodgy cheap seat into the fourth row of the stalls - sweeeeet. This was for the new Lloyd Weber musical 'Stephen Ward' based around the Profumo/Christine Keeler scandal of the 60's. Some of the songs are really lovely and the acting pretty good (the lead actor has a huge role, hardly ever off stage) and some clever staging. I felt it needed a bit of work still particularly at the start where it is a bit lacking in oomph for the first five or ten minutes.An interesting spin on the well worn story which I'll be interested in seeing how long it runs as the theatre was only about a quarter full. To be fair though Monday is a slow night in London theatre and not many shows run a Monday performance.

Bus home and in my room by 10.30. Watched 'Newsnight' and crashed for the night.

Not too bad a sleep (yay).

Into Westminster and over the Bridge to go for my traditional ride on the London Eye. Not only is it a great view and experience but you get to see the changes in the city each time. For instance last trip the Gherkin was new, this time it's the Shard. There's also a fun 4D film that you get included in the price, very good.

Next I planned to go into the Film Museum which is in the County Hall next to the Eye BUT it closed last week! Very disappointing and how a country that has such a proud film history can't support a museum to it baffles me.

Walked down along Southbank to the National Theatre and into the bookshop. Sun shining and very pleasant along the Thames as I walk over Westminster Bridge and into the Somerset House Courtyard, unfortunately covered in temporary buildings for a function. Found remains of a Roman bath off the Strand but the light switch that was supposed to allow one to see it didn't work...between closed places, reconstructions and non working light switches, I'm thinking I'm a jinx.

A bit of a hike over to the Guildhall for the remains of the Roman Ampitheatre that was uncovered during construction work. Quite fantastic find and a good exhibition. Just imagine standing next to stones from 1AD, oh this city.

Time was getting on and frankly I had earnt cream tea so onto a bus to Trafalgar Square and into the Crypt Cafe at St Martins in the Fields I go. So delicious and satisfying. Hmmm hmmmmmmmmm.

Can't believe it was 5.00 when I got back into the hotel but the bus does tend to be quite a bit slower than the train but there are advantages.