2603 in London

The Old Bill at the start of the demo
Even though I'm on a bit of a reminiscing trip, I resisted the temptation to join in the demo so I'm not completely barmy.


Picadilly Circus and Eros


Trafalgar Square

Full English breakfast again. This hotel is managed and staffed by what I'm guessing are Polish women which leads to some interesting misunderstandings. The floors in these old hotels groan when walked on - sounds a bit like my bones feel sometimes with all this pavement pounding.
We walked to Drury Lane and bought tickets for "War Horse" for Tuesday night (Meryl will be delighted). Then through Covent Garden Markets to Trafalgar Square where the street protestors for the "Stop the Cuts" march were just starting to assemble. We went into the National Gallery and when we emerged several hours later, hungry and thirsty, the march had begun. Saw my favourites again after 40 years: Leonardo's "Virgin of the Rocks", Rembrandt's "Woman bathing in a stream", Bruegel's Adoration of the Kings and van Gogh's "Wheatfield with Cypress". Amongst many more of course.
From here to Piccadilly Circus to say hello to Eros and on to Carnaby Street in Soho; all the time covered by three police helicopters loudly hovering overhead. We then went in search of a battery operated shaver for Steve but had difficulty working out what type of shop would sell such a thing. We ended up at BHS (British Home Stores) in Oxford Street which was barricaded by the local constabulary who let us in to the store. Once in however, we found we could not leave for some time due to the protestors and some incidents outside the stores. Everywhere we went we seemed to be trapped by protestors but we didn't see any of the violence fortunately. Eventually found a shaver in Boots and since the Oxford Street Tube Station was blocked by the protestors, we went back to Piccadilly to catch the tube home. Bad idea since some of the protestors had the same idea at the same time. The first tube was chocker-block but S & I tried to get on. I got in but Steve was left on the platform. The next train was 5 mins later so our separation didn't last very long. We could see the funny side after the event!!
Don't believe what we did next. When making our way from the platform we came to lifts and a huge queue. We saw some steps with a sign on the wall at which we only gave a casual glance. We climbed up and up a spiral staircase which after being on our legs since 9 am was a bit over the top. There was no sign of the top and I began to think I was trapped there for life. When we finally made it to the top we realised the sign read "Only use in an emergency". Hilarious, eh? Teach us to be impatient of queues.