Episode 2after our trip to London David did some more tinkering with the car while Lyn didn’t not much at all except organise another trip to London. The good weather continued and Heathers friend Dawn, and her dog Sam busied themselves in Heather’s garden several mornings, Dawn doing the work while Sam does what i do best, supervise. Must say that Dawn has done an excellent job and it’s really ship shape now what with the tulips putting on a lovely display. Heather will no doubt visit some garden centre and gets lots of seedlings to plant for summer flowers. The magnolias have almost finished and the wisterias are just beginning to come out. The bluebells in the woods are in full bloom according to dawn and Sam who take regular walks in the woods, their perfume fills the air. L was going to go for a walk to see them but it didn’t happen.So again we set off for London on the morning of the 24th. After arriving around lunchtime we first went and collected the passports from the Russian visa office then we did a walk around the city that Heather had seen on the internet. L had hoped that by following the route there may be some plaques along the way to mark the points of interest however, this wasn’t the case. My lot, not being the most techno minded don’t have a smart phone so couldn’t follow the information given on the internet site. They did see a few interesting things however, as they made their way around. We came across Greyfriars church and sat in the small garden in front and ate a late lunch. near St Pauls we came to Temple Bar and read that this monument has had a colourful history having been first in one position in London then moved to some country estate where it sat for centuries and fell into ruin. It is only in fairly recent times that it was rescued, then rebuilt in its current position.We strolled along the Thames path from the Millennium bridge to London bridge where we could, however, construction works in places meant detours. We came to the place where the Romans had their port and just beyond that is where all the garbage is now loaded onto barges to be taken down river where it is used to generate electricity for the city. The garbage produces enough electricity to power 100,000 homes. Everything that can be recycled is taken out before hand. Sounds a much more environmentally friendly outcome than landfill to my lot. We came to ‘the Monument’. Built in the 1670’s as a memorial to the victims of ‘fire of London 1666’, we climbed to the top, around 340 steps on a spiral staircase. L and I went up it fairly well, D with his dodgy ticker had to take it more leisurely. The height of the monument, L’s not sure, about 380ft she thinks, represents the distance it stands from the point where the fire started. The view from the top was great. Back at the bottom I made a couple of new friends with the girls at the entry, they were very friendly.A short way further on we saw the smallest statue in London, two mice and a piece of cheese that sits about 4m above the footpath on the side of a building. It is a memorial to 2 workmen who were working high up on construction on this site in the 19th century. They fell out when one blamed the other for nibbling his lunch, a fight ensued and they both fell to their death. Before the days of health and safety. It was realised shortly after that it had been mice that had nibbled the sandwich hence the memorial.Passed by the Leadenhall market and the Bank of England again and came to the Guildhall. In this area we also saw some interesting street names derived from what business actually took place there in earlier times. There is Bread Street, Milk Street, and Poultry Lane. Not sure how good that would have smelt on a hot summer’s day.By the time we’d done the full circuit it was time to head off back to the same hostel in Stepney Green that we stayed at the previous week where we were greeted like old friends.The next day was ANZAC day, a special day for Aussies and Kiwis. Our equivalent of remembrance day. L had got a ticket for the service in Westminster Abbey that she had arranged before leaving home. So off we set on what had started out as a drizzly wet morning but by the time we left the hostel the rain had ceased. We took a bus ride to Oxford Street, walked down Regent Street through Piccadilly Circus and on to St James Park where we parted company. David and I watched some events in Horse Guards Parade while L headed off to the Abbey. I didn’t go with her as it had been stated that for security purposes only small bags could be taken into the Abby. Reality on the day was quite different so she discovered and I could have gone with her, the camera too.L says she had to wait in the great long queue for q good while even before it started to move. Eventually she got into the Abbey and found that each person had a colour coded pass. Her bright orange one meant that she was seated in the south transept, the furtherest corner and well hidden with no chance of seeing anything that was happening directly. There was a large monitor to watch but L was too far from that too, to see anything. Never-the-less the sound system was excellent so she could hear what was going on. After everyone was seated the Turkish ambassador, the Australian and New Zealand High Commissioners arrived, then the Queen and Prince Phillip arrived after which the service started. L enjoyed it very much and estimated that there were about 800 or more people just in that south transept. So goodness knows how many there were altogether there.Meanwhile D and I had run out of events to watch in Horse Guards Parade and D couldn’t go to a museum because there was no-where to leave the overnight case. So we ended up at the Abbey and at least saw the Queen and Prince Phillip in person as they exited the Abbey and left in the Queens new Bentley. Now there’s a car most becoming to a stuffed toy of my standing, wonder if the Queen would like to adopt me. As the Queen left the Abbey the bells began to ring, they were wonderful, so uplifting L says, they continued to ring for some considerable time too. We meet up with L again and made our way back to the Victoria mainline station and caught our train back to Arundel.Then we made a quick trip up to Norfolk, we went to see Grimes Graves that my lot had seen talked about on a TV program about ancient Britain last year. Partly we did the trip so D could see how the car performed before heading off to the continent later in the week. Grimes graves are an area of ancient Neolithic flint mines began about 3000BC, worked for as much as 2000 years then abandoned, then used as burial places in the 1st millennium BC. It was in the late 18th century that one was excavated by an amateur archaeologist who realised just how ancient these depression in the ground are. From above the ground appears to be dimpled with large depressions, some up to 3m deep. Each one was once a mine varying in depth from just around 6m to 12m. It is believed that when a new mine was started the material dug from it was used to backfill the previous mine so no deep shafts were left. In all there has been 433 mines in this area. They were dug with the only tools available at the time, mostly made from Deer horn/antler, and flint tools. Many discarded and broken tools have been found in excavated mines. Flint is of a very good quality and would have been much sort after. Arrow and spear heads were made from it and also axes. When properly knapped it is extremely sharp. Tools made from flint from these mines has been found around Stone Henge, they both date from the same era. L was surprised to learn that flint, not from these mines but elsewhere, was mined and used for gunflints until about 1920. The flint is found in chalk, sometimes in small pieces, sometimes in nodules of varying sizes and also in large rock. The nodules have been used in many of the buildings in the area. The plan had been to visit some National Trust sites in the area, however the next morning D noticed that the heater had leaked water onto the floor so we set off back to the shed promptly. Once we arrived some hours later D spent many more hours pulling most of the dash out to get to the problem that proved to be very awkward to repair, then re-assembling it all. L assisted when needed, I supervised. L had booked the ferry to Dunkerque for the evening of the 30th April. The car was duly packed up, strewth! it’s more packed than ever before, there is barely room for me. D has just about enough spares to build another car or so it seems. If something goes wrong I bet it’s something he hasn’t got, that’s the usual thing. L has organised the clothes so that we are ready for anything from -40 to +40 not being too certain just what to expect if we get into the interior in Iceland as we are hoping to do. The swimmers are in there ready to enjoy some of the many heated swimming pools that can be found all around the country.So off we set and duly arrived in Dunkerque on a drizzly, cold windy evening. We drove across France taking mostly smaller roads. In Flanders we passed a few war centuries but didn’t stop at any, and saw a few memorials. The countryside is really pretty at present with the bright yellow rape crops in flower. There is the deep green of well grown cereal crops, lighter green of pasture land dotted with white and black and white cows and some horses. Large fields of bare earth either in fallow or very recently planted. Copse of trees here and there and the grey stone and concrete of villages, some quite drab looking but all with church spire dominating the skyline. Flowering trees just clouds of pink or white blossom, and the dusky blue/mauve of wisteria. The pungent smell of cow manure permeates the atmosphere everywhere, it can be seen in big heaps by the roadside, in trailers towed by massive tractors often right through the centre of a small town or village, or has been recently spread over fields. It was the 1st of May and a public holiday, there was very little traffic and almost nothing was open, very few people about except for farmers on tractorsFrom the flat countryside of Flanders we came into the hilly region of Ardenne then descended a steep escarpment into the Rhine valley and crossed this large river into Germany then made our way to our friends Wilf and Gabi's home near Stuttgart. 
© Lynette Regan 3rd May 2015