Kiwis and Fairy Bread

22 -23 June 2024

For the third time in 20 months, Mike and I are in England. This time with our son Ben, our daughter Emily and her husband David. In a few days we will celebrate the 90th birthday of Mike’s mom. But before traveling up to Glossop for the celebrations, we are spending a few days in London. I had forgotten what a fun city this. We are already having a great time.

I still marvel at plane travel. In a mere near six and a half hours we crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Seeing both sunset and sunrise above cotton clouds and the thick horizon in the most vivid shade of pink. As it always does, the image of The City in the Clouds from Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back comes to my mind and I hear the music of John Williams. It always enchants me. Do you think the sailors of the ages ever dreamed of anything like it? The first transatlantic trip in an airplane was just 105 years ago. Incredible.

Of course, compared to the 18 hour flight to New Zealand this was smuch shorter. But as I suspected, it wasn’t all that different. No matter the destination, one still has to get to and from the airport, in and out of security and customs, wait in airports and train stations, eat mediocre airplane food, attempt to sleep in an unnatural position. “Bagonize” at baggage claim. Walk awkwardly down long hallways and uneven payment with too many suitcases and bags in tow. Get onto and off of public transport. Find the accommodations. And deal with jet lag.

And yet here we are. In London. The five of us together. Still speaking. Smiling even. Laughing. It is the best thing.

Our apartment is stark, but comfortable enough. And the location can’t be beat. In the Waterloo neighborhood we are right across from the legendary Old Vic theatre and just a few minutes walk to the South Bank of the Thames. Which, after a nap, some tea, toast and dark chocolate Kit Kats, we set out to explore.

And it was hopping! Throngs of people, performers, music, food. Under a bridge we were thrilled to find a huge used book sale! No better place for us to start. Emi and David looked through the section of plays. Ben and Mike picked up some copies of the Just William stories we love so much. I looked through some elementary school primers, and bought some vintage post cards.

And then it was time for what Mike and I, on our honeymoon here 33 years ago, dubbed The Daily Ritual: soft vanilla ice cream in a wafer cone with a chocolate Cadbury 99 Flake. We all indulged. What makes ice cream in the UK SO good?!

The Houses of Parliament are right across the river. So of course, we had to get a shot of the iconic Big Ben with our own Big Ben! Somewhere we have a photo of a very young Ben looking very happy in front of that tower. He was so cute! Maybe we can dig it up for you all.

The London Eye beckoned and since there wasn’t much of a line, we went for it. It is a slow, smooth, friendly ride. The views of London really are spectacular. Buckingham Palace, Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral, stately buildings old and new, barges and boats of all kind traveling the river, pedestrian and automobile filled bridges cross the river every few 100 meters, and everywhere the red double decker buses. This is an introduction to London at its best.

Dinner at an Italian Bistro, lots of laughter and good conversation followed by a walk across one of those bridges. Mike took photos in the excellent light. Ben analyzed the structure of the bridge, recalling an engineering class from high school. I people watched. Emily and David beamed. They are so beautifully in love. Did Mike and I look like that? Do we still?

Crossing another bridge we had a full view of The National Theatre. What an ugly building! Truly ugly. Minimalism at its worst: a stark, distopian, structure of dirty concrete. And this is the NATIONAL theatre! Celebrating half a millennia of one of the greatest theatrical cultures of the planet. True to form, Emily and I discussed all the ways that WE would fix it. From changing colored lights across the blank face, to murals depicting he history of of British dramatics, to painting those darned concrete blocks in some sort of pattern, to simply a large posters announcing the current production. Just one of those ideas would make this theatre a place worthy of its title. We are theatre people. We should call them. They should listen to us. LOL.

The summer solstice has just passed so even at 10pm the sky is not quite dark. The city is still alive with lights and sound. But will sleep soundly. It is good to be here together.