London Calling

Hill/Zola - 6, Hennigan - 0

Char and Stuart have just left us after a week stay. That would mean Kirsten's entire family has been to visit us (Jason 2x), my loving family is throwing up the big fat donut. I'm not offended, they love me, really they do, seriously, I don't have any doubts whatsoever, none at all, nope, none...Anyway, I digress.

We filled Char and Stuart's time with the many wonders of this lovely city we now call home. While they didn't get the full Hennigan Walking Tour we did hit several of the high points.

Saturday we hit our favorite market, Borough. We spent several hours sizing up our food options and of course plenty of time enjoying the food on offer. Among our many conquests were cheese on potatoes with gherkins, cheese sandwiches, oysters, brownies, shallots and the list goes on. We of course finished up the day with a pint at the local pub where our friend Stef met us. It's not quite the same on a cold and overcast day but lovely just the same.

We stopped in at the Tate Modern to see the infamous "crack" installation and take in some of the pieces of work decorating the walls. Char is a big modern art fan, while I, well let's just say I don't have quite the same appreciation. When we came out of the Tate we were treated to the annual Lord Mayor's fireworks show over Waterloo bridge, the Brits do seem to love their fireworks. Our takeaway from the fireworks is not to try and get to Waterloo station after the end of the fireworks, surprisingly thousands of people had the same idea and what is normally a 10 minute walk took an interminable 45 minutes...

Sunday we went out to Windsor to tour the castle. Kirsten and I have been out to Windsor a number of times but had not yet visited the castle. On this overcast day we would get our first opportunity and as luck would have it the Queen was in, unfortunately she was otherwise engaged and could not join us for lunch. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the nearly deserted castle, not having to wait in lines made it a much more pleasurable experience. We took in the famous Queen Mary's doll house which is quite impressive, never intended to be a play toy it was a gift to the Queen from her cousin. The state rooms were equally impressive as we were regaled with stories of near and distant history that occurred in the very rooms we were strolling through. Unfortunately St. George's Chapel was closed to tours as it was a Sunday but that's ok, you too can check it out online...We finished our day at Windsor by heading across the street to a pub and having a few pints and a bite to eat. Sure it was in the heart of touristland, but it was warm, the beer was cold and the Sunday roast was decent.

Returning back to Putney we decided to try out a new Thai place...we would come to regret this, some more than others. The place held so much promise, it was just round the corner from our flat, had an associated Thai supermarket next door and smacked of authenticity. We sampled the veggie Pad Thai, Massaman lamb, Chicken cashew and Chicken Suki Yaki. Walking out of the place we all were pretty pleased with the meal and Kirsten and I were looking forward to many more meals there in the months to come. Thoughts like that came to a crashing end the next morning when I got a call at the office from Stuart...who had been experiencing the worst of food poisoning. It would lay him up until Wednesday, the day he and Char were heading home. Initially we thought it was an isolated incident until Char, Kirsten and I went to a South African restaurant that night - and about midway through the meal I had to concentrate all my effort on not bringing dinner back up. It's a shame really because it's one of the best places we've been to eat in Putney, and where else are we going to get such delicacies as kudu steak, springbok, chakalaka and bobotie. So if you're counting at home that's South Africa 1 Thailand 0.

Tuesday we hit the Hill family pub in Parsons Green, the White Horse. If you're in the know you can call it the Sloaney Pony. It is rumoured to have the best fish and chips and so far we haven't been disappointed. Sadly this was the one thing Stuart was looking forward to but he was still laid up at home. Kirsten and Char were happy to report that it was indeed a good fish and chip.

And that brought Char and Stuart's trip to a close. The next morning they flew back home and Kirsten and I began gearing up for someone's birthday...