Paul and Robbie's Big Adventure ........ starring us

In May we had our first international (and possibly only, it is such a long way) visitors when Robbie and Paul arrived. Some reference was made to their visit in a blog a few back which has been accused of damning them with faint praise. So let me just say from the outset that it was great to see them, share some of our experiences over here and have some lovely meals out. They landed early in the morning, but managed to summon the energy to come and visit us that afternoon for a meal, a short 3 hr drive across London, what a welcome. We took them to the White Horse in Chadwell Heath, one of our favourite pubs, good food and if you’re lucky a little Asian guy will come and sell you DVDs that seem possibly pirated, but I’d err on the side of supporting local business and giving the little guy a fair go. Robbie and Paul got the chance to see where we have been living, my school from the outside at least, and Paul got a driving experience of a lifetime when he took the mini for a spin, under my watchful eye of course. ‘But what cannot be denied, at least not by anyone who's actually had the privilege of driving one, is the towering engineering achievement that it represents ‘ and “doesn't leave you disappointed, even a little bit. If you don't want one, you're probably dead’ are some of the superlatives offered to describe other less notable cars and Paul was clearly no less impressed, even offering to swap the rented Merc for the duration of their stay. Krystle however, and to a lesser extent Robbie, was having none of this and in view of the fact Paul bounced the Merc off a gutter driving back through sheer exhaustion we were glad we didn’t take him up on his offer, and extra appreciative of the effort they had made.

Somebody looks a little jealous

They made another trip out to visit us later in the week and we took them to an Indian restaurant that Krystle and I had visited for her Birthday. The food is excellent, but strangely whenever we had gone past the place at maybe one or two people in it. We later discovered that he gets busy around 10pm, so why they sit open the rest of the day, including lunch, I don’t know.

Over their first weekend in London we visited Paul and Robbie and stayed with them at the apartment in Kensington at which they were staying. We went to a show with them, Monty Python’s Spamalot, which if you like Monty Python’s movie The Holy Grail you would enjoy the show. We went to Robbie and Paul’s favourite pizza restaurant that they always visit, several times, when they come to London, called Da Mario which was delicious. Robbie and Krystle made a trip to Notting Hill Markets, while Paul and I sat out at the cricket at Lords for many hours hoping the rain would stop. It didn’t, but Paul was still able feel for almost the first time the wonderment and exhilaration of a London Underground experience. Having hired a car each time they have been in London, Paul and Robbie have missed the mode of transport that defines London and its inhabitants.

The famous Lords pavilion

and the famous Lords UFO (actually the media centre)

And the covers stayed on

Despite the rain the day was not a complete washout (ha, ha) as we saw 8 overs of play, visited the museum and walked back to the tube station via the setting of the cover for Beatles last album, Abbey Rd, which is just around the corner from the cricket ground in St John’s Wood. It was fun to watch the tourists re-enacting that famous walk across the road, particularly as it is quite a busy road.

I don't think the guy in green realises that he is about to be hit by a car

The famous Abbey Road studio (so many famous things in one day)

The wall outside Abbey Road. People write messages on the wall, generally addressed to the Beatles or more specifically John Lennon. Every so often the wall is painted and the messages start again.

On the Sunday Paul and Robbie headed off to Hertfordshire for lunch with friends and Krystle and I decided we would stay around London for the day and then met up for dinner. After being dropped in Oxford Street, we jumped on the tube heading for the Natural History Museum but ended up at the Victoria and Albert Museum instead, so close! Anyway, it was quite interesting, though vast and some parts were a little strange, the metalwork collection being possible a little too much. You would really need to love iron being put into shapes to spend a long time in this area of the museum.