While Not Working

A little boy held up his mother's phone and snapped a quick photo of the crown that King Charlie wore for his coronation.  "Someone could totally steal this!" he announced in a voice several decibels louder than a foghorn.  "All you need to do is mmmffff" The room paused with bated breath but the child had been silenced to suffocation by his mother's hand and was dragged quickly from the exhibit.  All us gawking tourists sniggered and the attending Yoeman Warder may or may not have crackd a tiny smile. I had a ticket to the Tower of London  and I was ready to make the most of it and stuff my head full of English history.  In the Tower of London this consisted largely of complicated political power plays, strategic marriages,  treason, and Kings and Queens chopping off the heads of whoever was currently out of favour.  Much like modern politics really, but with a bit more blood and more detached heads. I had a great time. First sight of the tower. Sculp...

 What with one of us limited to strolling for the purposes of back care and the other one nursing a head cold, not a lot of touristing went on in the world of whilenotworking today.  Mind you, we both explored High St while variously going to appointments or searching for the best value grocery store. Just down the road from Westwood House was the Thames River, with walking paths squeezed between the river and the roads.  We crossed the river on the Albert Bridge  which, according to Wikipedia, is nicknamed the 'Trembling Lady' due to its distressing tendency to vibrate when crossed by large numbers of people. The soldiers from the nearby Chelsea barracks were not allowed to march while on the bridge.  The Chelsea Barracks is now closed, so that's one less threat to the existence of the Albert. The Albert was a mish mash of design styles largely due to repeated efforts to keep it standing, and was also a 'catastrophic failure' as a toll bridge.  Despite all...

We left the Ibis Heathrow and reached our new digs in Chelsea via the Tube and bus, roaring around corners and lurching to sudden stops. Roger took pain medication and wedged himself and Steve securely into a corner for the ride. He fended off multitudes (at least two anyway) of concerned Britons, explaining that he couldn't comfortably sit and was much better standing for the short trip across town. The train gave fine views of wet British back yards. "They've filled in the bushes stop and now it's a traffic calming strategy as well!" Even sore and hoped up, engineers get excited about engineer things. Our new digs was on the 4th floor, accessed by running  plodding up 4 flights of stairs or, if you were the Roger/Steve combo, by taking the slowest and scariest lift in all of Great Britain. I spent some anxious minutes wondering if my Next Great Adventure would be figuring out how to liberate people from stuck lifts but thankfully everything worked as it should, ...

There were so many things I thought I'd do in Paris. The Musee L'Orangerie; Saint Chapelle; Notre Dame; Montmarte; and the ticket we booked for the Eiffel tower tomorrow night. We had a ticket for the top. Thanks to unexpected train availability we booked a ticket at 07:00 for a midday train to London and as a result I found myself on the morning streets of Paris looking for an ATM while Roger checked his medications and lamented his lost European holiday. We wanted the security of the UK's reciprocal health agreement with Australia so my little walk around the block was my moment to say goodbye to Paris. The morning sun kissed the chimney tops of the apartment blocks that lined the alleyways as a couple on the street argued in vehement French. No, I don't take photos of arguing couples. A truck delivered white roses to a florist while waiters and patisserie staff opened shop, calling to and chatting with each other in the relaxed moments before the customers arrived. S...