London Times

Interesting times in old London town in the past couple of days.  What started as an angry backlash against police daring to shoot a career criminal dead, has now become the opportunity for any disaffected youth with a smartphone to score some new electronic gear, burn a few shops and cars, and generally have a great time menacing people.  People are finally starting to comment in the newspapers that police should actually start re-growing the teeth that have been gradually taken from them by civil libertarians over the years, and start kicking butt.  However, if they do, then I'm sure the outrage from said civil libertarians would once again take centre stage after the smoke from the burned and looted buildings dies down.  I would not like to be a police officer in any large British city tonight, that's for sure.  As for Tony and I, we are hunkered down in our miniscule hotel room (practice for when we buy our caravan/trailer in the States!) listening to the sirens, and hoping the thug brigade doesn't decide to move their merriments to the center of the city.

Royal Albert Hall,scene of the Proms

In any case, we have been doing the touristy things that bring in millions of tourists every year.  We went to the Proms last night, which was a frightfully jolly time, what.  The Albert Hall is really something else, and the atmosphere was wonderful, with the center of the floor taken up with the 'fiver' crowd (who queue all afternoon for five-pound tickets, then stand for the entire performance) and the odd shouts coming from other areas of the audience when things happened in break times.  We had swivelling seats! Which enabled us to swivel to a more comfortable position to see the stage.  Really quite ingenious indeed.  On the musical menu were several Scandanavian pieces, including a piano concerto played by a wonderful woman who became totally involved in her performance and looked like she really enjoyed herself.

Lower level of the Tate Modern

Today we went into town and hit St Paul's Cathedral nice and early, before the serious crowds happened.  We made it all the way to the top of the dome, a lung-busting 528 steps, which afforded wonderful views over the City of London and the brown, muddy-looking Thames River below.  Then we crossed the Millenium Bridge (which infamously had to be strengthened all those years ago or it would have shaken itself to death) and called in at the Tate Modern Gallery, in the old Battersea Power Station.  We spent way more time in the museum shop than the actual galleries (casualties of having been at the Met and MoMa in New York - sorry Tate!) and walked past the Globe Theatre (too expensive - leave it for another day) which looked quite spectacular from the outside at least.

The London Stone, Cannon St.

Tony then went over to Tower Bridge to have a look at the mechanics.  I've been there before, so I went on a more elusive quest; to find the 'London Stone', which the Romans installed as a central marker in Londinium, out from which all their roads in this small island radiated.  For something that was regarded as a symbol of authority and the heart of London for so many centuries, it is now a sorry sort of thing, cowering, dark and hidden behind glass and a battered grate in a Cannon Street wall, and not even really noticed by anyone passing by unless they were purposefully looking for it.  As I crouched low to try and get a half-decent shot through the glass (nearly impossible to do), I could see a few people wondering what on earth I was doing.  Did they know what was hiding behind the glass?  I think it's probably more significant than half the other touristy things here that people queue for hours to see, but that's just me I guess. I wonder what the Romans would have made of today's rioters.  Mincemeat, probably!

Well, tomorrow we are taking off 'oop north' to Edinburgh.  This will be new for both of us, and I'm looking forward to seeing the city that so many people rave about.  Rave, that is, and not riot...

To see photos from our time in Kent and London, please click here.