So the summer holidays, we went to Puglia with the Fraynes, then over to Alicante at Stefanes for a short stint, till we moved over to Elche, then back to Bologna, and then a two week holiday looking after the Fraynes house in London, while they had a beach holiday in England, which l find odd.
So London still is the centre of the earth to me still, lots of events, exhibitions, plus all the obvious tourist treats. We did the Natural History museum, which was packed, and as last time you wait in line for 45 minutes, get inside and many people seem to rush to the cafeteria to have a picnic lunch, others hit the dinosaur exhibit, and the mammoth show. We did rocks, insects, birds and a short film about the evolution of life on earth by Attenbourgh.
It is a great museum, and we will go there every time, other things were Jayne and Ewan did a three hour tour of Buckingham Palace, there was an exhibition of childhood in the palace, and wedding dress's. Hunter and l don't get the royal thing as much, so went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and had yogurt, sat in the central courtyard and watched kids playing in the pond. Saw some Japanese samurai items, began to look at Greek and Roman statues, until Hunter said we have seen these dad, then a general tour of the building, a place l love to visit again on a sunny day and sit around the pond eating yogurt, very restful and beautiful, and a great gift store.
We saw the Matisse works on paper show, that was huge and most inspiring, great to see what he did in his last years, bed bound, and yet so powerful. I also went to Tate Britian and saw some great sculptural works, that were massive, taking up the whole central hallway by Phyllida Barlow, the works were of found street junk, wood and were up to 10 metres high. There was also a Moore exhibition and a video on how he made his sculptures, which Hunter enjoyed. Its a great gallery, and l love the cafeteria there, its quieter than Tate modern, with some incredible works. I also saw 20 Ben Nicholson works on paper, that l had booked with the gallery to see, which was great, as l arrived at my appointed time, went into a private room, and they brought them out onto easels for me to study, as long as l liked. He is an artist you don't get to see much, Rex Irwin had introduced me to him, and he has been a big influence in the way l see line, architecture.
We went to Fortnum and Mason, three times, love those scones and tea. The first time was for Sunday lunch, and the Hunter ordered fish fingers, and the maitre'd told us that the frier was slow and his meal would be a few minutes later, and that he would like to give a Hunter a free desert, so after lunch Hunter picked the cake he wanted with the waiter, the bill came and we were charged for the cake, l queried this, and the maitre'd who was unaware what had happened apologised and took it off the bill, and then gave Jayne a lovely small box of chocolates. The next time we went there, Hunter said he was going to have fish fingers again, because he hoped he would get a free cake, Ewan decided to do the same, the maitre 'd noticed us , came up to say hello and said that seem he gave Hunter a cake last time, he better give him one this time, and also Ewan, as it would be unfair. His name is Miles, and l would make surge if you go there to ask for him, and remember us to him, as he really made our experience there great, we came back three times.
Other things we did, we visited the Maserati sales showroom, as the boys would not stop counting and pointing out every time we saw a Maserati, Lambourghini, Austin Martin, Jaguar, Ferrari etc, and there were 100's in London. We went to see a few movies, and a day at the Kew Gardens which is well worth the trip.
Had lunches in pubs, lots of sausages and mash, fish and chips and dark ales with strange names. We went to a skateboard park, were Hunter had lessons, and then everyday wanted to go back. We went rowing on the lake in Battersea Park, running from the house along the Thames and Battersea Park. Shopping at Hamleys , and buying small drones that the boys have mastered very well, flying around the chandeliers back in Bologna perfectly.
One night before the Fraynes left to the beach we went out to dinner with Kate and Mike to a great Chinese style restaurant, after a few bottles of wine, Jayne said lets go to a nightclub, mind you we arrived for dinner at 7 pm, so we were starting a bit early, Kate wisely said no, she had to pack for the beach the next day, so Mike felt he had to take us to some spots. First we tried a garden top nightclub, that you had top book on line to get into, we arrived after trying to book on the way, but were not allowed in. So then we headed of and ended up at a hotel bar, drinking rather strong cocktails, after a good discussion about greenhouse effects, real or unreal we left as it was a bit hotel like, and ended up at Mikes club, the Art Club. Mike goes here a bit, but never downstairs to the club part, so with Jayne insisting we needed to go to a club, and with the hostess telling us it was a great line up of entertainment, we headed down. Now Mike must have some pull, as the hostess cleared a table of beer drinkers away for us, so we could sit on a prime table, a bottle of champagne arrived, and Mike and l looked at each other, with a knowing and fearful look. I ended up dancing like a possessed person, as the three female singers were brilliant, Mike and Jayne tried to get the champagne down, until l arrived back and suggested that Mike and l drink beer, and Jayne could finish the champagne, Mike agreed. We left the club, late, no idea how late, leaving behind new friends and supporters of my dancing style, and three singers who seemed happy that l was happy. I drank a lot of water that night, but it never seems enough. Jayne as usual said why did we do that, l reminded her it was her idea. But a night the three of us will sort of remember.
The weather was average, mostly cold for summer, and rain, which made it annoying, considering we packed for summer weather. We got to see two soccer matches, Chelsea vs Leicaster (2-0), and then with Steve Thomson, we saw MK Dons v's Manchester United (4-0) Obviously a huge upset win to MK Dons, and it was terrific to see Manchester play, though they did not have a few of their main players like Rooney. We stayed the night with Steve and Holly at their country residence now, which was a great experience to see the countryside and spend time with Rose and George. They have a lovely house which they have just finished renovating, and Holly is thinking of running a coffee shop from her kitchen window, for the mothers of the town, who have no where to go to get a coffee. Hopefully it will go ahead, great idea, and l love that its from her kitchen window.
We spent a day at West Wittering, where the Fraynes were spending their summer holiday at the beach, we went down there by train, it was a cold and average day, but great to see the english seaside, the area was wind swept, with a huge tide of about 200 metres that went out, and looked like the ones you see in the movies, reminded me of Peterborough, Victoria . The kids had fun on a trampoline, the beach and just hanging out with other kids.
We left England from Stanstead, so we stayed at a airport hotel, Stanstead is where Ryanair fly from, but l think it is better to pay more on the ticket and fly into Gatwick, and not have to stay the night before.
Arrived home for lunch, good to be back to the quiet of Bologna, the boys then had 10 days till they started at their new school, Malpighi ( solo Italiano).
Scone time
Pub time
English seaside
MK Dons mascot and Steve
At Fortnum and Mason
Phyllida Barlow work at Tate Britian
Ewan rowing In Battersea Park
Biggest bag of popcorn
Kew Gardens
