Saturday, October 02, 2004
The finale
Sadly this is our last installment from our guest blogger joy.
Saturday 2 October 2004
Last entry of our holiday: Yesterday was the grand finale! Rose and I met up with Paulette, and after having some delicious homemade vege. soup with German bread (also homemade), we walked on Hampstead Heath (Alma, I had wrongly written before that Paulette and Reinhold were living in Hammersmith, and you must have been surprised about house prices). On our way to the Heath, Paulette pointed out where Jamie Oliver and family live (I took a photo), where 2 of the former Spice Girls have an apartment, the house from which ‘Mary Poppins’ was filmed, and where famous artists, architects and playwrights lived. The Heath, itself, is a tamed wilderness, many acres of wooded paths where people and dogs can stretch their legs. After seeing the view over London from Parliament Hill, we walked passed the Gentleman’s Pool, and later, the Women’s Pool (lakes set aside for segregated swimming since I’m not sure when, a tradition, strongly held still today on the Heath. We ended up at Kenworth House, a stately home in the grounds of the Heath, it is open to the public surprisingly at a donation cost only. The rooms are adorned with paintings, including a Rembrant, but sadly the original furniture was mainly sold. We ended up having tea and cake in the café adjoining.
On return to Paulette’s, we bade her farewell and hurried back to Kilburn to get ready for our show. After eating a hasty Chinese takeaway, we were off into Covent Gardens to meet up with Reinhold and Paulette to be taken to our mystery show. Lou is not good at keeping secrets, she was bursting to let it out, but she survived until we walked into The Strand and saw lit up ‘Stomp’! It was in a fairly intimate theatre, and we had seats second from the front. The energy of the show was inspiring and to think that everything used for percussion is in every day use. Brooms, flicking lighters, dustbins, dustbin lids, sticks, bits of rubber hose, drain plungers, sand, oil drums, newspaper, plastic bags and drink containers with straws – absolutely amazing and fantastic!! If it could be topped off, we did it with a delectable dessert in Soho before reluctantly bidding farewell and encouraging Paulette and Reinhold once more to visit us in NZ.
Today, last minute emailing, downloading photos onto CD, and packing. Although our flight isn’t until 4.15pm we have to leave before noon so a found farewell to all and I hope to see some of you in the not too distant future.
Bye for now, ciao, Joy.
