A Weekend in London
My school let me
go to an IB conference within a stone’s throw of Big Ben and I jumped at the
chance. The conference itself was one of
the best pro-Ds I have been on. I wrote
that up and delivered it to my deputy headmistress but, since this is a maths
teaching blog, I will make it available to anyone who asks.
Travel Tips
We learned a few
things about travel. My deputy head
suggested that if I go by coach I will be more likely to get funded so by coach
we went. The price was a fraction of
rail, the trip was only a little longer, the seats were comfortable, we didn’t
have to change trains two or three times and we ended up near Victoria
station. Probably for short or middle
distances we will go by coach from now on.
In London we bought Oyster cards that gave us unlimited travel for each
day. A very good deal that you can get
at bus stations etc. We still have about
£5 on our cards for our next visit. Of
course there are concessions for oldies.
In London
Although we got
a good deal for our B&B it wasn’t cheap.
One doesn’t have to be in Westminster so we will look around a bit next
time.
On Saturday we
were up early and walked to Victoria train station for coffee. After breakfast we walked around Westminster
a bit to arrive at the boat for 10:00.
When I lived in London in 1972 there were a lot of things I didn’t see
so the boat trip was a thrill. We went
down river and saw, from the boat, a lot of key historical places since the
river figured so prominently in the history of London. The boat stopped at the London Eye and the
Tower but we stayed on until Greenwich.
We visited the Cutty Sark and walked around. We stood with one foot in each hemisphere and
watched the time sphere (It didn’t go
up) and found a lovely restaurant where I had bangers and mash. The boat trip back to Westminster was cold
and crowded.
That night, to
warm up, we went to a pub up the road.
London pubs are a lot smaller than their Welsh counterparts. As soon as we got up to the bar a couple of
locals engaged us in a lively conversation so the bar-maids ignored us and we
went dry. Our new mates soon rectified
that and I found out that they had a beer from the Griffon Brewery. I wish I was wearing my Guelph Griffon’s
shirt.
Good news for
bus fans. The newest busses have open
back doors like the ones back in the sixties and seventies. Like the ones where my uncle Jim broke his
leg off of. On our first bus ride we sat
adjacent to a gentleman who told us all about them.
Sunday we rode
busses and visited places that I never visited. I never went to St Paul’s cathedral so we
attended Matins there. Very enjoyable
service with good singing and lots of psalms.
We wanted to see the east end to we took the 15 bus and the one we
caught was literally one of the old ones.
The conductor said it was 50 years old.
Perhaps I was on it in 1972 on my way home from the Tally-Ho Corner one
night. Smokers and dog owners had to go upstairs.
After a bit of
exploring it was time for a late lunch so we found a west-end pub (don’t go
there at night) and had a light lunch and went to Westminster Underground to
join a walking tour – another thing I have never done. At first the guide told us a lot of what we
already knew: Bodicca and things like
that but as he went on we got in on a lot of things that happened in a small
area around Big Ben, parliament, Westminster hall and the Abby. I had heard that Cromwell and Charles I were
to spend eternity looking at each other but to stand there and see it was
something. Lots of good gossip to about
politicians and statesmen. After that it
was back to our new pub and some excellent fish and chips.
At the
conference I met a lot of very talented teachers. The man who exchanged jobs with me in 1996
was there and gave an erudite presentation (he is quite high up in the
International Baccalaureate food chain).
Friendly London
We were
impressed by the number of people who said good-morning in the street. Almost every time we got on a bus we ended up
in a conversation with another passenger or the conductor. This is not the same London I remember form
the 1970’s.
