julia_t

We had Spotted Dick and Pig's Bum for puddings (Tuesdays and Thursday respectively). Monday was frogspawn day (Tapioca) and Wednesday was lumpy sago with a dollop of sweet red stuff called jam)

The Irish cooks called Lizzie and Bridie had a hairy little dog called Jock who attacked us all at the bottom of the back stairs which was by the kitchen. (We were forbidden to use the main stairs.) I think he was trained to attack anyone in grey socks and gym knickers!

More please from janis soon! I'm sure other readers don't want to hear about English boarding schools.

ElendilPickle

Hey, I'm enjoying all the tangents here!

Lee Ann

flanneruk

Remind me again why your parents forked out money to send you to these torture camps.

The main benefit Mrs F got from the one she went to seems to have been a clear understanding of a level of cooking she'd never let herself stoop to.

But at least a charity paid for that. Why do people pay their own money?

Cathinjoetown

JJ

Please more of your report--had enough pickle!

janisj

Hi, everybody -- I was just giving everyone a chance to exorcise their public school demons

<B>Day 2, Saturday. Portobello Rd and "stuff"</B>:

This trip was meant to be pretty free form - I didn't want us all connected at the hip 24/7 in London (a bit more so out in the country since we'd be driving around together). But some of the gals wanted/needed a bit more hand holding so I planned for a few group activities/events. One was Portobello Rd - not because we needed to do it together so much, but more because Sat. was our first full day in London and it would be a good way to get used to using the tube.

Well - best laid plans . . . Everyone met up at 8:00 and we walked over to Tower Hill to jump on the Circle Line. Oops! The station was locked up and the signs said Circle and District lines would be down all weekend. Five heads swung around at once - looking for me to fix things. I said "not to worry" (worrying all the time) "follow me." The bus service on Tower Hill is good - but I didn't want to ride all the way across London on the bus. So I thought cabs to Liverpool St and then Central line from there. Liverpool St isn't far and since we'd need to get 2 cabs I thought that would be the easiest.

Well after a few minutes we hailed the first cab ( there weren't that many about). I thought it was worth a shot - so I told him the station was closed and we were stranded. Hey, I can act the helpless [clueless] tourist when it serves my purposes ) Could he <i>possibly</i> squeeze in 6 of us?? (note - six in a cab is a big no-no but nevermind). He said sure - so we all piled in. I decided to go to Oxford Circus instead - w/ 6 paying, the extra cost wouldn't be much and I could point out Selfridge's and Liberty where I knew some of them planned on shopping later in the week.

So we all went to Oxford Circus and then took the tube to Notting Hill Gate and walked up to the market. Three of them stayed most of the day - I think they left around 2:30. They really enjoyed it and brougt back all sorts of treasures. The other 3 of us stayed about an hour+. I wasn't planning on major market shopping - the only thing would have looked for is a Tantalus. I have been trying to find just the right one for about 5 or 6 years. So after about an hour three of us left and walked to Kensington Gardens and stopped at the Orangery. We got there just before 10:00 and they weren't yet open so we wandered around - I showed them the sunken garden, the round pond, etc. and we enjoyed watching all the dogs, kids, etc. (I swear they must screen families before they are allowed to play in the park - it has got to be the biggest concentration of adorable children and cute dogs anywhere. )

Then we went back to the Orangery where 2 had morning coffee and I had breakfast. Then we went down the Flower Walk and by the Albert Memorial and Albert Hall, eventually getting to the V&A. I was able to buy a ticket for the Baroque Exhibit for 12:30. The others weren't that interested so I showed them the Raphael Cartoons, the costume gallery, then through the silver galleries and to the Jewelry. Then I pointed them to the Morris/Gamble rooms and we planned to meet under the Chiluly chandelier at 2:00. The Baroque exhibit was really amazing - but it was VERY crowded. I did enjoy it but WHERE do all these people come from!?

I actually finished a bit early and we met up a bit before 2:00. We talked about some options and agreed we'd go to the Cabinet War Rooms (I've been several times but not since the expanded Churchill museum opened). We all really enjoyed it - the interactive timeline "table" in the museum is addictive. Sort of like a video game on steroids . . .

By the time we left the War Rooms we were all feeling a bit peckish so I suggested we go over to Inn the Park where we had either a really late lunch or a very early dinner. I had poached salmon and a glass of champagne.

From there we went to Liverpool St on the tube and then a taxi the rest of the way home. That night we watched Britain's Got Talent - not the Susan Boyle episode -- noooo we weren't that lucky. We got to see a Farter. Yep - he farted a tune. Disgusting doesn't EVEN begin . . . . . But there was also a male soprano (not a high tenor but a true soprano) who was amazing.

All 6 of us got together in the evening for wine/cheese/pate and to plan the next day . . .

Next: <B>Sunday: Lunch at the Portrait Restaurant, Judi Dench in Madame de Sade, dinner w/ friends</B> . . . . .

yk

Wow, ready at 8am on first day? Janis, you're a slave-driver!

Feldie

....what is a 'tantalus'..... my Google skills let me down.

....we'll have a laptop, can one check tfl the night before to see if there will be tube closures (or strikes!!!)?

DH loves glass, we've been to the Dale Chihuly museum in Tacoma. Will have to look for the V&A works.

Cholmondley_Warner

A tantalus is a decanter set that is locked and can't be accessed without the key. But the way it looks makes you think you can easily get to the hooch. You can't - hence the name.

>>>>Remind me again why your parents forked out money to send you to these torture camps.>>>>

Mine didn't pay for me. Yours did.

yk

Feldie - absolutely! I do that on all my trips to London now, after going thru the 3-day tube strike in Sept 2007! In fact, there are PDF files of station and track closures for the next 6 months (but you should still check for unplanned closures right before you leave).
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravel...e/default.html
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/livetra...n-closures.pdf
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/livetra...k-closures.pdf

When are you leaving?
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...ive/11854.aspx

thursdaysd

I was really enjoying this until the mention of frog spawn. Took me right back to horrible school lunches. You didn't have to go to public school for them. Frogspawn, semolina and lumpy mashed potatoes... We got French fries once a term as a treat. At least I stayed thin!

Loving the report, janisj. My search item on the Portobello Road is a Georgian silver wine label - small and portable.

janisj

Naw - I wasn't the slave driver (not this time anyway). In fact I'd warned them some of us might not be up to the trek. That we could do it but if we were too pooped we could work in other markets sometime during the week. But Friday night they agreed Portobello Rd was on most of their "must" lists and they'd cope. And I have to admit - except for one who was slightly jet laggy (and grouchy) they all were troopers . . . . .

Here is a photo of a couple of reproduction "Tantali"

http://tinyurl.com/qcmux2

and an older one http://tinyurl.com/ostjae

http://tinyurl.com/r6yzau shows an antique one and how they work

RM67

Re school dinners, we had a vile thing called 'beef cobbler', which was made from scraggy minced meat, with scones floating on top (or more usually, heavy enough to be partially or fully submerged). We also had 'jelly whip' which was blancmange. 'Salad' was that crap floppy lettuce that everyone had before rocket or lollo rosso were invented, with a shelled, boiled egg, and a slice of beetroot.

In 1977 we had a silver jubilee party at school, which meant the jelly whip got a blob of fake cream on top, and mums made fairy cakes and paper crowns. We also got a big ugly coin that everyone wanted to 'melt down for scrap'.

julia_t

" We also had 'jelly whip' "

That was Friday's pud - jelly made with milk ie blancmange

"Remind me again why your parents forked out money to send you to these torture camps."

HM Forces paid for me (or subsidised my fees).

Oh janis, please post some more and stop me being forced to remember some of the worst meals but best days of my life LOL!

Feldie

Tantalus - fascinating. I kept thinking something from Star Trek. Good hunting!

yk, I've been watching that strike unfold on another forum. We are leaving June 20th. A bit close for comfort. Wimbledon is going on during our week....

janisj

Oh God, Blancmange! I had never heard of it til I moved to the UK. There is a Brit food shop here that sells powdered blancmange in a tin??

<B>Sunday: Lunch at the Portrait Restaurant, Judi Dench in Madame de Sade, dinner w/ friends</B>

As I said - we really weren't going to do a lot of touring together 24/7. But a few things were planned as full group activities. I booked us tickets for Madame de Sade on Sunday and lunch before hand. Also a dinner at Rules (they were super to work w/), the Ceremony of the Keys, Calendar Girls for 3 of us, and we thought we'd do a champagne flight on the Eye - change of plans on that one when one of the ORD ladies would get nauseous just thinking about it.

So Sunday arrives a bright an lovely day - we had decent but cool weather most of the two weeks. Some light rain, some sun - just what you'd expect. (It did pour down cats and dogs a couple of times the 2nd week). Only problem - for some reason I had not slept <u>one minute</u>. I didn't feel particularly jet lagged and it was two days after our arrival. But I have no other explanation. By 3 AM when I realized I wasn't getting any sleep it was too late to take a sleeping pill. So I just toughed it out - it was going to be a loooooong day!

I had only a voucher for the Madame de Sade tix at the Wyndham's and I knew it would be cutting it short trying to collect the tickets between lunch and curtain at 3 PM. So I showed the others how to get to Trafalgar Sq w/ the Circle line down. Bus line 15 would have been my choice - direct from Tower Hill to Trafalgar Sq. But some were reluctant to try the buses (don't laugh - most of us live in areas where the only "public transport" consists of airport shuttles ) So they wrote down my directions for cabs to various tube stations. Three were headed to the National Gallery and then to the National Portrait if they had time. The other two wanted to go to Covent Garden and then meet us at the Portrait Gallery.

While they were getting ready, I jumped on the #15 and got off at Piccadilly Circus and walked up to Spencer House and and got there just in time to hook up w/ a tour that had just started. Unfortunately the gardens are not open this year, but the house was beautiful. Then I hailed a cab and went to the theatre. It was only about 12:15 and we were to meet up at the Portrait Restaurant at 1PM so I had time to pop over to a little internet cafe I've used before on Charing Cross Rd. I contacted NeoPatrick - he was also going to Madame deSade that day. And sent some e-mails home. We ended up w/ an extra ticket since I bought them when there were 7 in the group. I offered the spare to NP but he had managed to get a House seat and ended up even closer to the stage.

We got the very best table at the Portrait - in the very center of the room at the windows. I didn't make notes of what everyone had but all really enjoyed the meal. I had grilled Asparagus w/ hollandaise and a warm Jerusalem artichoke, mushroom and roast potato salad which was amazingly good - and were the lightest items on the menu which was probably safest due to my sleep deprivation. The gal sitting next to me had potato leek soup and a haddock pie that she really loved.

On Sundays they do set meals - either 2 or 3-course w/ or w/o Bellini cocktails so only 4 prices plus any extra drinks. (though they comped our Bellinis). This is where I discovered that one of our little group is the "separate check nazi". Only a <i>slight</i> exaggeration. She is the most well off of any of us - and now I know how she made her $$ - she never pays one cent (or pence) more than her share. I tried to explain (Nicely - honest ) that split checks - especially for a party of 6 - isn't really the norm. She'd have none of it. I tried to explain (REALLY nicely - honest ) that there is no added sales tax like back home and service was included so since we were ALL having a two course set meal plus some extra drinks it would be very VERY easy to figure out what everyone owed. Nope - not good enough. So I called our waiter aside and quietly explained that we'd <u>really appreciate</u> it if he could split our tab. He said "<i>sure, no problem - I THINK my manager knows how to do that.</i>". Well - it took three staffers nearly 20 minutes fighting w/ the register to divide our bill. And the upshot - each and every one of us spent the same amount, had exact change and none used their credit cards. So why exactly did we need separate checks??? (I paid for the carafes of sparkling water since I figured that might cause a stink) And of course, we then had to practically run to the theatre. This would be the first of many times we faced the same sort of separate checks problem.

We made it about 5 or 6 minutes before curtain. Briefly said "Hi" to NeoP out front - would recognize him anywhere. (we had plans to meet for drinks/chat later in the week). Then we settled in for the show. What can I say?? It was very, very weird. I think NP agrees - the acting was superb, the costumes were beautiful, the staging was wonderful --- but the play itself was awful. Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike were especially good in their roles and Frances Barber is always good at scenery chewing I guess it just goes to show - a play written about the French aristocracy, in English, by a Japanese playwright -- who disemboweled himself (!) is a risky proposition

But everyone did seem to enjoy the performances at least.

Afterwards - 3 of our little group headed to Covent Garden and the rest of us dashed over to Westminster and took the last boat back to Tower pier. Two were about done for the day, and I had a dinner date w/ some friends who live just about directly across the river in Shad Thames. We can see their flat/balcony from St Katharine's Pier. We met for drinks at Prohibition - a bar/restaurant in the Marina development and then just walked two doors up to a branch of Cafe Rouge. It isn't gourmet but is generally reliable and I only needed a light supper since lunch was so rich. We ate and talked until the place closed and I wandered back "home" about 10:30. I took a "just in case" sleeping pill and was zonked by 11:15 . . . .

Next: <B>Monday, major shopping, Tea @ the Ritz, and Calendar Girls</B>:

crefloors

This is a great read. I have "been there" with the separate check thing with a couple of groups and it drives me nuts. It seems if the group is large enough there is always one. I'm looking forward to the next phase of your report.

scotlib

Love the report. I will be back a lot to study it for ideas.

Glad to read you are feeling better, janisj. I am looking forward to improving, too, after a miserable week with some kind of viral ick, ick, ick.

rogeruktm

Enjoying it. Hope you ditched the separate check nazi.

irishface

A great read, lots of fun. But oh, the separate check one who won't get with the program! I am especially interested in this trip as there are 5 of us who are contemplating a trip together. I am afraid that I have traveled too much on my own and have a lot of quirks that could make others crazy. thanks for sharing.

janisj

<B>Monday, major shopping, Tea @ the Ritz, and Calendar Girls</B>:

Today I would be on my own until about 5:30 when we had booked tea at the Ritz. I know - now's when C_W and the others chime in that nobody goes to bloody posh tea at the Ritz.

Anyway - today I had two major errands to run - exchanging a voucher for our Calendar Girl tickets and hitting Paddington to collect our Oxford train tix for next Friday. I knew both might take a while since you are supposed to present the same credit card you used to book the theatre/train tix. But about 6 weeks before the trip my credit union contacted me that my # had been "compromised" and they were voiding my card and sending a new one. I got it in plenty of time - but that was the account I'd used for these two orders. It worked out OK, I just had to explain the situation and at Paddington they called a supervisor over to override the computer to spit out the tickets.

Then after that I went to Harrods - or "Horrid's" to some. But I do buy a Halcyon Days enamel box there every trip - sort of tradition by now and Harrods have about the best selection around. Also bought some Smythsons small leathers/key fob and some Molton Brown lotions/potions. After that I went to Liberty to get my Mom a silk scarf and a few of their house brand lotions/potions (I see a trend here) that were on special offer. Went around the corner to H&M and bought a small straw handbag and some cheapo costume jewelry. In about 15 mins I spent £110 on a scarf and £3 on a handbag

Then I walked up to Fortnum & Mason's - my goodness the changes there!. I think they've ruined the food hall at F&M. It is now mainly on the lower ground and reached by this big sweeping circular staircase. But in the "old days" w/ all the cheeses, smoked salmon, teas, hampers, etc etc on the ground floor there was always a crowd and "activity". When I went downstairs it was just plain gloomy - not light-wise there was plenty of light w/ the big sort of atrium of the circular staircase - but there were simply no customers. Many more staff than shoppers. I know the economy will explain some of it - but Harrods was busy, Liberty wasn't terribly busy but there were at least some customers, the next weekend Peter Jones was very crowded. I hope F&M aren't in financial trouble. Bought some teas and I think something else but not sure what just now.

Then I walked up to the Ritz. Got there a little early so went down into the ladies loo where they have couches, water carafes, etc. While relaxing down there reading the paper two groups who had finished their teas came in. One was a boisterous group of about 16-17 middle aged ladies who were obviously from 'oop north'. They were celebrating something and since we all know how grim it is oop North, perhaps the Ritz was the best they could manage

The other group was 10 younger women who were celebrating an engagement, and a hen party for another girl. They were also all English (well, I did decipher one Scottish accent). So right there were nearly 30 women - all British -- no Yanks among the lot.

Then when we were seated, I made a point of checking out all the other parties w/i sight. Not a single group of American tourists (well, except for us of course). There was one table of 4 men in business suits, one other mixed group of what looked like 3 couples, One family of a mother and four kids about 16-25, and everyone else seemed to be well heeled English Roses. Now, I know most of the London contingent won't believe a word of this - but its the God's honest truth . . . (though I don't expect it to convince some )

All my group really LOVED the tea - the room, the food, the service, everything. Some had not believed me that there was no need for a lunch or normal dinner if we had tea at 5PM but it was true. Two of them had eaten lunch at Harrods so they weren't very hungry - but everyone else had a full, FULL meal. Two of us added a glass of champagne. For parties of 6 or more they pre-charge, and that was a good thing -- Or you just KNOW we would have had to go the separate checks route

After tea, three of us caught a taxi to the Noel Coward theatre for Calendar Girls. We were in the 2nd row - terrific seats! I pre-ordered a gin & tonic for the interval. It is an all star cast and the staging was quite clever. Patricia Hodge, Sian Philips and the rest were just wonderful. Sian Phillips must be at least 75 yo but must have some sort of endurance for sure. 8 shows a week! The theatre wasn't totally full but not bad for a Monday night. But now I notice the theatre is dark Sundays and Mondays so they apparently have dropped the monday night perf.

On the way back to the flat I stopped again in the Cafe Rouge in the marina and had some pate/bread and glass of wine - was all I needed after the tea spread.

Next: <B>Wandering through Wapping, the Town of Ramsgate (the pub - not the town), Prospect of Whitby, the Eye and Oxo Tower</B>: