Time Team

I must be becoming like a local. Two people asked me directions today. I was able to help a Pakistanii couple find Christies in Old Brompton Road and direct a man to Trafalgar Square. It’s a pity we have to leave in a couple of days. I could start driving cabs.

A slow stroll over the Tower Bridge led us, after the coffee shop on the other side, to Borough Markets, a maze of food stalls under the railway bridge. The selection of food was vast from all over, but we managed to limit ourselves to just lunch, seeing we are down to counting meals left on one hand! While I was buying my Thai seafood curry, Sharon spied Tony Robinson of Time Team fame, so I introduced myself and we had a little chat about the series he is making in Australia shortly for the History Channel about walking. I asked if he is doing Fraser but said Brisbane was as far north in Queensland he was going! He invited me to accompany the team for a week in Scotland for a dig on Skye, but said I had a Seafood curry to eat.

We walked down the road, past the Globe Theatre to the Tate Modern to spend an hour which turned into three – a mixture of painting, sculpture, photography and installations on display in the old power station. Good stuff! The Milleneum Bridge heads directly across the river from the Tate towards St Pauls and being low tide, I decided to join the mud larks on the bank and do a time team on the “beach” Gee, you could have some fun there given time, Tony, a couple of mates from Dorset, and a big bucket – pottery, clay pipes, glass, bones (people?) nails, tiles, you name it. It was scattered everywhere.

A couple more hours were spent in the Portrait Gallery. A string quartet was playing in the 18 th Century gallery and I found a few John Singer Sargent portraits which were good. After an Italian dinner in Leicester Square I found an art shop on the walk down Charing Cross Road and stocked up with a few pressies for myself. A most enjoyable, sunny, “arty” London day. We’re going to miss this place.