In the Melbourne Winter of 2011, Lynda and I had been seeing each other for 12 months and decided that travelling together for a month would be the antidote to see whether the relationship had legs or not.
Lynda had already booked a “long service” holiday to the Rocky Mountains and Alaska on her own to celebrate 20 years of teaching so we decided to tack on a trip to London, Liverpool, Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, drive around the Scottish Highlands, drive around Ireland, Paris for 4 days then go our separate ways from there, Lynda to Vancouver and me to Melbourne.
The memoirs aren’t particularly sophisticated, but they spurred me to continue dabbling in writing which I’ve enjoyed. There are supporting photos at least. Hope the rantings are helpful.
Outta here!
by Ian Wilson on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 2:50pm
Off to London on Saturday! Can barely contain myself! London, Liverpool, Edinburgh Festival, drive Scotland, drive Ireland and Paris. I am sick of working and paying bills. My family heritage is in Scotland and Liverpool and my late father told my brother Glen and I 25 years ago that we were Campbell’s! He found out he was the illegitimate son to an Archie Campbell from Glasgow and found out when he was 72! The only reason we didn’t have our name changed was because Glen didn’t want to be Glen Campbell! When he got to work at the abattoir in Waroona on the Monday his mates were singing Rhinestone Cowboy in Scottish!
London
by Ian Wilson on Monday, August 1, 2011 at 4:43pm
6.30am London. Lynda and I took the tube to Hyde Park yesterday morning after 24 hours flying. Couldn’t get into hotel so took bus to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard and walked back via speakers’ corner where I felt at home with all the local nutbags. Back to hotel for overdue shower (starting to rot at that stage) then thought we’ll have a cat nap and get some dinner. Woke up an hour ago! Pissed ourselves laughing this morning at the possibility that we will miss London all together after sleeping for 3 days..room service working around us etc. Off to use our London Pass today. Can’t wait.
London day 3
by Ian Wilson on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 4:15am
It was another cracking day in the old dart. First we went to the London Eye, then into Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. Soho is awesome with its sleazy narrow streets and we are heading back there shortly to see the play” Yes Prime Minister” at the Apollo where so many of my favourite comics have played over the years. Wandering around Soho doesn’t come without its hazards. I’ve developed a dialect somewhat similar to Michael Caine…Lynda reckons I’ve channelled him and the sooner we get to Liverpool the better. Then we went to Harrods…massive disappointment. The only thing we could afford were lollies and they were tasteless. The staff there were miserable .Caught the bus to Royal Albert Hall for a tour. No superlatives can do justice to the beauty and history of it. Great tour and we got to see a rehearsal of a BBC Proms orchestra. There were middle aged groupies lined up out the front for tickets to tonight’s show! What a theatre. Despite its grandeur it has an understatement about it through its history and the guide brought that pure love of music to life with us. Anyway off to the theatre ra ra.
What I failed to mention was that we also crammed in visits to St Paul Cathedral, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, and somehow snuck into a service in Westminster Cathedral that was presented by the Jamaican Ambassador to the UK! There was something “Life of Brian” about how we got in. People were being rejected before us and we walked up to the guard who asked us if we were catholic. We lied, and walked in, stopped at the tomb of the unknown soldier to let the choirboys pass us, then settled into a pew!
“Crucifixion? “No, I’ve been pardoned and set free.” “Oh, ok then.” “Nah, just kidding! Crucifixion.” “Oh ha ha, first door to the right. One cross each.”
St Pauls is a highlight and the walk to the top of the Dome is worth it, even if you’re scared of heights like me. We also did a Jack the Ripper tour in the evening run by one of the Beefeaters at the Tower of London which was terrific. A tour of the Tower of London only highlights the brutality that the Brits brought to Australia and the stories are not for the squeamish.
Like New York, you can see so much in a day in London because of the tube. We were surprised at how hot and muggy it was in August so beware. Overall London isn’t somewhere I would rush to get back to but a thrill nonetheless to see the classic landmarks. 2 days wasn’t enough to take in any art or sport which may drag us back. It was also extremely expensive particularly the hotels which was the only option at the time, being pre-AirBnB etc. Here are some more photos from that day.
