Well hello, we’re back…shivering…blimey! Holiday chic already feels far far away as I tell myself I can’t possibly put the heating on in August! Thank you to those of you who kept in touch via Instagram, it was lovely to hear from you. As you’ve gathered I didn’t blog while we were away – there’s a story behind that and it involves a very unfortunate loss of equipment but I’ll come to that in a later post.
So, a quick one today to tell you about the very beginning of the holiday. As you may remember, the boys and I flew down to London a day early leaving Mr MC a clear 36 hours to hit his work deadlines. Since he was little, the youngest and I have often gone for 5am walks on the shore. We have to go over a level crossing on the way and sometimes wait for a train to go by. There have been so many times that he’s wondered what it’s like to be on the train and see things from the ‘other side’ that I decided to book our tickets to the airport from further down the line. The station we left from is famous for being the one where Brief Encounter was filmed. It hasn’t changed and is a mecca for American tourists looking for a frisson of romance. Here I am, early in the morning, by the famous clock.
- Jeans: next relaxed skinnies
- Breton: Johnnie B
- Silver scarf: Zara
- Ballet flats: Zara
- Bag: TK Maxx
We even had time for tea in the tea room where we explained the plot of the film to the boys (who decided it sounded ‘pants’ and was definitely one to miss). However I enjoyed my Celia Johnson moment as Mr MC waved us off on our adventure.
We had a great evening in London. I must say it was such an incredible pleasure to have a day and night on my own with the boys. They’re at the age where (when they’re on form) they’re incredibly funny. They knew how much I’d been looking forward to it and had me in stitches as they viewed London and its ways from a stolid Northern perspective. We did a bit of shopping and the eldest had to be forcefully removed from the TCR TK Maxx (he had a wallet full of holiday cash that could easily have been blown in one go – don’t know where he gets that from). We went to Ed’s Diner and then walked through Covent Garden watching the acts and on to Trafalgar Square. We stayed at the Premier Inn next to Monument Station – the usual good standards and a great location – I highly recommend it.
The next morning we walked along the river to the Tower of London. The volunteers were busy on the poppy installation. It’s beautiful in the photos but even more so in real life:
We’re lucky enough to have my grandfather’s diaries from his time in The Somme so the boys have some idea of what it was like and a close connection to it. We went to Mametz Wood a few years ago to see the place where he described a particularly gory piece of hand to hand combat that he was involved in. He was about to be killed by a German bayonet but was pulled out of the way by his best friend who was then shot from behind.
I haven’t been on a tour of the Tower for years and had forgotten how good it is, the Beefeaters are so entertaining and really bring it to life (although I don’t think either he or I really wanted to be in this shot by the looks on our faces)! I wonder how many times he has to do that every day.
- Dress: Per Una
- Scarf: Zara
- Necklace: Boden
- Shoes: Zara
- Bag: TK Maxx
After the Tower we had time for a stroll along the river only to hear from Mr MC who was en route but stuck in a seriously big tailback on the M6. Knowing his aptitude for lateness I’d ‘adapted’ his schedule to ensure that he left 2 hours early so we decided to keep to our plans and make our way to Gatwick anyway. By the time we got there he’d managed to make it to the M25 only to hit the Friday night rush hour. So as it turned out, we were lucky to discover that our flight was delayed by 2 hours (!) which meant we finally arrived at our hotel in Malaga at 3.45am.
Don’t worry, the next few holiday posts won’t be as long as this because, quite frankly, there isn’t much to cover other than relaxing / eating / drinking wine. I was surprised by just how much I missed my blogging – I hope you’re all still out there and haven’t disappeared. Do say hello via the comments and I’ll be back as soon as I’ve put the washing machine on a few hundred times.
