Two sunny days in London

A walking adventure and a rooftop picnic

Highbury Fields - where the picnickers were. 

This weekend was the first real weekend of summer in London. When we arrived there had been tops of 14 degrees if we were lucky. We had packed our proper winter clothes in boxes to arrive by sea - reasoning that it was going to be spring when we arrived in London and we would be fine with trench coats and summer scarves. Instead I wished that I had my warm scarves and gloves for the first 3 weeks of our London Adventure.

However to our delight, the last 10 days have been glorious sun and I was amazed at how fast London was transformed. On my commute home through the parks even during the week, I walked past parks filled with picnicking families and groups of friends. No time wasted -  it was like they had their picnic baskets and little camp stoves all packed and waiting by the front door - not needing to hunt around the cupboard, dust them off after 9 months of hiding away only to discover that there is only 1 fork and no plates left in the set.  

Tony with his morning coffee and the Brumbies score

We took our first opportunity to embrace the summer by deciding to explore our new neighbourhood on foot. We started from Highbury Hill (just out our front door), and wandered down the high street, following Upper Street all the way down one side to Angel station then up the other side of the street home. I think our meandering must have taken us about a mile each way - and took over 4 hours.  We poked our noses into every shop and lane that looked interesting, taking mental notes of cafes and restaurants to try in the future, and shops to be visited for birthday presents, kitchen supplies and furniture. 

My favourite section is Camden Passage - a parallel street to upper street near Angel Station. On Saturdays the vintage shops that are there full time put tables out on the street to create a street market. The first weekend we were in Highbury after moving in we noticed the market by accident while looking for a $2 shop to buy house basics. On our first poke around the markets we picked up silver plates serving spoons and a carving knife, fork and sharpener - bone handled and very sharp. 

This visit yielded a lovely set of 6 bone handled steak knives and a set of 8 silver spoons. Maybe by the time we head home to Australia we'll have a whole set. 

Tony, the sunshine, the rooftop and our feast. 

Some London rooftop symmetry

Having walked until our feet were sore, we turned around with our purchases, and made for home. I have to admit we examined the homeward side of Upper Street far less closely. We stopped at La Fromagerie (my favourite shop in Highbury Barn), and the luscious delicatessen next door to pick up the makings for a picnic lunch. 

The things you see from a rooftop - I think the bear had been through the wash, 

Our rooftop proved  to be a perfect place to enjoy the clear skys and warm breeze. We ensconced ourselves on the roof with a bottle of wine and a feast, and chatted and read aloud to each other from Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica until we ran out of wine. This was the stopping point - rather than the sun going down - because it doesn't get dark until about 10pm at the moment. We were amazingly not sunburned - thank heavens for the ozone layer!

Playing in the park, a picnic and drinks on water

Sunday morning started we were off to meet up with some relatives - my aunt's husband's niece and her husband. Emma, Ben, Oscar and Pheobe live just around the corner from us in Highbury and we had arranged to meet for coffee and a play in the park.

Tony and Oscar and the 'football'

Oscar had saved up questions about Australia to ask the Australians - including what sound does a Kookaburra make - a sound I imitated for him (can't every Australian do a Kookaburra sound?). 

We kicked the football (think soccer ball) around for a good hour or so whilst chatting to Emma and Ben - retelling the tale of the Australia Day Riot - we will be dining out on that story for years. 

Wanting to make the most of the glorious day, we then decided to check out another of the parks close to our place.

In true English style we marched into Marks and Spencers and purchased a ready made picnic. It seems everything came in just the right amount for two people to take it and sit under the trees without so much effort as having to dress a salad.

We took our picnic to Finsbury Park - a park large enough to have a lake with boats people can hire and row around in. Its not a very big lake - however I think given the level of experience of most of the rowers - the 30 min hire time would have been more than enough to explore the pond and tire of the exertion.

Other people's bunting

We found a shady spot - near enough to a very sophisticated picnic that we could enjoy their bunting without the effort of bringing it and putting it up ourselves. A lazy afternoon was spent in the shade - watching the rest of the park sunbathe.

I have discovered that, at the first hint of sunshine, people (men and women) take off their clothes and lie in their swimmers in the sunshine in the middle of parks trying to get a tan. I keep wanting to tell them that they will sunburn - not to mention that they look a little odd in their swimsuits in the middle of London.

The bar...

We joined Julian and Sarah for drinks in the evening on a boat cunningly called 'Tattershall Castle' and drank ginger beer in the sun. Having a boat as a bar has one interesting side effect - you feel very drunk even before your first drink - because the floor keeps moving under you. Heaven help you if you had been there all afternoon. 

Julian, Tony and Sarah

The view from the boat/bar