My weekend in the Big Smoke - Part the third.

[Stingo]

Friday 3rd November
After a six hour coach journey, we arrived at the Union Jack Club – the time was a little after six in the evening. After a swift freshen up and change of clothing we (all 15 of us) met at the bar . We were then escorted to ‘The Civil Service Club’ near Scotland Yard, on foot. Crossing one of the Jubilee bridges, we were met by the wonderful vista of the houses of parliament, Big Ben and of course The London Eye. The Thames was flowing swiftly towards its eventual end. Sadly, Cleopatra’s Kiosk was shut . Undaunted, we arrived at the club in good time where we went upstairs to be met by members of the London Branch of the Submarine Association. To help us with our civic duties, we partook of some alcoholic refreshments – lots of them. At some stage, solids became involved and these were dispatched accordingly. About 10 o’clock, we made our way back to the ground floor and were greeted by a pub full of people rocking to the sounds of ‘The Honey Thieves’ . They were belting out sounds that were originally performed by the likes of U2, Floyd, Aerosmith etc. Their ability to be enthusiastic about their work ensured that the audience enjoyed themselves to the full – no doubt there were many hoarse throats on Saturday morning. ‘Comfortably Numb’ was their piece de resistance – and it was quite good, oh…did I mention that alcohol was involved at this stage?

Eventually we left, and poured ourselves back across Jubilee bridge – our eyes were like sponges soaking up the wonderful views of an artificially illuminated London – our capital city – all those immense buildings, seeing all the architecture properly in context with all the surroundings is really different to seeing it on the telly etc, sounds a bit stupid I suppose but some of those buildings are just so awesome – always seen by us through one or other form of media – but rarely frequented by ourselves. Passing the Sainsbury’s local, we wound our way through the waiting bus queue, a couple at the back were lost in the emotions of love and seemed to have their faces super glued together ; the posters stated that ‘The Enchanted Pig’ was showing at the Young Vic. Most pubs appeared to be closing – we were getting a little thirsty and managed to stumble upon ‘Jacks’ . What a great venue – I only wish we’d arrived earlier. The bar was superb, as were the people, the layout, and even the bog!!

Throughout the evening, everyone we met was so approachable and friendly – in a weird way it felt like coming home – I went to be bed extremely happy (and a bit pi$$ed).


edit: I know - apologies for not visiting the massive!! Time and potential gyro failure were my enemies.[/b]

[SoulKiss]

You were in Soho Massive territory and didn't come to say hello......

Hmmm Dissapointed

However have to agree with you on the "London as a whole" as opposed to through the window of a TV.

It was the reverse of this that told me when I had settled here, had a friend visit from Aberdeen, we ended up out on the **** in Central London and the realised that while Trafalgar Square was "Nelsons, Column, Lions and Fountains" to my mate, to me it was the Night Bus Stop.....

Glad you enjoyed your visit tho

David

[Sid Squid]

London is a great place and us Londoners is proper friendly like.

Glad you enjoyed your visit, I'm now looking forward to the further episodes.

[Stingo]

Everything seems quite large!!

[Stingo]

Saturday 4th November
Are we sitting comfortably? Then I’ll continue…now, where was I, oh yes…
Morning broke – the atmosphere outside was slightly hazy, the sky was scarred by the trails of numerous aircraft, the sun was on the up. My view of London from the 17th floor was superb and uninterrupted – below me, the lights of The Old Vic danced around & around illuminating the name of the latest performance on offer at this famous venue.

We had an appointment at the Imperial War Museum . Leaving the UJC at 9.30, we made our way on foot passing the ‘Wok u Like’ eating emporium. The leisurely stroll gave us chance to debrief the actions of the previous night. Two of the younger lads had managed to locate ‘The Directors Club’ – which was nice. Between them they spent £1500!! Apparently Champagne at this world renowned London venue is a mere £140 a bottle!! Of course, we had to ask “Well, did you…er…you know…do…” to which one of them replied “No, but I got her phone number and email address” and brandished the young lady’s card under our noses. I think the phone number started with 0898 and the email address was something like hot chicks @ hotmail .com!!! Pure class. “Oh, and she gave me her pants”. On closer examination, the intact price tag revealed the depth of their naivety!! She probably had fifty pairs of these things in the New Look bag under the table!! As usual, the IWM never fails to impress (actually, the last time I went here was about 25 years ago). Once the official stuff was dispensed with, I decided to see The Holocaust exhibition. I knew that this particular area had the potential to upset/inspire/anger but as I have read much on this subject it was unmissable. I think some of the news reel footage filmed by the Nazi’s themselves was perhaps the most disturbing – but I’m not sure if this is the place to dwell too much on subjects of this nature . Suffice to say the exhibition itself was very humbling and upsetting.

Later, we caught a bus to Westminster Bridge. It was rather like a mini Tower of Babel on wheels – so many different languages and cultures encapsulated within one London Transport vehicle – amazing. We crossed the bridge on foot. I saw the highland piper for the first time!! What A guy!! Brilliant – I loved it!! I think it’s the only time I’ve ever enjoyed hearing the old agony bags – which sort of adds to the whole irony of the situation!! Near him stood a Buddhist monk. The crowds flowed past these two slightly bizarre characters going about their daily business. At Westminster Abbey, we performed a short wreath laying ceremony around in the cloisters – which was nice. That is some building – absolutely awe inspiring. About two o’clock we left. Right outside the QEII Conference centre, I stood open mouthed as I looked at the person looking at me, also agog & agape, whom I knew from Plymouth!! She happened to be on a weekend visit to the Big Smoke as well! What’s the chances?! Anyway, after a short exchange of…..words, I made my way to the lunch venue conveniently located less than a hundred yards away – The Westminster Arms. I can thoroughly recommend the Theakstons, Adnams, Wine, Gin & Tonic and Adnams again – oh and the Steak & Kidney pie was nice too!!

Slightly bleary eyed we made our way back to the UJC – you’d never guess what – the bar was open!! Yes, all that working is thirsty walk!! Feeling refreshed, we ventured into the Wellington at Waterloo to chat about what a wonderful day we had all had. Didn’t like the Marstons much but the Gin & Tonic was nice, as usual.

It all ended as it begun – in bed!

[Sid Squid]

Good stuff - keep it coming!

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

London is a great place and us Londoners is proper friendly like.

Glad you enjoyed your visit, I'm now looking forward to the further episodes.

it is kinda good down here !!!!!! lots of LAVLEY peeps x

have fun stingo ! xxx

You must have walked past my office in Blackfriars Rd a couple of times. Wish I'd known you were up and might have joined you in the "Wellie"

H

[Stingo]

This was the only dog I saw for three days - which was nice.

[Stingo]

Sunday 5th November
The day of the main event. Leaving the UJC just after 9am in uniform, we made our way towards Victoria Embankment and the Ship President. As we went up the gangway, people were clearly congregating for the ceremony and it appeared extremely busy aboard this vessel. I, for some reason, probably the solemnity of the occasion, fully expected to be shown to some room or other where we would receive a brief along the lines of “Right chaps, this is the plan…”. Around and up the stairs I went following everyone else. The door way opened out into a large function room where…………..the party was in full swing!! I kid you not!! There was about a hundred people crowding around the bar, passing the pints over, laughing and chatting like it was just another Saturday night. I couldn’t stop laughing for ten minutes . Brilliant. Anyway, the start time of the ceremony was fast approaching. The Embankment had been reduced to one usable carriageway – the Royal Marines had taken their instruments outside and were preparing themselves – the old comrades and everyone else poured themselves onto the safe part of the roadway. They then marched to the submariners memorial stone. I had to read out about 80 of the 167 names of submarines lost at sea. The wreath laying was done – prayers intoned & hymns sung, one of the old blokes decided to keel over and was eventually hauled into an ambulance – probably over indulgence . Then we got out our hip flasks and warmed our cockles. After all this was finished, we took ourselves off to the Tattershall Castle restaurant – located on a ship a little further up the Thames past Westminster Bridge. This ship used to be a passenger ferry on the Humber. What a great venue. How fab was this? Being treated to a roast dinner, on the Thames, outside in the sun – and what a view. Seriously, I was having the best time!!

Got back to the UJC around two-ish and went in search of some gizzits for the wife and kids. First port of call was Waterloo Station…no souvenir shops in there!! As me and my mate came out of the main entrance (where the memorial tablets/name boards are), we observed a lot of people stood around (how do you estimate random groups of people -50?, 100?, dressed as if for winter – dark thick clothing, quite a bit of a leather thing going on – lots of hats. I turned to my mate and said “Christ – if we’re not careful, we’ll get filled in!!” Anyway, we crossed the road and saw what looked like a large camera on a trolley with some reflective screens nearby. “Oh” says I, and approached some random bloke “Who’s coming then?” He replied “You mean been – Matt Damon”. “Oh” says I looking to my mate “Not him again…tch” and rolled my eyes – smiling. Anyway, with bubbles burst, the chap explained to us what was going on. They were involved in the making of the latest Bourne film, the name of which escapes me right now. Nearly all the cars and people that we could see, were extras!! Hundreds of them. We watched suitably impressed as they did another take – so that was nice. A bus came along followed by a people carrier. Some bloke was ‘bundled’ into the back as though being kidnapped and some other bloke tried to slam the door shut (it was one of those sliding ones), he tried three times!! Me and my mate suggested that they might want some oil on that thing…and left!! Priceless.

Got to Westminster Bridge (via The Eye – that is some huge piece of engineering), got the gizzits. Then, had my photo taken with the piper bloke, went past Westminster on to St James’ Park, up to Buckingham Palace, down the Mall, hung a right before Admiralty Arch to cut across Horse Guards parade, hung a right again to look through the iron bars of Downing Street. Then back to Westminster Bridge taking time to look at the statue of Boadicea. Great – now, I think I’ve seen just about everything. We’d just got to the other side of the bridge when…..about 200 people on roller-skates/blades came up the road and skated over the bridge!! What? No, really!! I’ve got the pictures to prove it! Anyway, we knew that we had to get a wiggle on as the coach was due to leave the UJC at 4 o’clock – we got there at ten to, just as it pulled up!! What a perfect day!! You can’t teach that.

London is so fantastic – never a dull moment!! Right at this moment I can’t get enough of it – I had such a great time. I would’ve liked to have got my sorry ass to Frith street on Friday but there just wasn’t the time (I would probably have ended up in Chiswick or somewhere anyway). Many thanks, London, for giving me a great weekend.

Isn’t it funny what we all take for granted?