Walking Down Memory Lane

 

 

 

Awoke today to partial sun so we went out walking before the weather decided to change. Our flat is close to Tower Bridge and the St. Katherine's Docks so we headed in that direction. If I were to live in London these docks would be an excellent location. They are centrally located but seem far from the city because they are so quiet. Each dock is surrounded by buildings, most of which are residential. The waterside, free from cars, has restaurants and coffee shops connected by pavement and little bridges.

 

 

 

 

At lunch time we met Brian, Carole and Nicolas for lunch at the restaurant on Hampstead Heath. Mike and I went early for a trip down his memory lane. Emerging from Hampstead tube station - the deepest in London - we meandered up the hill and via some quiet backstreets towards one of the highest points of Hampstead Heath where Whitestone Pond sits at the crest of five uphill roads. The pond has sloping ramps at either end, which were there to allow all the horsedrawn wagons of olden times to be walked through to cool down the horses. One of these roads was a major trading route into London from the north in ancient times of highway robbers, and still features a narrow toll station through which modern day traffic has to squeeze in single file, since evolved into a tiny centuries old pub called the Spaniards Inn, where incoming goods or herds of animals were taxed en route to London markets.

 

Hampstead is very picturesque with narrow streets, extremely large and phenomenally expensive beautiful homes, restaurants and boutiques. Off to the side of Hampstead Heath stands 52 Hermitage Lane, the house where Mike's family lived before the extensive gentrification to its modern reincarnation. We walked through the Heath, a very huge area of woodlands and open grass fields with a view back to central London. The ponds, gardens, bridges, bandstand and deer enclosure of Mike's childhood are all still there unchanged, complete with a small zoo and a butterfly house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back we drifted into the Waterstones at Charing Cross. To tempt us Waterstones is nearly as obsequious as Starbucks and we find it difficult to pass by without browsing and buying. Our stack of purchases is ridiculously large. How to get them home is a problem that we can no longer ignore. Tomorrow is the deadline for finding a solution as we are flying home early the following morning!

 

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