A WEEKEND OF ENTERTAINMENT

No pictures for this one. Last weekend we went to London to see a show "The Producers" which was fabulous. We took the train up early to have a wander around before going to the show at 2.30pm. We walked from Fenchurch Street Station into the city area, past an incredible building known as the Beehive.Then past Lloyds which I think is a most unattractive building. We asked a workman where we could find St Pauls Cathedral, and he obligingly took us along the street to point out exactly where it waas. He was a Bulgarian, and obviously keen to try out his English.

St Pauls was 9 quid to look through, and as we did not have a great deal of time to spare, we decided that we would put a visit there onto the back burner. Took a bus up to The Strand and found Covent Garden which was mass of Market stalls and street entertainers. Jugglers, acrobats and singers aplenty - the atmosphere was terrific. To our surprise we found ourselves looking at the Theatre Royal which was where the show was - which solved the problem of having to look for it!!

We had lunch in an Italian cafe - excellent smoked salmon and a pizza with a "free" glass of wine. On to the show. It was a musical full of comedy and as one would expect, superbly presented. At the interval we went into the bar and paid 6.pounds fifty for a stubby of beer and a can of lemonade - thank God we didn't want champagne.
This part of London is pretty familiar to me as I stayed in a Hotel on the Strand when I first used to go over to London, so despite some reluctance from She Who Must Be Obeyed, we were going in the right direction for Charing Cross station, from where we took the underground.Taking a punt on train times to Laindon (our home station) we stayed on the underground to West Ham arriving to find he C2C train just leaving. But the service is good and we only had to wait 15 minutes for the next one.

Sunday we had free tickets to the movies courtesy of The Times and Landrover as part of a promotion.The cinema where the film waas shown is at Lakeside, a major shopping complex about 20 minutes away from home. This is the third time that we have taken advantage of these offers to have a pre-release showing. The film was about the famous picture of the raising of the American flag by Marines on Iwojima. A bloody and tragic film which had us both a bit shell shocked when it was over.

And so to home and the exciting prospect for Carol of only three days left of the school terms before the Christmas break and our trip to Norway.

And

CANTERBURY

The website for Canterbury indicated that there was a German Christmas Fair being held in that fair City, so with thoughts of our previous experience in Vienna last Christmas, we departed early for the 60 mile trip. The forecast was 2 - 8 degrees so we went well prepared.

Seeking a parking spot in Canterbury we drove around with little success, and then when we stopped at a road junction, happened to notice that there waa steam pouring our from under the bonnet of the faithful old Vectra. An inspection revealed the cap of the reservoir had blown off and was fortunately sitting on the engine, meanwhile the water had disappeared down the street! And of course this was one time that we had not taken the mobile phone with us!! A young man stopped in his car and asked if he could help - then offered his mobile phone which we used to call our Roadside assist from the Insurance company. About 40 minutes later they arrived (having driven from Dover 20 miles away!) and soon had us back in business. Naturally it was Len's fault - he had checked the oil and water before leaving, and after topping up the reservoir had obviously failed to screw the cap back on tight enough to prevent the resultant blowout!

So we found a parking spot (2 quid all day) and trundled off to find our Christmas Fair. Canterbury is a most charming city, a mixture of old and new due in no small part to pretty severe damage inflicted by German tourists in the 1940's using bomb releases instead of Leicas! There was very much a festive air about the place and it was very pleasant to stroll along the streets. We eventually found the fair which consisted of a mere five stalls mainly involved in selling Glewein and German sausages ! Disappointing to say the least.


So we visited the Tourist spot featuring the Canterbury Tales. This was excellent value with a series of dioramas, each one relating a Canterbury Tale.Top photo was taken there and Len is the figure on the left! Then we went to visit the Cathedral,an absolute must. It dates back to the 6th century although it has been rebuilt and added to over the years. It is a bit awesome to stand on the spot where poor old Tom Becket was put to the sword in 1170. And the Western Crypt is almost 1000 years old which adds to the eerie feeling. There was an Evensong Service at 3.15 which the missus wanted to attend, and as I hadn't seen a Pub handy I thought I might as well accompany her. It was very ritualistic with lots of bowing and scraping, but the choir was superb and as my hearing reluctantly failed to catch a single word of the reading, it turned out to be a pleasant experience.

Did a bit of shopping naturally, and savoured a hot glass of Glewein (3 quid a glass!) and then back to the car. Carol drove home, stopping at the first service station to buy some anti freeze to top up the aforementioned reservoir.

TILBURY FORT

Since the early times, England has always been exposed to the threat of invasion. The Romans, then the Vikings and The Dutch (The Dutch??) in the 18th Century they actually made their way up the Medway and caused a considerable amount of havoc and damage before before being repelled.

So it is no suprise that The Thames, that great river which flows into the heart of London, should be a natural target for would be invaders, and consequently the object of much defence.
Tilbury, which is now the enormous port for cargo from around the world, is near the mouth of the Thames, and it was here that a fort was established in the 17th Century. With a commanding view across the extent of the river, it's early fortification consisted of the old canon and ball, which with their limited range and rate of fire, were only just a sufficient deterrent to trespassers. It was taken very seriously, and the powder stores in which dozens of barrels of gunpowder were stored had walls almost three feet thick and copper plated doors to avoid any chance of a spark.

Later developements saw the introduction of more sophisticated weaponry including 9" canons which could hurl a rifled shell some 5 miles. Mind you, it took an officer and five men to load and fire the beasts. Modern times saw the installation of rapid firing anti aircraft guns and 6" naval guns which had total command of the River.

The barracks for the other ranks were originally quite basic, with small rooms containing 4 beds each of which was the berth for two soldiers. It was said that during the colder months, the windows and vents were securely closed giving rise to some ghastly thoughts about the resultant smell from unwashed bodies in close proximity. The officers, of course, had separate and quite elegant quarters, despite which, several of them elected to live at Gravesend across the water where there was more opportunity for entertainment. Such was life in those days.

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