Back From England

Back From England

I have just returned from a long weekend in England. I left Marseilles in sunshine, which continued as we flew above the clouds before descending below them to Heathrow. That was the last I saw of the sun, apart from a brief hour on Monday, until after my return on Wednesday morning. The renowned tupperware lid was fixed firmly over the capital.

Not that it spoiled my enjoyment of my brief stay. I met a friend and my “kids” as planned and spent time with them, had some very good meals including the compulsory fish and chips, very well cooked with thin crisp batter, and more than a few pints of good bitter. I offloaded various delicacies from this part of the world to friends and family and had time to do some shopping for myself before leaving. So it was a good trip.

I think many major cities in Europe have successfully come to grips with the transport problem and London is certainly one of them. Public transport is clean, efficient and inexpensive, with very frequent services and lots of new rolling stock and buses. The new no-cash, card-contact-only payment system speeds things along impressively and the visual and audible reminders of where the bus/tube is headed and the name of the next stop are useful for old dodderers like me who are liable to forget where they have to get off. True there was quite a lot of congestion along the roads but there is not a lot anyone can do about that; the excellence of the public transport system probably keeps road congestion to a minimum anyway by discouraging use of cars unless there is no practical alternative. Having lived in a small village for eight years now I find I've become averse to crowds and, although there were plenty of people everywhere, nowhere I went was oppressivley crowded. Fortunately I didn't have to travel in the rush hour at any time. I must have heard most of the major European and Asian languages spoken during my brief stay so the tourist trade is obviously doing well. Tourist information was abundant, clear and useful everywhere.

I visited the British museum and think I could probably spend a week happily just going round the main museums, all of which currently have free entrance. That can be important because London is definitely expensive. Meals were not too expensive and it was possible to find good value for money but accommodation very definitely was. Before going I searched for a reasonably priced hotel in a fairly central location and had great difficulty finding anything under about £70 (100 euros) a night. It seems that most of the smaller hotels have turned their rooms into dormitories sleeping 4-8 per room, which is fine for young back-packers, but I wanted my own room. For the larger hotels, a price of £150-250 per night seemed to be the norm. In the event I found a hotel in the Earls Court area for my target price that was clean and comfortable if spartan in facilities.

I bought some clothes, since there were sales discounts everywhere, some back bacon, marmite and good cheddar cheese to take back to France and also a 3kg gammon, which seems unobtainable here. I shall soak it in cider for a week and then roast it with cloves and honey, as I used to do every Christmas in England, to have over the holiday period.

The airports need a mention. I could have missed my flight out. I had arranged with friend Daniel to drive to Marignane, leave him with my car to spend the weekend with his son in Marseille and then drive back together on the Tuesday evening. As we approached the airport police cars suddenly appeared and blocked off the entrance. We the had to make a long detour before joining a queue of traffic back past the entrance again; fortunately it was then open and I had time to catch my plane. I presumed there was a security alert of some sort, which didn't actually bother me. Anywhere large numbers of people gather can be a target for terrorists, at any time, and I regard the risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time as a matter of chance, beond my control. What worried the airport security staff though were my (explosive?) goats' cheeses, little crottins. I'd bought cheeses to take to England and they were in my hand luggage. The security staff were very polite and offered to let me return to check-in to have them placed in my hold luggage but were quite firm that they could not travel in the cabin. Their explanation was that soft cheeses, though they could hardly be classed as liquids, were not allowed. That clearly wasn't the case as two large slices of tome were happily passed over. I think the objection must have been to whole cheeses in which something could be hidden, although just how much danger could be presented by a small crottin was beyond me. Finally on airports, having got to Heathrow, checked in and passed through security, I saw a notice showing the estimated time to get to the gate I was leaving from posted as a 20-minutes brisk walk. That is best part of a mile. Even now, let alone if Heathrow is extended as proposed, they need to install a lot, lot more travellators, provide road trains or put travellers through a gym test beforehand to see if they are able to make it. I shall avoid Heathrow until they do so.