Out and about in England

Well, it is day 3 in England and this is the first opportunity I have had to sit down and use a computer. I am staying with Auntie Frances, Mark's aunt, who apparently is called Auntie Far by all who are near and dear, and she is wonderful. She lives right near Brixton Prison and she owns the town. Everyone around knows her, from her neighbours to the guys manning the shops, and she is very good to me. She takes me around, introduces me to all sorts of wonderful people and arranges good things for me to do. We arrived in Brixton after a £70 taxi ride from Gatwick on Saturday around 3, and she had not slept at all (or maybe only an hour of the flight.) I slept the entire time, excluding when meals and drinks came around. On our first day here we just settled back into her apartment, set off for supper, came back because she forgot her bus pass, set off again, came back because it was forgotten again, then finally didn't even use the pass because we walked to a pub about 15 minutes away. After dinner we just walked home, bathed, read and went to bed. Francis called about every person in her address book to let them know we were back. The next day we went to Euston station where I caught a train to Northampton to attend the Althorp Literary festival. At the station in Northampton Susan, Mark's cousin, picked me up and we drove through the town to Althorp. Here Susan works and organized the literary festival, which was quite impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed. The first lecture I went to was given by two women, each of whom had written a book on a royal mistress. Not a subject I have been familiar with, I found it quite entertaining and interesting. It seems that it was quite expected for a King to have a mistress, although it was frowned upon by the Church and often led to many problems for the mistress and even sometimes the King. Anyway, the two tales were quite contrasting, the first of Katherine Swynford and the second of Henrietta. Katherine it seems had quite a loving relationship with John of Gaunt, and through marriages to other people they always loved each other, and after struggling with public opinion and disgrace, the two were finally married and their children legitimized. Henrietta was simply a mistress of necessity, and as a great intellect had what seems to be quite a boring affair with the Prince of Wales. She decided to leave court after two decades of it dragging on and didn't regret her choice or her new found freedom. Anyway, thats probably rather boring to all of you who weren't there! The second lecture was by Lord Spencer, who talked about Althorp, his family and his life. He was warm and personable: a pleasure to listen to.
So, it took me forever to get back from Northampton to London, and even longer to eat that night. Frances insisted that we couldn't go in a restaurant with few people in it, but all the restaurants were empty so I insisted that she settle. We ate Thai in a completely empty place, where the food was good. There had been a fire in a tire shop (or tyre as the Brits spell it) and the road had been closed off. All busses had been diverted and we couldn't even walk down. This was because they were afraid the containers in the shop may be unstable. This may explain the lack of restaurant-goers, or the fact that it was 11 by the time we were leaving.
Today, we met up with Juliet, Frances' neice, and her little boy Oliver. The day was spent walking around London. Juliet used to work for the current Chancellor, who was then a minister (I think). So she knew all about the Parliament buildings and all the churches in the area. We went in Westminster, then walked around the Parliament buildings, had lunch in the park (where apparently whoever asks for the table is the one who all the questions are directed to: ''Do you want anything to drink?'' ''Are you ready to order?'' ''Do you want more bread?'') Afterwards we just walked through Trafalgar Square and went in St. Martins-in-the-Fields. Then I was left alone and went to the National Gallery. Now I am just wandering the streets and will soon return to Brixton. I am still feeling tired, presumably from the flight, and I have a bit of a cold/hayfever. Also, I suppose it is a good idea to conserve my energy for when Talia and Lauren meet up with me on Wednesday, for I'm sure they will be running around like crazy people taking pictures and seeing every possible sight there is. So until next time...
Cheerio!