Day 3 - Wednesday 21st March 2007The Boy's Work Experience, London Town
or, Loos of London (the Bog Blog)
Tube from Archway to Tottenham Court Road, coffee in Nero (loo still dreadful), bit of a wander then back to Highgate to defuzz.
This afternoon her Marvelous Majesty Mrs Tudor (my sister-in-law y'know) took me to Muswell Hill, where she was teaching a Pilates class at a rather posh gymnasium (http://www.labspa.co.uk/MUSWELLHILL.html) and had swung me a guest pass. Twas rather nice. I managed to swim a whole 4 lengths before I became in danger of dying of boredom, and had to get out and go and sit in the spa pool for about half an hour to recover. Further restorative work in the steam room and sauna brought me back to full consciousness. I was much amused to see an old girl come in, past the sign that said something like "you MUST shower before entering or you'll be chucked out on the street in your cozzie!", twirl nimbly under the shower (the ends of her hair got wet at least!), dump her towel on a lounger under the sign that said "Please use the hooks for your towels and leave the loungers for people who actually want to sit on them NOW" and swim very, very slowly the wrong way up and down the fast swimming lane!! The changing rooms were lovely, but patrolled by the scariest lady ever. I got comprehensively glared at for not being rich or posh enough. Had a splendid lunch in the cafe there with Mrs T - made the mistake of not being able to decide which of the many salads to have, and ended up with the hugest plate full ever!
Afterwards we headed off for Highgate Village, to have a wander in the cemetery (http://highgate-cemetery.org/index.asp). It's £2 to get in, and a further £1 to take photos - and I was honest and paid up! We saw Old Marxy - his tomb looks like an oversized garden gnome - possibly the tackiest memorial I've ever seen.
I believe this fella is Sisyphus, pushing his boulder eternally up a hill, poor sod. He seemed to have been quite randomly placed, was very small and looked like he was made of poo.
This one took me by surprise!!
Then it all went a bit Tim Burton.....
and I'm relying on Catherine to tell me exactly what font this is.
After a spot of grocery shopping in 'The Village' and a brief rest back at Tudor Towers, with a cappuccino made in Mrs T's magic pod-coffee machine (they have about 12 different types - it took me an age to choose!) with milk from Mrs T's magic milk frothing machine (apparently frothy milk scares Mrs T...), I set off back to TCR to collect The Boy from work.
We went to Red Veg (http://www.redveg.com/) on Dean Street for a scrumptious burger with bbq sauce and fries. Then on to the National Gallery, which is next to Trafalgar Square, to 'do some art'. It is free to get in! On the way we passed this little company's offices.

The Sainsbury's wing in the National Gallery was closed, which was a shame cos they'd got some dead old paintings in that bit, and we needed some bread, but we contented ourselves with a goodly dose of Renaissance art. Wow those pictures are a) massive, b) colourful (even after all these centuries) and c) realistic. The Boy kept having to have a sit down. I think he was a little bit impressed (as well as tired!). We both went to the loo, which was reasonably clean, had a look round the shop and bought some postcards, then headed back to Highgate.

Labels: Highgate Cemetery, London, National Gallery, work experience