Morning at the Museum

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."
Lao Tzu

 Awake early with the sunrise, another glorious day [but then aren't they all?].  No lie-in for me this morning, S and R invited me to join them at a bar in Victoria to watch the Lions game against the All Blacks, not to be missed as the climax to the tour and the decider for the series.

Feel a bit of a nomad as I'm back at the station again for the 07.39 to Kings Cross.  I have the name of the bar and the general location, S said "it's over there in that development" indicating the mess of new buildings as we left the restaurant last night.  So I head in the general direction as my "not so smart" phone attempts to download a local map - no need, I find it, or it finds me - immediately after I pass the building site hoardings.

It's full inside, but not yet heaving as there's still twenty minutes to kick off.  R has seated himself strategically with a view of the entrance to check for my arrival and waves the geriatric across.  Breakfast bap and orange juice arrive soon after, quick catch up with the boys before kick off.  The atmosphere is electric as the match begins, wonderful way to begin the weekend away.  The ebb and flow of the game created so much tension and excitement, my original intention was to leave just after half time when I thought the game would have been decided - no chance.  Cutting it as finely as i could I stayed until 5 minutes before the end, and then reluctantly took my leave to head across to the Natural History Museum.

The whole point of my weekend in London is to visit the Wildlife Photographer of The Year Exhibition at the Natural History Museum, my Christmas present from R and K2.  They've booked tickets for 10.45, so I have to leg it across town to get there on time.  Even with my partial limp from an Achilles tendon injury - we top athletes have to endure these trials - I made it just in time.  Also have a text from S telling me the final score in the game, it's drawn so no change in the score since I left!

The exhibition delivers on all counts, some beautiful black and whites and amazing - and poignant/heartbreaking - colour images.  Should also say there's humour in there too I thought.  It's also very comfortable for moving around in there, the exhibition has been on for several months and it's much quieter and there's space to wander around - perfect for exhibition viewing.  Inspiring stuff and certainly up to the standard of previous exhibitions I've seen, especially the youngsters section.  The weekend gets better and better.  And of course it's now time for food!

S has suggested a look at the extension to the V&A, with our shared interest in buildings he thought I'd find it interesting.  En route we get diverted into the cafe in the museum, which has a good selection of food to suit our different tastes.  Then across the road to the V&A; S was right, it is "interesting" and quite fascinating the way the Engineers have created the cavernous open space within the building envelope with the intriguing courtyard area above.  I decide this is a good place for a meditation and K2 and R wander off to leave me to it.  I come to as the performers are about to start their afternoon entertainment for the kids - of which I'm one as I stand there enjoying an ice cream in the hot afternoon sun while the children shout raucously and cheer on the performers.

We head back to Winchmore Hill, where the N21 festival has taken over the village green and surrounding roads.  The place is jam-packed with stalls, street food hawkers and music.  It's a classic summers day - and I mean hot and sunny, the way they were when I was a kid [of course this isn't true but it sounds better].  Weather was ideal for the event, and we wandered around through the crowds to get the most of it.  As always I head for the jam and preserves stall, I'll come back later to buy some just before we leave.  N has joined us before he heads off to Twickenham for the U2 concert; this is his area and R grew up around here so they enjoy its' success.  But as always my stomach calls and there's plenty of street food on offer, from Caribbean to French and lots in between.  We settle down on the grass with our takeaways and drinks to soak up the atmosphere, and plenty of 70's music from the centre stage [as well as Michael Jackson?].  Then R innocently asks me what I get from Meditation - 20 minutes later he's reeling and in need of another beer.

We do a quick tour of the place again to buy our separate wares, in addition to the jams I also have to buy some hibiscus lemonade from one of the sellers, Bims Kitchen - mainly because he's come all the way from North Wales to participate and he has a bilingual sign [Welsh first of course].  Needless to say it didn't last until my return home, an ideal refreshing drink for me in the hot weather.  Fed and watered we settled down to watch Fantastic Mr Fox, wonderful stuff and I was falling about at Kristofferson meditating...

Days don't get much better than this.