Diving for gold

Illustration from a twelfth century swimming manual. Tom Daly used it as inspiration to win the gold medal in the Tokyo olympics today…

We headed off to London just before 9.30 and were in the cavernous exoskeleton of the British Museum a  little over an hour later. It’s an amazing space. Imagine a jam doughnut inside a hollowed out Victoria sponge with a semi opaque latticework sugar candy shell roof and you’ll begin to get a feel for how tasty it is. 


Following the obligatory coffee we headed off to the fantastic Thomas a Becket exhibition which is full of the most exquisite medieval artefacts. Becket’s martyrdom sparked a whole tourist trade in religious themed relics which lasted until Henry VIII had a hissy fit with the Pope, who was interfering with his serial shagging interests. Stripping the church of power and accumulated wealth kick started a new mercantile culture as the booty got distributed throughout the land, leading directly to the East India Company, privateering, colonies oversees and the industrial revolution. You can’t divorce it from the British character. A unique fusion of bad boy beer swilling, “screw you” attitudes to foreigners, and trading standards whose central tenets were lie, steal and deny laid the foundation of the British Empire. 

At our worst we Brits are a bunch of arseholes either bent on world domination or in a state of permanent denial. That folks is how we got to Brexit …

TSM thought  the Becket exhibition was visually excellent but light on narrative detail but I really liked it. Anyway, afterwards we had a quick look at the Sutton Hoo helmet then hired bicycles and cycled from the British Museum to Camden Market. Lunch was taken in the lovely Mildred’s which is now fully vegan. Brilliant food. Fabulously tasty. My banana blossom tacos were delightful and the fries were to die for. 

Camden market was its usual tacky and insane hot mess but very enjoyable for all that. We split up at that point. Strider went striding, The Dizzle went home to chill. And we walked though St Pancras gardens to Kings Cross, stopping to hydrate and drink beer in Coal Drop Yard. Weather was lovely. A warm and sticky afternoon turned into a warm and sticky evening. 

We found a fantastic bookshop where we bought books and prints of old maps which we will frame and add to our walls. Walked all the way back to Waterloo via Holborn and Aldwych. Had done 18,000 steps by the time we got to the station.

Great day out. Album here https://photos.app.goo.gl/gNDXrZp7N5Prdkfs7