Luxury at last

Yesterday, we delivered the motor home back to the depot near Derby, without drama and caught a train to London where they nearly left us on the train. A cleaner rescued us by phoning through to the customer service staff. The latter were most apologetic - they hadn't been informed by Derby station staff. However, this is the first problem we've had on the rail network - the InterCity trains are exceptional - customer service is far better than Sydney's urban link. However, Sydney is still better than the Tube. We can't catch any trains on the underground, because they have no ramps.

After arriving by taxi (30 pounds from St Pancras) at our hotel in Hammersmith and freshening up, we walked down to the Thames and across the Victorian (1889) Hammersmith Bridge. A beautiful bridge John A - you'd love it.

Then back to King Street Hammersmith for a British Beef Ale pie (delicious) at the pub next to the hotel and early to bed. (I was still looking for the ladder...)

This morning we waited in because Peter - bless his heart - drove up from Horsham with two of our bags. It would have been too difficult to take them up to Derby and back on the train. He stayed for a coffee, and then we caught a No 10 bus to Kensington Gardens, where John wanted to see the Albert Memorial.

Why the Albert Memorial? It is rather gross after all. The very worst of Victorian London taste. However, there is some folklore in John's family that his ancestor Joshua Middleton Moxon (1840-1894), a mason got into trouble for chipping off the nose of Albert and trying to cover it up. The story goes that he was advised to get lost or get into huge trouble with the Palace. So he emigrated to Australia with his wife Louisa and eldest son George. This was 1867. All the research we've done both about the family and about the building of the Albert Memorial suggests that this could have been true, but we've yet to see a written record. So who knows?

After posing for photos and taking some - especially of Albert's nose! - we wandered across Kensington Gardens to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain - very pleasant - and then had some lunch on the banks of the Serpentine in Hyde Park where surprise surprise there was a planter box full of Australian natives.

Then back to our hotel because there is a storm coming. We've been lucky enough to have had a week of sunshine from Southampton, Horsham and up north.