Home from our Copenhagen getaway and we got straight into booking another adventure. In April 2016, we are now booked in to cruise around Ireland with Nola and Stacey (Brendan’s mum and sister) in a campervan.
On Tuesday Roslyn turned our bedroom into her boardroom on a work-from-home day. Pushing paper in her pyjamas so to speak. She gets to do this every Tuesday, because London & Partners is a dynamic, switched-on 21st century company! More companies should do this.
Thursday was Guy Fawkes Day and to understand the significance of this, a brief history lesson is required. Back in the early 1600’s, there had been decades of tension and violence between Catholics and Protestants. Catholicism at this time was widely disapproved of and persecuted, and when King James I took the throne, the Catholics had hope that things would change because his wife was a Catholic. Under pressure from his advisors, nothing really improved and discontent amongst Catholics grew. A group of plotters, including Guy Fawkes, conspired together to blow up parliament on 5th November 1605. They had rented a basement storeroom underneath the House of Lords and loaded it up with gunpowder. On the 4th November an anonymous tip off letter was received that sparked a search of parliament, and the subsequent discovery of Guy Fawkes with the gunpowder. He and the other co-conspirators were either killed, or arrested and later executed. Ever since then, the 5th November has been known as Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night/Firework Night.
On this same evening, the 410th anniversary, Roslyn had a dinner at St James’s Palace, the host of which was Prince Andrew. Notably, part of St James’s Palace is the London residence for Prince Charles.
At nearby Trafalgar Square, the Million Mask March was taking place, where anti-establishment protesters don Guy Fawkes masks. This peaceful protest descended into chaos when some of the rioters strayed from the agreed route, making their way near Buckingham Palace, and hurling fireworks and flares. Police and their horses were also targeted; lasers shone into their eyes and by the end of the night a police car had been torched. Due to the close proximity of St James’s Palace to all of this madness, the Palace was placed into lockdown for 2 hours meaning Roslyn was stuck.
In lieu of fireworks on Thursday, we attended Battersea Park Bonfire Night on Saturday. Despite being cold and rainy throughout the day, at night the temperature was mild and the weather dry. The earlier wet weather and influx of people did however mean the grounds were very muddy and slippery, not ideal conditions for trying to navigate in the darkness.
We indulged in a traditional British afternoon tea for the first time on Sunday afternoon. The Dorchester is a 5 star luxury hotel on Park Lane (if you knowledgeable on Monopoly, you’ll remember that Park Lane is the second most expensive property on the board). If familiarity with the Monopoly board isn’t your strong point, perhaps the cars parked outside could provide more of an insight into the calibre of this establishment. High-end luxury cars in this part of London are a common sight and today’s line-up at the Dorchester forecourt included a super rare and super expensive brown Bugatti along with an equally impressive yellow McLaren. Inside, the hotel exudes traditional opulence.
The process of afternoon tea at the Dorchester ran like this. The menu was delivered, we selected our tea from their special selection and a pot of it was returned shortly after. Finger sandwiches were served, cucumber with cream cheese, egg mayonnaise, chicken with wholegrain mustard mayonnaise, smoked salmon, and roast beef. Pear compote with chocolate ganache and white chocolate followed as a palate cleaner. Next came warm raisin and plain scones, accompanied by homemade strawberry jam, a seasonal plum and citrus jam and Cornish clotted cream. And the finale, a selection of pastries comprised of chocolate brownie with banana and lime, quince and guava tart, chocolate hazelnut and elderflower slice, and a mango and meringue tart. In all, simply divine dahr-ling.
Highlights for the week:
- Booked our Ireland trip with Brendan’s family for April 2016
- Roslyn coordinated a dinner at St James’s Palace
- Rioters resulted in a lock-down of the Palace
- Bonfire Night at Battersea Park
- Drank hot mulled wine
- 5 star Dorchester Hotel for afternoon tea
- Saw a Bugatti and McLaren parked alongside each other
- Oxford Street Christmas lights
No comments:
Post a Comment