Not quite a washout
Aug. 6th, 2023 06:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anefYesterday it rained. It was a day when coincidentally I had arranged to do two things in London. In the morning my Italian class was going to the Design Museum to see some Italian design (coffee machines, vespas, tower blocks etc), and separately M and I had booked a Myth Walk in London in the afternoon with T (a wander round statues, monuments and Roman-influenced architecture in central London). There were only two problems: the first, a very wet weather forecast; the second, a not quite a train strike. Trains would be working, but not normally.
We decided to go anyway. M gave the Design Museum a miss as he is not a morning person, and had been round it recently anyway. I met my classmates (and a couple of their Italian other halves) as planned at the station, and we got on a train. It had already started raining, so we were a little damp. Although we were on the platform when the train arrived we were so busy nattering (Italians, what can you do!) that it had already started to fill up and we couldn't all sit together. I was in a group of four seats with S (a Lithuanian) and her husband M (an Italian) and my teacher A-M. S speaks very fluent Italian due to her in-laws, and M, of course was a native. Unfortunately he speaks Bloke Italian, which involves a bit of slurring, with the result that I could only understand about half of what he was saying. Nevertheless I enjoyed listening to them and managed to interject a few remarks.
The train arrived late in London, and then the Tube also had delays, with the result that we got to the Museum about an hour later than expected. Of course the first thing we had to do was sit down and have a coffee. I have to say (as someone who is trying not to eat dairy, and has also given up coffee), I love the D-M's cafe. It is small, but does dairy-free Danish pastries, which are indistinguishable from the real thing, and a truly delicious turmeric latte. By now it was just after 1 pm, and although the trip to Trafalgar Square should only have taken half an hour, I wanted to leave plenty of time. I said goodbye and left without actually seeing any Italian design.
I managed to get out of the D-M by 1:15 pm and headed off to Earl's Court tube station. The trains were still erratic, and crammed with people (I was pretty much the only person wearing a face mask), but I made it to the rendezvous with T only 10 minutes late. I had texted him so they had waited for me. Meanwhile I received a text from M to say that he had not been able to get on a train that would get him to London in time, so he would not be there.
We had a pleasant couple of hours wandering along the Thames and up towards Covent Garden. T pointed out many interesting Roman-influenced bits of design. We were just about by Cleopatra's Needle when it began to pour again. I climbed into my waterproof trousers and put a cover over my backpack, and on we went. By the time we got to Somerset House it had more or less stopped, and we headed back down towards the Embankment. The walk ended at Blackfriars, from where I expected to get a Thameslink train directly home. I didn't, due to the industrial action, but I got a tube to King's Cross and there was a train home in ten minutes' time. Fortunately it was much less crowded.
I had a good time, and felt that I had given my wet weather gear a good try out. I was well protected from head to foot (thanks, Rohan clothes and Ecco walking shoes!). The backpack cover was a bit less effective, it was actually designed for my cycle bag and was a bit too big and kept slipping down, but still helped.
I'm glad that I went, but I'm sorry that I missed going round the D-M with the class. I have fond memories of last year's field trip, but clearly fate was against it this time. (I blame the Government!)
We decided to go anyway. M gave the Design Museum a miss as he is not a morning person, and had been round it recently anyway. I met my classmates (and a couple of their Italian other halves) as planned at the station, and we got on a train. It had already started raining, so we were a little damp. Although we were on the platform when the train arrived we were so busy nattering (Italians, what can you do!) that it had already started to fill up and we couldn't all sit together. I was in a group of four seats with S (a Lithuanian) and her husband M (an Italian) and my teacher A-M. S speaks very fluent Italian due to her in-laws, and M, of course was a native. Unfortunately he speaks Bloke Italian, which involves a bit of slurring, with the result that I could only understand about half of what he was saying. Nevertheless I enjoyed listening to them and managed to interject a few remarks.
The train arrived late in London, and then the Tube also had delays, with the result that we got to the Museum about an hour later than expected. Of course the first thing we had to do was sit down and have a coffee. I have to say (as someone who is trying not to eat dairy, and has also given up coffee), I love the D-M's cafe. It is small, but does dairy-free Danish pastries, which are indistinguishable from the real thing, and a truly delicious turmeric latte. By now it was just after 1 pm, and although the trip to Trafalgar Square should only have taken half an hour, I wanted to leave plenty of time. I said goodbye and left without actually seeing any Italian design.
I managed to get out of the D-M by 1:15 pm and headed off to Earl's Court tube station. The trains were still erratic, and crammed with people (I was pretty much the only person wearing a face mask), but I made it to the rendezvous with T only 10 minutes late. I had texted him so they had waited for me. Meanwhile I received a text from M to say that he had not been able to get on a train that would get him to London in time, so he would not be there.
We had a pleasant couple of hours wandering along the Thames and up towards Covent Garden. T pointed out many interesting Roman-influenced bits of design. We were just about by Cleopatra's Needle when it began to pour again. I climbed into my waterproof trousers and put a cover over my backpack, and on we went. By the time we got to Somerset House it had more or less stopped, and we headed back down towards the Embankment. The walk ended at Blackfriars, from where I expected to get a Thameslink train directly home. I didn't, due to the industrial action, but I got a tube to King's Cross and there was a train home in ten minutes' time. Fortunately it was much less crowded.
I had a good time, and felt that I had given my wet weather gear a good try out. I was well protected from head to foot (thanks, Rohan clothes and Ecco walking shoes!). The backpack cover was a bit less effective, it was actually designed for my cycle bag and was a bit too big and kept slipping down, but still helped.
I'm glad that I went, but I'm sorry that I missed going round the D-M with the class. I have fond memories of last year's field trip, but clearly fate was against it this time. (I blame the Government!)
