Saturday morning dawned. Bright and cold. One of our party had had the foresight to book a tour for the three of us at The Houses of Parliament. This would be from two o’clock that afternoon.
It was good weather for walking and we felt like a walk, so the question was asked: how long would it take to walk from Tulse Hill to Parliament Square? We had no idea, but a quick check on the Transport for London web site www.tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey revealed it would take 1hr 30mins. A bit longer than we wanted but we set off thinking there would be plenty of buses en route when we had walked enough. In the event we enjoyed the walk, seeing above ground gives a better perspective on distance and on how places relate to each other, as opposed to taking the tube. We ended up walking the whole way, via Vauxhall Bridge. It took a lot longer than an 1hr 30mins but we didn’t mind, and we did stop off at the Tate Gallery (Tate Britain) to use the toilet.
That wasn’t the only stop off en route. It was a bright, sunny day, but cold,. So much so that the two follically challenged members of the group had to stop off in Brixton to buy emergency woolly hats. And then there was the coffee shop…
At the appointed time you queue up outside the Houses of Parliament to go through security checks which are very similar to those at an airport. The queue you are in looks like this:
You get a pass to wear around your neck and are given an audio headset. You can then set off on the tour of the various halls, corridors, and chambers of the Houses of Parliament with the audio instructing you where to go next and telling you of some very interesting historical events relating to the development of Parliament as an institution and its buildings along the way. It was absolutely fascinating. It was possible to walk right into the chambers of both the Lords and the Commons and walk around the benches and the table where the despatch box is situated quite freely. Think of all those occasions when you have seen the PM on TV speaking in the Commons: you can stand on that very spot!
It was well worth doing and if you do ever do it, I would recommend the Afternoon Tea on the Terrace afterwards as an extra. It’s held in a marquee, for obvious reasons. It’s a set menu, this is just the explanatory booklet:
This was us at our table:
And this was the view we had from our table:
And then you get to walk on the terrace afterwards:
Very many thanks to Hardie in the centre of the picture for organising all this for us. It was one of those very memorable things I may never have thought to do myself, but so glad at the time to have done it, and even more so now, with hindsight.
After this, we hadn’t had enough walking (!!!) so we walked up into the West End to see if there was a theatre production we fancied with available tickets at 6pm on a Saturday evening. What could possibly go wrong?!
Slotted Spoon. Update 3.
I think we’ve all got a bit fed up with this blummin spoon story now, haven’t we??
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Next Up; Disco Rickshaw.
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