Friday, October 19: Horse Guards and High Tea

After the disappointment of obstructed view at Buckingham Palace I decided to take the boys to the changing of the Horse Guard. It is a simpler ceremony but since it is less popular you can see absolutely everything. The only rough spot was the twenty minutes of five horse guards simply staring at one another across the short ring in the parade ground while the other half of the contingent switches places inside the building. Needless to say there was much shuffling of feet. I did get to explain what was going on to two German families though. It was a wild guess on my part, but in the end turned out to be accurate so I'm either supremely logical or just lucky.

I videotaped much of the change, albeit not the staring at one another, while Colin photographed it. He got about five absolutely brilliant shots and 50 of the sky, my nostrils, Liam's crotch, pidgeons, etc. I am sorry to report that I deleted most of them so they are not in the Facebook albums. I didn't really think anyone would be interested in the state of my armpit or the condition of the gravel on the parade ground. Not even our own family in posterity.

After the changing of the guard I gave the boys the option of going to a souvenir shop or back to the playground at St. James's Park. Colin surprised me by picking the playground. I told them I would take them out to lunch after the playground, but then ended up enticing them out of there with hot dogs from the kiosk canteen. Much more economical!

As I've mentioned, London is incredibly tourist friendly in terms of public transportation, accessibility of toilets and signage. May I suggest to the Lord Mayor that he invest in a few more rubbish bins? I understand completely why you don't want them right near Buckingham Palace. But give me a good reason why they aren't located more conveniently elsewhere.

We spent the early part of the afternoon relaxing in the flat until Jamie came home. They knock off early on Fridays so I had made a reservation at the Crowne Plaza St. James for high tea. My nightmares of being kicked out of the place (literally dreamed this the night before) were unfounded. We dressed up the boys with minimal fuss and were beyond deighted to be escorted to a small private room already set up beautifully for the training of young gentlemen who haven't quite gotten there yet. I hadn't even warned the staff that our party of four would include two minors. The set up was perfect!

Liam and Colin were gobsmacked. This made their previous "teas" with mom look rather pale by comparison. Jamie and I got to relax totally as we were away from public view...but of course the boys behaved fantastic without an audience. As we were leaving Liam turned to the tea room manager and said, "Thank you, the service was exquisite!" Makes a mum proud.

Jamie has had limited opportunity to explore the city over the course of his six trips so I took the boys back over to the St. James playground and walked with Jamie up to see Buckingham Palace. It was nice to be able to take him through the park and down to the Horse Guards parade ground, stopping for a glass of wine at the cake house in the middle of the park. The temperature was a bit on the cold side, but the weather was clear and the late afternoon sun cast lovely shadows. Jamie was amazed at all the flowers still in bloom. Come to think of it, so are the English. I guided the family past the Defense Ministry and across Downing Street to the Westminster Underground station. Thus ending Jamie's precious few hours of London site seeing. I gather the view from One Canada Square (tallest building in England), just isn't the same as being in the streets.

Two comments about the children:

1. Liam was embarassed by all the people, including us, having photos taken with the Horse Guards, i.e House Cavalry. He felt is disrespectful. Okay fine.

2. The English are enamored of Colin and seem to really enjoy his enthusiasm and energy. I suspect he is right on the cusp of leaving childhood cuteness behind. If he looked any older they'd probably be scorning his obnoxious behavior. As it is, he seems to be a source of great amusement. Especially his endless questions. I reallly should have been writing them down. On the train ride to high tea I thought a smartly dressed man obviously on his way home from work was going to split a gut trying to hold in the laughter as Colin grilled me. He whispered "good luck" to me as he got off the train.



Tomorrow we head out to the country. I am so excited to spend a weekend in the midlands away from the city.