London on an April Sunday Pt. 8 and more

A little more in the garden this week to add to the roses and

talking of roses, we have had so much torrential rain this week

that they are all feeling sorry for themselves.

Heads so heavy with water some falling off

buds so sodden they are turning brown

Yes we are in a drought situation here but.........

I am away for a week from tomorrow (Saturday)

staying in a cottage (well it is an old village school) in Somerset

Here I am with a new laptop and there is NO Wi-fi !!!!!!

Here was I planning to post and visit blogs in the evenings!

Ready for the break, life has been hectic

I did not get to post on Pilgrims Hall Open Day nor

our church participation in the Global Day of Prayer but both went extremely well

Wednesday of this week I had emergency dental surgery and am still trusting that the debilitating pain I have/am experiencing will ease in order for me to enjoy my holiday even though I am finding eating difficult at the moment.

So for now a little in  the garden before some more on London

Fifteen Lavender bushes in flower at the moment - delightful

I'll now love you and leave you with a few of the many statutes of famous people found in London

I am scheduling a couple of posts on London to publish while I am away

BODICEA

Sir Winston Churchill

Oliver Cromwell

Richard the Lion Heart

King Richard 1st

King George Fifth

Abraham Lincoln

Life and Innocence in Death and This Week's Garden

Had a beautiful telephone call today from our dear little Grandson Oliver.

Our dearest and most long standing friend Alan passed away last night having battled since late last year with lung cancer.

The innocence of 4 year old Oliver's concern touched me in a profound way when he began to ask me questions.

"Did 'Uncle' Alan die Grandma?"

"Was he by himself?"

"Did he go to sleep?"

"Did he go to see Jesus?"

"Did he go by himself?"

The innocence and concern in his voice brought tears to my eyes.

Alan was a lovely Christian man who spent much of his retirement years helping others, particularly elderly folk in his neighbourhood and he will be sadly missed.

The number of people who visited him,some travelling long distances, amazed him and we kept telling him that he was reaping what he had sown.

He will be very much missed by Alan and I as we have known  him and his wife Joan for almost 40 years.

We had the kind of friendship where we could be 100% honest with each other and be totally ourselves. As a foursome we have been there for each other throughout joyous and difficult times, sharing our faith as well as having fun.

We always remember in the 1970's when our daughter was a young child.

We were at an open air meeting in the park and Jane had won a fancy dress competition. The compère on the platform asked Jane if she had a boy friend. She said yes and pointed to our friend Alan who being the gentle man that he was had to stand up in front of a very large audience with a very red face.

It has been a privilege to know this man and particularly in recent weeks.

In pain, on oxygen, barely able to speak or swallow and having his lungs constantly drained, the weaker he became (and often not expecting him to get through the night) the stronger he became in spirit. 

He prayed for people who visited, prophesied over his town and people and prayed for everyone of his grandchildren individually.

One grand daughter who did not come from a Christian home asked for a Bible which she read  to him and left with a desire to know more about this God her Grand father knew.

He said he had a glimpse of heaven and was waiting for the door to open.

I'll finish this tribute with scenes from my garden this week

which is my little glimpse of heaven for the moment.

London on an April Sunday Pt. 7

 Well I did say in my last post that we would walk up 

The Strand

As it happens I will be showing you some views on The Strand

but not in  the right order.

Using blogger's  facility to upload photos in one go has not worked for me today. They are not in the order that I uploaded and I do not want to start again.

At this point we have parked the car in the morning and come into the grounds of Somerset House (where all records are kept) 

to enjoy a coffee before we begin our day

We finished here at the end of the day too enjoying afternoon tea.

The teatime photos can be seen later on in this post

There are two good restaurants in the main buildings, one overlooking The Thames but these are not open on Sundays

Cou*tt's the royal jewellers

A little of theatreland

The Savoy Hotel

the only time I have been in here was to have supper with American friends after the theatre.

My husband and another male member of our party were not wearing a suit jacket so had to wear the hotel's red jackets.

Red of course to make sure one did not walk out with them

Wished I had my camera with me that night

A well known gentleman's club now used as a restaurant

Strand Palace Hotel

More of theatre land  

Afternoon tea

I had Lavender cake and Alan had 

his usual Carrot cake

The Royal Courts of Justice

St. Paul's Cathedral in the background

So as you can see The Strand has a lot of variation 

and much more than I have shown you

The Whittard of Chelsea teashop I will keep for a separate post 

Still a lot more to post on this one day in April

London on an April Sunday Pt. 6

Here we have some of London's 'Freeze Artists'

They are usually students earning some extra cash

Filled my pocket full of coins and dropped some in each pot

in order to take a photograph

How they stand still for so long I do not know

It would also be interesting to know how long it takes them to

get ready

Must take forever to remove the body paint too 

Double click a couple of times for detail

and London scenes

This one was clever as the tiny model mimicked the artist

Darth Raider believed me when I said I was frightened!

He said, 'It's ok there is no need to be!

This one was weird and a bit disconcerting

Looked like a monkey but it was the head of a man

obviously sitting inside a box

Life seems to have taken over big time recently

and there has not been much time for blogging

Hope to remedy that soon