The UK, in common with much of the Northern hemisphere, has had a scorcher of a Summer. Well, we seem to have fixed that. First rain in months today. I guess it makes the transition from NZ Winter a bit easier. There are still plenty of tourists around though. We are staying at The Lansdowne Club, which has reciprocal rights with the club Simon belongs to in Wellington. It’s got loads of character, much more interesting than an anonymous holiday inn or similar, even if we do have to put on good clothes just to have breakfast (rather a strict dress code, don’t you know). The club was started in the 30’s so there’s an Art Deco vibe to the place which is quite appealing. We had a very pleasant first evening at the local pub, the Running Footman, but even so, jet lag meant I was up at the crack of dawn, and so I went and had a swim at the hotel pool. There were three elderly men there ahead of me, all far more proficient swimmers than I am. There was I , doing a very mundane and sedate breast stroke, and these blokes were powering down their lanes doing a medley of all sorts of strokes including the incredibly awkward butterfly, which must be just about the most stupid swimming stroke it would be possible to envision. They looked to be quite an upper class bunch. Retired captains of industry, that sort of thing. Although I could imagine James Bond in their place, if he ever made it to retirement age and wasn’t killed by some agent of the KGB or SMERSH , or an angry husband or similar.
After breakfast we went shopping. I was trying to find a pair of sandals at once intensely practical and not blister forming, but also rather attractive and chic. I had as much luck as I ever do in NZ, and we eventually gave up and took the train to Cambridge.
When we got on the train, there was a young couple in our compartment having a very loud and quite personal argument. Well, he was arguing, she was just trying to get him to calm down and shut up. Everyone else was just sitting there, looking painfully embarrassed and very English, until Simon got up and just went and sat down next to them. The young man was horrified, and they cleared off smartish. One up to the Antipodeans.