"They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace, Christopher Robin went down with Alice"

I believed A.A. Milne but when I arrived at Buckingham Palace, there was no Christopher Robin and no Alice! My walk down to the Palace though was weird, I kept seeing all these names of places I had been building little green houses and red hotels on for years! Of course there was no "Molly Carlile Hotel" on Regent Street, Oxford Street, Pall Mall or the Strand.......so no collection of rent, no pass "Go" and collect $200 (bummer, I could do with it!) It's just extraordinary to walk around and look up at these street names I have known since I was a child and see them in reality. I walked for miles today (in fact am absolutely exhausted), to Temple complex, along Victoria Embankment, to Whitehall, past 10 Downing Street and on up to Parliament Square via St James Park. I also went to the museum of my benefactor, Winston Churchill and visited the Cabinet War Rooms. The Churchill Museum is spectacular and the War Rooms really give you a feel for what it must have been like stuck down there under "the slab" scouring over maps and planning strategy while bombs rained down on the city. It all gives you a really good insight into Winston the man, I must say there are a number of really funny quotes included in the exhibition, so I gather he was a bit of "stirrer" in his few moments of respite. After spending quite some time with Winston, I headed off up Birdcage Walk to Queen Victoria Monument and Buckingham Palace. By this time, I must admit, I was a bit weary (hence why I may have missed seeing CR and Alice), however was soon shaken from my "tracked out" state, by a lovely young guy from Belgium who was with a group of friends and their teacher. He asked me if I would put on a hat they had made and have my photo taken in front of the monument.......it was part of their media course. "Sure" I said, then asked them what it was about. They laughed and then told me that they had to make a "Queenly" hat and then convince some passerby to put it on for a photo! I WONDER WHY THEY PICKED ME????? Maybe he saw my previous effort on the Blog and thought I was impressive? Seriously, this whole getting dressed up like the Queen thing is getting a bit scary! I agreed to do it (cause I'm a nice accommodating sort of person, (plus I don't think they understood a word I said,so there was not point arguing) but a note to all.........this is my "swan song", I won't be dressing up in any sort of royal regalia at any time in the future! I have officially retired from impersonations of any kind (for the time being anyway).

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. From Buckingham Palace, back down The Mall to Admiralty Arch, past Nelson's Column (which seemed to be following me all day), past the Coliseum, St Martin in the Fields (where they often do "Songs of Praise"....bet you wonder how I know that?!) and then to Covent Garden (in keeping with my fixation with Charles Dickens, by this stage I found myself humming, "ya gotta pick a pocket or two boys" alternating with "feed the birds, tuppence a bag"...........) a bizzare mix I'll give you that! To truly get into the spirit of things, for some reason I started calling everybody "luv", amazing the impact of childhood stereotypes, when you want to feel like you belong somewhere. By this stage my feet were blistered, I was tired and hungry, so what better way to get the energy to make it back to Bloomsbury, but to stop at a pub and have a nice cold lemonade???!!! I don't remember much about the walk back as I was so tired I just marched all the way back to the hotel (of course stopping to look at Freemason's Hall on the way). I collapsed into bed with my head full of pictures and sounds and my camera groaning with the volume of photos saved in the memory card and that was my first full day in London.

Don't think it's all just fun and frolicks though.......I did work today, for as Eliza Doolittle would say, "I'm a good girl I am!", but I'll tell you all about that in the next entry as it's been another full on day and I'm ready to "hit the hay", but before I go, the wonderful Jane Fennessy from Blue Vapours has added a comment option to the Blog, so for those of you who don't have time to send me an email, you can simply leave me a note in the comment box (be mindful I can choose whether to delete it or not, so be nice!)