There´ll always be an England

So says the old song.  And I´m glad of it.  It´s lovely to be in London again.  Walking in the Royal Parks among a riot of sping bulbs is glorious.  London parks are surely one of her best attractions.  But then so is the Tate Modern, Covent Garden, the V&A, St Paul´s, the Abbey, the Imperial War Museum.  However, something that we´d never seen before in London was the annual Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - and it was a coincidence that we´d planned to be in London on the day of the 2011 race.

L and PJ took us on a walk through their lovely suburb to the Thames - past Fulham Football Club and Craven Cottage - to the river side pub, The Crabtree, where we spent the afternoon leading up to the race start.  The pub overlooks the river between Putney and Hammersmith Bridges - the perfect place to watch the boats race by.  Cambridge were favourite - they´ve won 80 times to Oxford´s 75 wins.  We all studied the crews, and despite Cambridge having a few Australians aboard (including the female cox), our group was divided - 3 for Cambridge and 2 for Oxford. 

We all cheered and yelled as the boats flew by and at the one mile mark, Oxford was ahead of Cambridge.  They were being followed by the large flotilla of speed boats jostling for position on the incoming tide.  The good ol´ dark blues, still ahead at the half way point.  That´s how they continued - ahead by four boat lengths as they crossed the line ahead of the light blues just near the Chiswick Bridge some 15 minutes later.  What a fun afternoon we had.

We wandered back to Homestead Rd for a cosy evening in together, with our delicious Emilio´s picnic dinner for five. 

There´ll always be a boat race on the Thames.

Can you believe that London blue sky?

Spring is in the air.

In fact London is a riot with spring bulbs and blossoms.

Dark blues just ahead.

Big love.

Notting Hill spring.