Buckingham Palace
…I’d rather be in London than doing anything else. I daydream of taking the tube (subway) to some favorite destination, like The National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Harrod’s or Foyle’s Book store. I admit it, I’m an Anglophile, which is pretty funny because I could not be more genetically un-WASPy. My ancestors were Russian, German and Polish, for heaven’s sake. They were wearing babushkas, not kilts or bowler hats, when Queen Victoria reigned over the Empire! So why this fascination with everything British? I don’t know. Maybe I was British in a previous life. I just know that I am drawn to the culture and the place.
Princess Anne
For one thing, I’m enamored of the Royal Family. I think it started when I was a little girl, because Princess Anne was about my age.And, m give name was Ann, though everyone called me Anni. My parents even got me a coat that was like the one Princess Anne had at age 6 - when I was 5 or 6. I have the pictures to prove it (well, pictures of me, not of the princess, but they told me it was the same coat and they got it in London).
When Princess Diana came on the scene, I was fascinated with her.
Princess Diana
The whole Diana/Charles romance was happening when I met MY future husband. So, we were in love at the same time. I felt a bond with her, especially her initial shyness at being in the spotlight. Then, she morphed into the “glam” girl and I was just enthralled. I followed her pregnancies and the births of Princes William and Harry. I subscribed to People magazine, because it seemed as though she appeared on the cover every other week! I sadly watched the marriage fall to pieces and awoke to devastation the August morning in 1997 to the news that she has been killed in the car wreck with Dodi Fayed. Since Diana’s demise, I’ve refocused my royals-watching on her boys, Charles and Camilla and The Queen. It’s a harmless sport, along with collecting royals memorabilia from a Staffordshire figurine of Queen Victoria to mugs showing Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret as young girls. Princess Elizabeth Mug
Taking High Tea is a fine tradition and I love everything that goes with it: scones, tea sandwiches (water cress is my favorite) and yummy pastries. There is a fancy hotel here in Cincinnati that offers high tea and I go with relish with girl friends annually around Christmas-time. All in all, though, I’d rather be at Harrod’s Tea Room. Harrod’s
Harrod's
Of course, my love of Britain is helped along by the fact that, when we go, we are NOT working and we spoil ourselves. We go to museums (the National Portrait Gallery, Tate, Victoria and Albert, British Museum, etc). One year we even celebrated our love of the BBC’s Sherlock Holme’s series with Jeremy Brett by going to the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221b Baker Street. We also go to the theater — so civilized. We’ve seen Shakespeare and Agatha Christie alike and have never had a bad time.
We have our favorite gourmet store in London, Partridge’s, where one can get smoked salmon and fabulous breads, cheeses, sausages and chocolate. We usually like to stop in the day we are going to the theater and munch on goodies in our rooms so we can get to the show on time.
Partridge's Gloucester Rd.
The cool, rainy climate does not phase us, and we’ve found the Brits are lovely to Americans. We don’t take too many taxi’s (expensive, you know), but when we do, the cabbies are just so nice to us. They must make a good living because most of them have been to America…Florida seems a popular destination. Perhaps to get AWAY from the cool, rainy climate we find charming.
London Taxi
Of course, my favorite genre of novel is the cozy English country-house mystery. Why, heck, I even like English food, like Devonshire Clotted Cream, Shepherds Pie and Steak and Kidney Pudding. The breakfasts at our favorite hotel, the Draycott, are yummy. Croissants, freshly baked, cold meats, cheeses, stewed and fresh fruit, yogurt. I always eat a good breakfast and then seem to walk it off during the day. One time, I even took a pedometer along and my “big” day I walked 14,000 steps. They say everyone should try to walk 10,000 steps each day. Well, I beat that, though, as I recall, we got lost in Hounslow Heath and walked forever trying to find the tube until my feet were ready to fall off.
The architecture in England is also a sight to behold….from the townhouses of London with their charming porticos to Romanesque country churches, to majestic palaces that house some of the Nobles to this day.
London Townhouse
Alas, London is one of the most expensive cities in the world and one cannot justify a trip very often. So, instead I read my British mysteries, buy English and Scottish teas (which I drink from my Harrod’s mugs) and watch re-runs of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers on TV. Then, I save my pennies up for a trip to the the land where I left my heart among the heather, White Cliffs of Dover and the little villages with thatched roofs.
Yes, on any given day I’d rather be in London. Someday, I’ll get back. Someday soon, I hope.
So, I’ll leave you with a poem about Gatwick Airport, London.
GATWICK AIRPORT, LONDON
Mercury supervises from his perch:
Passengers bound for exotic destinations,
Malaga, Dubai, Beijing, Prague.
Nervous flyers belt down a few at 9 a.m.
An 87 year old pensioner mourns
the loss of her shampoo and lemonade
at the heartless security check.
The loudspeaker calls Colin Firth
to meet his wife at the gate.
Businessmen pay no mind,
poring over spreadsheets,
as women crane their necks.
Couples on holiday glom onto
tins of tea and plastic shopping bags
at Harrod’s Duty Free.
“Heavies” lumber down the runway,
by magic, become light as baby’s breath.
