Today we got a late start and wandered to a neighborhood garden. We watched a pickup cricket game and received valuable instruction from Alex, a classics student and avid cricket fan. With remarkably little explanation he got us to understand the game. The flowers in the park were very nice as well.

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Next we found the Museum of Gardening, purportedly the first such in the world. It is under development and soon to close for two years while executing a major building project. Presently they have little room to display the items and art related to gardening. The museum is housed in a decommissioned church. When remodeled they will have most of their collected art works and historical items displayed. The graveyard has been turned into a very nice small garden. London is full of historical surprises and this garden was no exception. It contained the grave of Admiral William Bligh, better known to some of us as Captain Bligh of the HMS Bounty!

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Finally we met the river and a demonstration for the rights of African peoples. This colorful long parade came down the street and across the Lambeth Bridge singing, chanting, and beating drums. It was all quite orderly and well done. As we turned to walk along the river we heard them on the other side as they marched to Parliament and staged a rally in front of that building. Since Parliament is is session I assume the MP’s got an earful.

Along the river we stopped on some benches for a little afternoon snack and to do some drawing and painting. As you can see in the photo, Big Ben hit 5 o’clock as we passed by.

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I didn’t feel like cooking, so we stopped at a Fullers pub for fish and chips and pints of Fullers ESB.

Paul