Hotting up in Hammersmith

Enjoying the heat, the air heavy with the scent of flowers and Joanna and Ben's excellent company. Hammersmith is the place to be: on the Thames Path, Georgian streetscapes, lots of greenspace (largely thanks to the  generous Duke hiving off some of his enormous Chiswick estate, but who needs a weekender in London when your main abode is Chatwsworth) and beautiful gardens and lots. Of opportunity to forage on public land (this morning we came home with apples, blackberries and a bunch of wildflowers).

Ben has made their garden at the back of their ground floor flat into an oasis….much in need particularly after yesterday's news..,

The Conservative party's lurch further right has left the country in shock, especially with the news that Nigel and Donald are cooking up a scheme to stage a coup (just when you .think things cannot get any worse!).

Yesterday I caught the train to Portsmouth (the trains were in a shamb!es with delays,cancelled services and signal failures with thousands filling the trains and stations in the heat... the Brits have the patience of saints, I seemed to be the only one who was cranky, especially as the 2 hour trip cost 30x what it would at home)..,so I finally got to see The Mary Rose in all it's glory after a nearly 40 year project of archaeological excavation (a lot of it underwater) in it's new purpose built museum. The 9,000 artifacts and genetic testing on remains are used to great effect to tell the personal stories of some of the nearly 500 who lost their lives when it sank 450 years ago.

Tomorrow I go to Newcastle Upon Tyne to visit my Geordie (committed to socialist and Corbanite )friend Mish...hope the trains are back on track!

Keep Manning the barricades!!

Kath xo xo