London 2016 Day 7 - The Queens Birthday Party and Belmont Hall Harrow

This day started with rain. When it eased we went to Russell Square Station by tube, only to find that it had started to rain again - too heavy to enjoy a walk outside. So we went to Victoria Station to wait for it to end, but the only walk we were able to take without getting wet was inside the train station. We finally gave up and returned to the flat. On the internet we saw photos of the picnic on the Mall in honour of the Queen's 90th birthday, but it didn't look very cosy with all the people in their raincoats and rain dripping into the food and drinks. We didn't envy them.

In the afternoon it really seemed to get better and even the sun came out a bit, so we tried again. We travelled to Green Park Station with the intention to take a walk from there, but then discovered that in Green Park there was another picnic going on. In the station we met this young couple who obviously had no tube map and got lost, so we helped them.

We wondered where people had these paper crowns from and asked someone. A group of young people overheard the conversation and kindly offered us two spare ones they had. After our return we gave them to our neighbours' 5 and 7 year old daughters and made them very happy ;)

It would have been too good to be true if the rain had finally stopped entirely, but like many other people we had to take shelter in Green Park Station.

When it eased we resumed our walk and left the park, but it soon started again, so we had stand under a roof just outside. There we met this man who when he heard we were from Germany told us that he had worked there as a construction worker in the early 90s when there had been a recession in the UK and no work for him (just a few days before we had met another man on the tube who had told us a very similar story). So inevitably we talked about the referendum and having experienced some benefits of the EU for himself he preferred to stay in.

When the rain stopped we resumed our walk in the direction of Hyde Park and Marble Arch Station.

We took the tube to Harrow-on-the-Hill and walked to Belmont Hall where we attended their Gospel meeting. This time we were also invited to the Wayfinders group which took place afterwards (actually a youth group, but many of those who attended were adults). They worked with this book which I found very useful and ordered it after our return to Germany (nice and easy via the German Amazon website - they even had it in stock). Since then I work through it.

It was around 9 p.m. when we returned to the tube station. On our way we saw these beautiful clouds.

The Fog

I took this photo from our balcony this afternoon after a thunder storm – one of many during the past days. The “tropical” weather is supposed to remain during the weekend, but meanwhile my body got used to it, so I do not suffer much any more.

Talking about health – both Hermann’s and my check-ups today went very well and the doctor found nothing to worry about :)

Long Weekend

I hope you had a lovely weekend! We had a long one – today was a holiday, too, due to Pentecost. I have been creative, as you can see *s*, despite a nasty headache. However, I hate to just sit there and do nothing, so I’d rather see what I can do even with an aching head. Of course, these are only things which do not require too much concentration. Today my headache is almost gone, so my spirits are high again. The weather was nice and Hermann even had time to go for a walk with me. We went to the sports centre of our little town – okay, nothing really remarkable, tennis courts, soccer fields, etc. but nonetheless it had been new for me as I had never been there before. Well, I enjoyed the walk with Hermann as unfortunately this does not happen too often, as he has got so much work to do. No reason to complain, though, as he is a free-lancer and if he hasn’t got work there is no money coming in. Therefore we have to be thankful for this!