The day our combined ages reached three figures

We’d had a very successful and busy day in London to celebrate the Technomage’s 50th in July so decided to do the same-but-different for mine on Tuesday. We’ve been in London off and on for more than 25 years but there are still countless interesting places we’ve never been to and things we’ve never done, so these two days have been a good opportunity to tick a few off the list.

After pressie-opening, both days started with breakfast at a venue of local (Stratford) interest. For his, we’d been to the View Tube overlooking the Olympics. In my case, we took the opportunity to have a first look at the new Westfield Centre – we arrived there via the original run-down Stratford centre, so it was quite a contrast.


As big shopping centres go, I did like the feel Westfield, although there aren’t really all that many of the 300 or so shops that I can imagine using – I’m sure I’ll still continue shopping more in Poundland, Tiger Stores etc in the old centre! We didn’t have time to go into any of the new shops yesterday, but I am looking forward to checking out Lakeland, Paperchase, Lego, M&S, Waitrose and John Lewis at least.

Our next destination was the London Canal Museum near King’s Cross/St Pancras. We’d realised that this also gave us the opportunity to catch a high-speed train from Stratford not-International station. We’d hoped our first trip from there would have been a direct train to Paris but there doesn’t seem any chance of international trains at present, despite the best efforts of our mayor, Sir Robin Wales. The train to St Pancras was expensive at £5.40 each, but the return fare (£7.30 I think) isn’t so bad - it’s £5 off-peak on the tube, which takes 25 mins instead of six!

The canal museum was great – and a doubly appropriate place for the day.


Like our house, it has an icehouse, and my 21st party was on a canal boat. Lots of interesting information and exhibits covering both canals and the commercial ice trade made for a very enjoyable morning.(In July, the museum we visited was the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green – we thought this too was highly appropriate for a 50th).

A walk along the canal tow path to Camden Lock highlighted the contrasts in even a small area of London. These two photos were taken from exactly the same spot...




There’s a huge amount of development going on around King’s Cross, yet a few yards away there’s quiet water and masses of greenery. I don’t recall ever walking along the canal tow path before – it’s a wonderful escape from the busy London that’s only yards away.

The boat trip on the Jenny Wren proved to be the ideal way of spending a relaxing afternoon (very important to relax at my age...).


The trip lasted about 1.5 hours and took us down the Regent’s Canal, through the Zoo and to Little Venice, and back. Other points of interest included the Blow Up Bridge, which we'd read about that morning at the museum.


It was rebuilt after being destroyed when a boat-load of gunpowder blew up in 1874, killing three people. The museum had an excellent illustration of the tragedy on the cover of the Illustrated London News. More about it here, as part of a lesson plan on the London Canal Museum site, and here in an article by Richard Hill in Canals & Rivers magazine.

There were only two other people on the Jenny Wren, which seemed a shame – though I suppose it is late in the season. (We do have a bit of form in being virtually alone on boat trips – we were once among only half a dozen on an evening cruise on a Hong Kong ferry that would hold hundreds – it did mean that we got plenty of the free beer though!)

Afternoon tea was next. On his birthday, we’d gone to that slice of heaven called the Whole Foods Market near High Street Ken station for a drink and a quick shop for luxury things to bring home. This time, we opted for a more traditional afternoon tea and went to Napket on Piccadilly. Excellent value - £21 for two gave us lots of cakes/scones and a choice of tea or any of their regular-sized coffees.


There hadn’t been much on at the pictures in July so we’d opted for spectacle rather than quality, going for Transformers in IMAX 3D. This time, we went for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was great fun, with a good storyline and lots of entertaining action. On arrival at the Empire, Leicester Square, we showed our age/lack of interest in sport by failing to recognise – or even know the name of – the celebrity surrounded by fans and being photographed by everyone in the foyer. Turned out to be a bike rider called Bradley Smith, there for the advance screening of a film called Fastest.

Dinner was at Los Locos in Covent Garden. We’d planned to go there for Tim's birthday in July, but it’s shut on Mondays so we’d gone to another Mexican, Cafe Pacifico, instead. The margaritas were particularly welcome as we’d not had time for any booze all day. We ended up being about the last diners – not because we were very late, but apparently it turns into a club later. Food was good, staff very friendly (like everyone all day) and we had a good time.


Back home, we were too full to start straightaway on the cake and fizz provided by my parents, but we tucked in after a break ...




(joined by the bear Tim's had all his life, the Panda I got for my fifth birthday and another bear I was given for my birthday at least 35 years ago).

And then the day was over and I can start to reflect on being the target audience for all those services and events aimed at the over-50s...