What I did for my Bank Holiday Weekend

Yesterday was the Old Git's 91st. So a trip to Maison Schaufeld in North London was a have-to. Not easy, I always have to bypass two relatives that I have known for a very long time. The Old Girl always says 'poor Avram he's so depressed he doesn't want any visitors' and then there is my younger Blister who always makes everything into a competition against me. Last year I had taken time off work to see him, and she had booked him on to a trip to Poland, the land of his birth, without telling me. However he didn't go because 'poor Avram was so depressed'. I stayed at home in Devon. This time I learned that there was a little birthday tea with cake planned and I went for about 45 minutes and gave him a card and Montezuma chocolates. The Blister has a voice like the flu, cold and clammy. She always says 'how are you?' Any answer is wrong. I said 'I'm fine how are you' and she said 'I'm fine.' She sat on my left hand side and never addressed a single subsequent word to me but I could feel her malignant vibes. When my headache kicked in I nicked two of the Old Git's codeine and hopped it back to Victoria Coach Station early pleading a lack of confidence with the London Underground.

But Part One of the trip was good. Part one was staying in Wombats Hostel on Saturday, very cheap and the first drink is free. There is so much of London I don't know or want to know better. Bus is the way to learn your way round, it takes twice as long as the Tube, ( warning to literal-minded followers of my travels this is often an understatement; for a good long session on two busses eg Aldgate East to Baker Street and then another bus to Wembley Central it's about four times longer), but it's good viewing.The best sightseeing  postcodes are WC1, WC2, EC2, EC3, EC4. Watch for the magic C it means Central and shows you are right in the heart of the Big Smoke. E1 is good too, it is the part of the East End that is now trendified, Bethnal Green, Whitechapel. Looking at the mix of Council and posh new high rise flats and the politeness of everyone on the red busses I feel that rich and poor have learned to get along side by side. It gives me hope.