My Farewell #2- Goodbye to All Things Clapham & #67

My Lovely Home Away From Home


I will miss this carpet. They don't make it like this anymore! :)

All of the fixtures are still in their original glory. And I love them all for the simple fact that I have grown up with them!

I don't think I've ever seen this thing on, and I've never seen rubbish in this bin. The only thing we use the bin for is to sit our luggage on it when we put it on the scale to see how far over the allowable weight limit we've gone. This little contraption makes it easier than having to weigh myself, then weigh me holding the heavy luggage!

Love this photo of Bob, Mom, and John, the Art Deco clock, and the pen and ink drawing that my Grandfather did. I never met him, but as you can see, he's an amazing artist and was a great Architect as well.

Bob and I's "tea" cups that we use multiple times daily. We would just wash them out, put them on the drainer, then they'd be ready for us in the morning. No need to put them in the cupboard (Notice my cup is from Taste of Texas. Bob has quite a collection of Texas mugs we've gotten him over the years including one that says "I Shot J.R." haha).

Bob made this radio out of a box and old parts and it has worked for years! I love it!

Original shade in the kitchen. Groovy right? haha

When Bob had to get work on the roof done, he had to buy this ladder, and being a flat in London, there's not much storage space (or a garage), so this is the only place it can go. I will not miss bumping into this thing everyday on the stairs!

Shade in the Computer Room upstairs

View from the front door. Odd fact-You have to pay to park your car there on the street. Even if you own one of the houses you're parking in front of. Hence why Bob doesn't own a car!

I will miss walking by this sign on the way to the tube station everyday. It has been up for as long as I remember, so we must REALLY need to talk. haha

I will miss the little fruits of wisdom that the workers at Clapham South tube station put on the service board now that they have a new digital service board to tell you how terrible your commute will be. I applaud their effort of going the extra distance to enlighten their passengers. It always made me smile to think of these usually disgruntled workers writing them on the board each morning!

The escalators at Clapham South. Not sure I will miss them, but I will miss the extra work-out of walking up and down them (no, I rarely ever just stood to the right to let the escaltor do all the work!)

My station :)

Bob and I's last Sunday pub lunch (we both got the roast) at the Weatherspoon near Streatham Hill.

I substitute my veggies for more roasted potatoes! That circle is Yorkshire Pudding, and it's a lot like a flaky pancake batter-no actual pudding.

Bob's birthday dinner on my last night. We got fish and chips! (Of course I got batter dipped sausages instead of fish).

Bob looks down right crazy in this shot! About to cut into his birthday cake (yes with a spatula)! He turns 66 on Friday :)

There are SO many things I will miss about London, but the things I will miss the most are the things that I saw/did everyday. I now have my routine down which includes certain t.v. shows (will miss you Hollyoaks and old re-runs of American shows like Veronica Mars and Friends), several cups of tea, and walks to the tube station. While I will definitely miss my independence here to just hop on a tube or train to everywhere and anywhere, I will not miss strikes, planned engineering works, or hearing "There are minor delays due to signal failure." Or now that it is freezing outside, I will not miss getting onto a packed tube and not being able to remove my jacket, gloves, and scarf in time before over-heating!

However, even these things will seem much less annoying to me when I'm once again sitting on 290 in my car in traffic for hours at a time. So many things that I would normally take for granted at home, I have relished here. I will most of all miss Bob and Clair. I have been so lucky to spend so much time with them and really get to know them better. Thank you both for everything. I love you, and I love London.

My Farewell #1-Last Day Seeing My Fav Sights

Leicester Square-This theater is where all of the big movie premiers happen (like Harry Potter last Thursday night).

Covent Garden has their Christmas decorations up!

More from Covent Garden

Trafalgar Square

Towards Green Park and The Horse Guards Parade

Not sure what this is, but I think it was a memorial done recently because I've never seen it before. Next to it was a building with a memorial dedicated to fallen Royal Ulster Constabulary.

A walk down Whitehall

The Cenotaph on Whitehall. Remembrance Day (or Armistice Day-Veteran's Day in the States) is Nov. 11, and the following Sunday is Remembrance Sunday. There is a march down Whitehall by war Veterans. The Queen lays the first poppy wreath dedicated to the fallen from the First and Second World Wars and all conflicts after. The Poppy represents remembrance of the fallen in the U.K.

Millions of Remembrance Crosses at Westminster Abbey

One of my favorite views of the London Eye and the Thames.

One of my favorite tube stations (and the most confusing!)

So I went to see Deathtrap-the comedy thriller starring Glee's Jonathan Groff (Jesse from Vocal Adrenaline-yes, this is the only reason I saw it). I was able to get cheap tickets in the Stalls only 7 rows back from the stage earlier in the morning. The seats were the best I'd had in the 5 West End shows I'd seen this trip. However, I was so close, that I could see Jonathan Groff spit everytime he yelled his lines! Like really spit. It reminded me of the Friend's episode where Joey has to play next to a star who spits and he tries to wear sunglasses during filming. The play itself was also very strange. Wouldn't recommend it, but I'm glad I saw it because I would have regretted it if I didn't.

So today I did my last day out in London. I started out at Leicester Square to see what kind of tickets I could get for Deathtrap that evening. Even though it wasn't a musical and sounded a bit weird, I still wanted to see it for the sole reason that a Glee actor was in it.haha. After getting tickets, as it finally wasn't raining, I walked to Covent Garden, then to Trafalgar Square, down Whitehall (where the Remembrance Parade had happened the day before), and ended up at Westminster Abbey to see the millions of Remembrance crosses. It was a very powerful experience. From there, I got a quick last glance at the Thames and the London Eye before taking the tube back to Bob's. I did some more packing (it will be a miracle if it all fits in my two suitcases), before heading out to meet Lauren to say our goodbyes over coffee in Leicester Square before Deathtrap.

I have a little review of the play above. I would have to say it was my least favorite of the 5, but I'm still glad I saw it. It only lasted a few hours, so I got home to Bob's a little after 10, and had more time to pack and realize that my time here is just about over :( I will miss living in London SO much!