Kew! That was a close one.

Sunday afternoons turned out not to be so bad either! I went on that cycle trip through Richmond park and along the Thames (see one post earlier). It claims it was about 9km but I took a big spontaneous detour. Plus my bike is designed for a midget who has a lust for mountains so I claim I use double the effort.

Eagle-eyed readers will see that the side of my bike appears to have the word "raPe" written on it. This is actually "rage". Get more eagle-eyed, dicks.

The journey through Richmond park is so heart-warming on warm weekends. Young families, couples, people with dogs and the elderly are out in force. Weaving side to side to avoid horse-riders, deer and bastard like me on mountain bikes. The whole time I was out, I was listening to "the Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruis Zafon. This was my first time listening to it, but already I'm a couple of hours in and enjoying this narrator thoroughly. Audible, the audio book app by Amazon, has a nice feature where you can click back 30 seconds. Just enough to catch back to the part you last read without going miles too far and having to fiddle with it.

A deer on its own.

A shitey view of the pen-ponds, where I dipped my feet for a while.

I found my way to a viewpoint I'd never noticed before. Shamefully, I have absolutely no idea where I was, or what direction this is pointing on. I suspect south west.

Apart from a brief segment of a bus journey, I had never been to Richmond proper before. The people naming the town had absolutely no sense of irony, because the town is RICH. Even the shittiest hovels had a sort of perfumed air about them. I came across a series of flats on the side of a little outcrop which looked down on the Thames far below. Hills are a costly rarity in Landan, which is why the little statues sitting on the doorsteps might as well have been loud-mouthed youths shouting "WEALTH!. WEALTH! HERE BE WEALTH!"

Instantly, I wanted some. Then I remembered I come from a home with a a view over one of the engineering marvels of the world, Edinburgh, half of Fife and the forth; and it cost 1/30th of those places. Puts things into perspective.

The view over the Thames that those houses enjoyed. You'd hardly believe you were in one of the biggest cities in the world.

After Richmond, I decided to trace the Thames all the way back to Putney, before I would curve right through the roads to hit Southfields (where I now live). Typically, I got entirely lost, and ended up on the wrong side of the river in a place called Kew. You might have heard of Kew Gardens before, which is a lovely example of how people attempt to create serenity directly below a major flight path. The village of Kew surrounds these gardens and is, overall, a wonderful part of Landan. I have a fondness for it, because it is where I stayed when looking for a flat last December, after discovering I had gotten the PhD. That was a hard time (tossing and turning as to whether to ignore my apprehensions and go for it, or to give in to them as a sensible warning), and it was bliss to return with 6 months worth of perspective. I snapped some shots of some memorable locations, and stopped in a pub called the six bells where Torun and I had stopped for a drink one cold December evening.

Maids of honour. A tea room that I was far too sweaty and poorly dressed to enter without a guilty conscience. It was really heartening to see it again, out of the blue :)

Steam museum. Holy moly.

The high class joint I stayed in last December.

Inside the 6 bells, where it was the first Sunday of them trying a free for all live music bash. It was BRILLIANT and the bar lady was so friendly. She came over and chatted with me about her fathers day plans. The atmosphere was very laid back, and I wished I was good enough with my sax to join in. Maybe soon...

Last year we grabbed a beer here before going back to the Travelodge to devour a pot noodle. Also to complain about the fact "Travelodge" has only one "L". Uuuuurgh.

I'm back home now, and ready for a long snooze. The Thames cycle route was just dandy, but my eyes had the hayfever-carrying wind in them the whole way back so I feel like I need to hold clean, cool water over them.

Thanks for reading :D