August 1st - 31st - Connecting with friends and exploring the neighborhood

The month has flown.  We have walked everywhere and realized just how much there is to do in London, and how much there is to do just within the surrounding area of the flat.  It took Julie 3 visits to go through all the galleries at the Museum of London - which I guess is inevitable when a museum covers London from 450,000 BC to the present day!  That's a lot of material.  Don't be confused with the British Museum - which is something quite different.  However, if you like to see very old, beautiful artifacts taken from the rest of the world, my tip is to head to the Sir John Soane's Museum.  Never heard of it?  You have now and I'd recommend it over the British Museum.

Not all of the time has been in London: a trip to see friends in Bournemouth - a quintessential seaside town on the south coast with its charming, colorful beach huts.  Trip to Reigate visiting other friends (and reminded that one should not assume that trains are reliable).

Catching up with friends from the USA.

It has been very exciting finding out how areas have changed over the years.  Kings Cross has been regenerated into a delightful area with shops, restaurants and sympathetic redevelopment of the iconic buildings.

But there are still the classic places and views that never get old...

New discoveries include the royal gardens at Buckingham Palace and Postman's Park in the city.

The flat is a stone's throw from Smithfield.  Smithfield has been a meat market for over eight centuries, but time is ticking as there are plans to relocate it within a few years.  If you are up between 2am and 7am and feel like you need a half cow this is the place for you.

 July 15th - July 31st

Now out of self isolation we move to St Albans to stay with Paul's mom, Pat.  She has a lovely English garden.  St. Albans is about 20 miles north of London and is a very picturesque, very historic city.

The British Grand Prix is July 18th and we are lucky enough to see some of the qualifying action at Silverstone.  A fun family day out seeing our favorite drivers prepare for the race (go Lewis Hamilton #44).

Team Challis gets a chance to practice pit stop skills.

Joe and Harry depart and with work progressing on the flat in London we have the chance to catch up with the extended family.

Julie drives to Lincolnshire to see her family on the farm.

Covid, Brexit, Suez Canal, shortage of truck drivers, and NHS pinging all converge to cause unprecedented supply issues with furnishing the flat, but we finally are able to take up residence in our flat in City Pavilion on Britton Street.