We were supposed to go out with my brother after visiting friends in Highgate but instead, it was raining and I left poor, sick Hubs in bed to walk my favourite park with Vincent and just chat as brother and sister do.
We ended up sitting in the stable yard of a newly renovated building in the park and drank cappuccinos and ate scones under an umbrella in the rain.
I was right at home!
The day of Hubs’ birthday passed un-noted so we put that right the next evening and went to a restaurant on the High Street called, Branded,
not a chain. We try to support local proprietors.
We had a delicious meal.
Then it was time to meet up with my old school friends at The Royal Court in London’s Covent Garden. There were 9 of us including my best friend, who still barely made eye contact with me…I have no idea what I did wrong…one never really knows a person does one?
By now Hubs was completely well so game for another day outing, this time to a landmark we pass on the train to Victoria, most days. We got off and headed back across the river to see what they had been up to at the Battersea Power Station.
The power station, a landmark for decades, still looks the same,
but as we turned the corner we found steel and glass reaching for the sky,
a bustling river pier where the Thames Ubers made regular stops,
and plenty of choice restaurants.
Was this really the Battersea my grandmother had walked and shopped along and gone to the local for a pint and a knees up on a Friday night?
I was was at once gob-smacked and wowed by the sheer architectural brilliance!
I had to shake my head to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
Gone were the rows of terraced houses,
the corner shops,
the pubs.
In their place were up market high rise offices, river-view condos and flats.
Inside the gutted power house was an exclusive mall with shops that had no price tags suggesting that,
‘If you have to ask you can’t afford!”
We did enjoy a glass of wine and an appetiser on the patio of one of the restaurants while waiting for our Uber River Ferry to arrive;
and passed on the high fee to go to the top of one of the chimneys in an elevator to catch a rare view of the city for a minute or two.
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
