from Tiddleywink to Ted Lasso: a perfect final day with the Strickengers
We packed up the house this morning and our two pre-booked taxis were waiting to take us to the Chippenham train station. Our driver was not thrilled that I had decided to bring my most excellent new walking stick along in his taxi. We passed through Tiddleywink on the way, which I thought was adorable, and our driver told us it's the smallest village around with only 8 cottages. The sign that I managed to catch a photo of was one of two that the residents won in their campaign to be recognized officially on maps.
We grabbed a quick breakfast at the station and then hopped the train to London, with an unusually perky conductor who gave delightfully superfluous announcements such as, “It’s a fantastic day, the old sun is shining, get out there and enjoy yourselves!” Thanks to the unseasonably warm weather he also announced having to turn on the air conditioning. Then we alighted in Paddington station, though I didn’t realize until eight hours later that I had left my exceptional stick in the overhead compartment. I’m sure that some Great Western Railway employee was thrilled to have to dispose of that.
We dropped our luggage at a storage shop so that we were freed up for wandering through some of my favorite London neighborhoods. The weather was staggeringly gorgeous, our most beautiful day since the end of last summer, with temperatures in the low 20s (70s for your Fahrenheit folks) and blue skies. We started by the Cheese Barge and then strolled through Little Venice, admiring all of the colorful houseboats along the way. We crossed little bridges and walked along a canalside boulevard to a pub called Maroush, a lavishly decorated spot for Lebanese food. With the doors open and barely a breeze, it felt like a summertime feast, even if we all agreed that it didn’t quite match Yalla Yalla.
After lunch we walked further along, taking the stairs down to a path along the water that led through a charming community of houseboats. As we followed the canal into Regent’s Park, the quirky houseboat landscape changed into an opulent view of stately waterside estates with sprawling immaculate lawns and manicured gardens. Then we headed back up to street level and across the way towards Primrose Hill and up to the top for an epic view of the city. The hillside was crowded with sunbathers and daydrinkers and kids, like ours, kicking footballs around. We made a lot of jokes about the fact that most of the time the kids were kicking it while carrying it in a thin grocery bag that we kept calling the “ball sack.” Amusing for us all.
We walked downhill into the main drag of Primrose Hill, and into my favorite grocery to grab cold drinks. I was thrilled to find a whopping six flavors of La Croix in stock; James picked passion fruit and I went with watermelon. We peeked at the Paddington House and then found a great spot to sit for a moment at the Chalcot Square Gardens, some greenery that I’d never noticed before despite regularly passing through the area. We sipped our drinks while the kids played on baby swings and got our football stuck in a tree while trying to help a kid get his stuck frisbee out. Fortunately another kid with another ball knocked down both.
From there we went back towards the canal, with a quick stop at Primrose Bakery, and then onto the waterside path. We approached the crowded chaos of Camden Market and I led the way to my favorite shop, Blaze On, where owner Blaze was there as usual selling his unique handmade string lights. We chatted with him for a short bit and he gave Michal and me both a good deal on some beautiful delicate rose lights. Then we returned to the dense crowds and fought our way through to the tube station a couple blocks away for some Northern Line madness and then Elizabeth Line relief to Paddington Station.
We grabbed our luggage and caught the Circle Line towards Hammersmith, with one mistake in direction that fortunately only cost us one extra stop, before hopping the District Line home. The dudes all caught a break while Michal and I immediately headed back out, hitting a few shops on the High Road that Michal had wanted to return to since our first day. She ended up with some adorable items and we had enough time to spare to have a drink before the guys met us for dinner at Pho. We had our drink there, sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and the freshness of mojitos.
The dudes all barreled in at 7pm and we had a great final dinner, followed up by rushing home for everyone to get some things done (showers, packing) before one last evening of Ted Lasso episodes. We cozied up in the living room and watched two episodes, laughing out loud at the same parts and once again pointing out familiar sights like the Richmond Bridge and a Chiswick pub. We finally sent the kids to bed and Michal and I got to enjoy a final stretch of time together, reading tarot cards on the couch and dreaming up plans for the future.
