May 12, 2013
Sunday has come around and we decided it would be a good day to try driving. We haven't even touched the car since we arrived, but today we planned a drive in the country to check out some bicycling prospects for Don.
After Don planned his route and downloaded it on Trexie (our faithful GPS) we hopped in the car, Don getting in on the right side, not the left, where the steering wheel is located, and put the key in the ignition and turned it and...ggrrrnnph, grrnnph, grr....rrr...rrr. The battery was dead. Darn! We poked around looking for info about road service, but didn't find anything. Don, just like a man, got out and opened up the bonnet and looked at the innards of the car for awhile. Then he knocked on a few neighbor doors, but everyone was either sleeping in or at church, and no one answered. Luckily the Sunday morning "exercise in the park" class was just finishing up, so we got a nice guy to give us a jump and the car started and off we went to explore the countryside.
We were able to follow Trexie's directions pretty well and didn't make any mistakes and got out of town with no problems. We headed east and then north, ending up at Toot Hill. We found the pub Don was looking for as his waypoint, The Mole Trap, and then we drove around the farmlands checking out the roads for cycling. Along the way we saw plenty of cyclists, so Don thinks this is a good place to cycle. The roads are very narrow, with pretty good visibility. The traffic was pretty light. So, maybe Don has found a good spot to go ride a bike.
We drove around the green countryside for awhile and then headed back home. When we got back our good parking space was still open for us, so we parked the car and went across the street to the local pub, The Grapes, for Sunday Roast.
Sunday Roast is one of our favorite things about Britain. Every Sunday afternoon pubs and restaurants offer a special meal--Sunday Roast--for a moderate price. Usually Sunday Roast is beef, lamb or pork, accompanied by roasted potatoes and vegetables, and sometimes a drink is included too. The things you can always depend upon with Sunday roast are--1. It does not matter when you get there, first thing or late, the meat is always roasted well-done, 2. the vegetables will always be overcooked and soggy, and 3. there will be lots of food on your plate.
So, we went into the pub and settled at a little table in a dark corner for late lunch. Don had the beef and I had the lamb and the plates came, overflowing with meat and vegetables, Yorkshire Pudding and gravy. It was yummy. And we ate it all too. No dinner tonight!
Now, a bit about the pub, The Grapes. Here is an excerpt from their website:
"The Grapes – originally The Bunch of Grapes – has stood on the pebbled Limehouse Reach, for nearly 500 years. Its official address in 76, Narrow Street, London E14 8BP.
Limehouse was first settled as one of the few healthy areas of dry land among the riverside marshes. By Queen Elizabeth I’s time, it was at the center of world trade and her explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert lived there. From directly below The Grapes, Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on his third voyage to the New World.
In 1661, Samuel Pepys’ diary records his trip to lime kilns at the jetty just along from The Grapes.
In 1820 the young Charles Dickens visited his godfather in Limehouse and knew the district well for 40 years. The Grapes appears, scarcely disguised, in the opening chapter of his novel “Our Mutual Friend".
Other popular writers have been fascinated by Limehouse: Oscar Wilde in “Dorian Gray”; Arthur Conan Doyle, who sent Sherlock Holmes in search of opium provided by the local Chinese immigrants; more recently Peter Ackroyd in “Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem”.
Narrow Street is also associated with many distinguished painters. Francis Bacon lived and worked at no 80, Edward Wolfe at no 96. Whistler painted a “nocturne” of Limehouse. On The Grapes’ walls are an oil painting seen from the Thames by the marine artist Napier Hemy, watercolours of Limehouse Reach by Louise Hardy and “Dickens at The Grapes” by the New Zealand artist Nick Cuthell.
The Grapes survived the Blitz bombing of the Second World War and retains the friendly atmosphere of a “local” for Limehouse residents, where visitors are always welcome in the bars and upstairs dining room."
Their website is http://www.thegrapes.co.uk for more photos and history.
After our meal we went back across the street to our cozy house for a nap and to work on Don's photos and my reports.
Sunday has come around and we decided it would be a good day to try driving. We haven't even touched the car since we arrived, but today we planned a drive in the country to check out some bicycling prospects for Don.
After Don planned his route and downloaded it on Trexie (our faithful GPS) we hopped in the car, Don getting in on the right side, not the left, where the steering wheel is located, and put the key in the ignition and turned it and...ggrrrnnph, grrnnph, grr....rrr...rrr. The battery was dead. Darn! We poked around looking for info about road service, but didn't find anything. Don, just like a man, got out and opened up the bonnet and looked at the innards of the car for awhile. Then he knocked on a few neighbor doors, but everyone was either sleeping in or at church, and no one answered. Luckily the Sunday morning "exercise in the park" class was just finishing up, so we got a nice guy to give us a jump and the car started and off we went to explore the countryside.
We were able to follow Trexie's directions pretty well and didn't make any mistakes and got out of town with no problems. We headed east and then north, ending up at Toot Hill. We found the pub Don was looking for as his waypoint, The Mole Trap, and then we drove around the farmlands checking out the roads for cycling. Along the way we saw plenty of cyclists, so Don thinks this is a good place to cycle. The roads are very narrow, with pretty good visibility. The traffic was pretty light. So, maybe Don has found a good spot to go ride a bike.
We drove around the green countryside for awhile and then headed back home. When we got back our good parking space was still open for us, so we parked the car and went across the street to the local pub, The Grapes, for Sunday Roast.
So, we went into the pub and settled at a little table in a dark corner for late lunch. Don had the beef and I had the lamb and the plates came, overflowing with meat and vegetables, Yorkshire Pudding and gravy. It was yummy. And we ate it all too. No dinner tonight!
Now, a bit about the pub, The Grapes. Here is an excerpt from their website:
"The Grapes – originally The Bunch of Grapes – has stood on the pebbled Limehouse Reach, for nearly 500 years. Its official address in 76, Narrow Street, London E14 8BP.
Limehouse was first settled as one of the few healthy areas of dry land among the riverside marshes. By Queen Elizabeth I’s time, it was at the center of world trade and her explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert lived there. From directly below The Grapes, Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on his third voyage to the New World.
In 1661, Samuel Pepys’ diary records his trip to lime kilns at the jetty just along from The Grapes.
In 1820 the young Charles Dickens visited his godfather in Limehouse and knew the district well for 40 years. The Grapes appears, scarcely disguised, in the opening chapter of his novel “Our Mutual Friend".
Other popular writers have been fascinated by Limehouse: Oscar Wilde in “Dorian Gray”; Arthur Conan Doyle, who sent Sherlock Holmes in search of opium provided by the local Chinese immigrants; more recently Peter Ackroyd in “Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem”.
Narrow Street is also associated with many distinguished painters. Francis Bacon lived and worked at no 80, Edward Wolfe at no 96. Whistler painted a “nocturne” of Limehouse. On The Grapes’ walls are an oil painting seen from the Thames by the marine artist Napier Hemy, watercolours of Limehouse Reach by Louise Hardy and “Dickens at The Grapes” by the New Zealand artist Nick Cuthell.
The Grapes survived the Blitz bombing of the Second World War and retains the friendly atmosphere of a “local” for Limehouse residents, where visitors are always welcome in the bars and upstairs dining room."
Their website is http://www.thegrapes.co.uk for more photos and history.
After our meal we went back across the street to our cozy house for a nap and to work on Don's photos and my reports.
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