Christmas Eve

Posted on 2007/12/28 12:39:46 (December 2007).

[Monday 24th December]
I had racked my brains for some time trying to work out what I could do to entertain Mum and Keith who were staying with us for a total of four nights over Christmas. Christmas day itself was going to be relatively straightforward - what with opening presents, then a protracted meal, and finally the inevitable slobbing about in front of the telly - I was fairly sure the time would pass. However, for Christmas Eve and Boxing Day I was a lot less confident - there aren't really the same rituals to go through on these days, we didn't have anyone close by we could easily visit (the trains weren't running on Boxing Day so we had to postpone our trip to see my brother until the day after) and just about everything in London seemed to be either closed or was likely to be hideously overcrowded.

Eventually I hit upon the idea of going for a cruise along the Thames. To my relief I found there was at least one of the companies that only closed on Christmas Day itself, and apparently no booking was required, we could just turn up.

So we got on board at Westminster pier around midday, and tootled off down the river in the direction of Greenwich. Not that we had any particular desire to go to Greenwich, but that's just where it seems all the boats go to.

The cruise seemed to be well received by our visiting dignitaries, particularly the commentary which was more like a stand-up routine ("London has many interesting bridges... this isn't one of them", etc). I also made a mental note of several interesting looking riverside pubs which I must go back and visit some time.

Upon arrival in Greenwich I set about trying to find somewhere for lunch, and quite by chance stumbled across a nice little pub conveniently located at the corner of a market, which seemed to suit all of us - Keith and I could sit in the pub with a pint whilst Mum went and wandered round the market a bit. We had lunch there, which was quite nice albeit that the vegetarian option - a goats' cheese salad - fell into the standard "you're vegetarian? oh you must be a woman with a small appetite then." school of catering.

Although the boat trip had been interesting, the general consensus seemed to be that for the sake of variety we should go back by land instead, so we got the DLR to Canary Wharf, and then the tube from there. I suppose this worked out quite well - although it is basically just office blocks, Canary Wharf is still something of a sight to behold, more like Tokyo than London in a sense.

Back at home in the evening we had a simple Christmas Eve supper, with baked potatoes and a cheese board.

Don't believe, him,folks - the cheese was as much as a Frenchman would eat in a week.

Posted by John's Mum at 2007/12/28 22:59:43.

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