Hill 107: A Little Jaunt Down South

Monday 29th January

This week being the week leading up to one of Lady Watson's significant birthdays we decided to start the week by nipping down to the Big Smoke so she could visit Kensington Palace as Princess Di was having a fashion show of her dresses.Not being one to cramp her style we decided to part ways and I headed into the centre of town and have a look at the Churchill War rooms.

A German 500lb bomb that would have gave an awfully lot of people a sore head if it had hit the bunker.

Looking forward to a nice quiet morning perusing the exhibits I was confronted by the sight of 40 schoolkids clamouring to get into the War Room entrance.Peace suitably shattered I showed my ticket and headed in for a visit before the schoolkids got into their peace shattering stride.

Marines were given the tidy up job.

I think if this guy was in charge we'd all be speaking German as a first language.

"Bootneck,bootneck can't catch me!"

Thank f**k the rattles weren't used.

The War Rooms are well worth a visit and contain a display relating to Winston Churchill telling us of his rise to fame with a few hiccups along the way.

"Hi Franklin,Can I have 500 planes,100 ships oh and a pizza please?"

About the only time you'll see politicians working together without thinking of themselves.

"Hurry up and take that photo,I want an ice cream"(in German)

They are part of the Imperial War museum and have been tarted up somewhat as I believe they were closed down on the last day of the war and left to gather dust for a good few years.They were eventually opened up to the public in 1984 and underwent restoration in 2001.

Winston took up painting in his wilderness years.

He also liked playing with toy soldiers.A man after my own heart.

Winston's Webley

A man after my own heart 2.

After losing his political office he volunteered to fight in the trenches-brave man!

All in all a nice morning spent in the wartime nostalgia of an age long gone.A quick look at the gift shop before I headed out to the light of day that is called London.

Winston's dining room.

And his cordon bleu kitchen.

BBC announcer trying not to be too biased.

"I can't see any bikkies?"

"If you're gonna do the sudoko-Do it right."

Winston's bedroom.

My second planned visit of the day was to 221B Baker Street and a look around the Sherlock Holmes museum.and a trip even further back into London's grim history.

"Winding your way down in Baker Street."

The way in.

The museum is actually situated in the actual 221B address and comes complete with staff dressed up in period clothes including a policeman right out of Pirates of Penzance.You are taken in in small groups and first led into Sherlock's study where a member of staff explains where everybody sat and showed all different attributes that contributed to the stories including deerstalkers,violins and all manner of chemical and medical equipment used by Holmes and Watson during their capers.There was even a copy of a picture that Holmes fired bullets into to make the shape of V.R(Victoria Regina)because he was bored.

Good shooting.

Dr Watson's desk.

The violin.

Nice and cosy.

Holmes's forensic gear.

After the talk is over you are left to your own devices allowing you to take photos or move upstairs to visit their own individual rooms.Further upstairs brings you to the top where the rooms are infested with waxwork figures depicting various scenes from the stories capped off with the head from the Hound of the Baskerville which is probably bigger than the actual beast.

The man's bed.

The only way is up.

An interesting museum which does succeed in taking you back to a bygone day when things were pretty simple apart from some of medical tools looked straight out of a horror film. A look around the souvenir shop proved to be a lot more expensive than the War Rooms shop but heyho.

Bang!Right in the chuckies!Best thing for a blackmailer.

"Watson,she's dead!""No s**t Sherlock!"

Big f*****g dog!

Another picture of big f*****g dog!

Holmes's fancy loo.

After leaving the museum I found out that Lady Watson had decided on a wee peruse around Harrods so finding myself with a couple of hours on my hands decided to head for Covent Garden and another trip to the Bond In Motion exhibition which I had visited a few years previous but since then there has been a couple of more films so there were more toys and memorabilia on display.The one thing I love about the London Underground is that it can get you right across he other side of town in minutes and so twenty minutes after leaving the museum in Baker Street I was entering the exhibition in Covent Garden.

Your average get about town!

Not quite made of gold as the film one.

Oh baby!

Lady Watson took this out for a test drive.

Camera at the ready I proceeded to make my way through the beautiful range of cars spanning the years from Dr No right up until Spectre.As I said the exhibition has been updated to include cars used in both Skyfall and Spectre including the gorgeous Aston Martin DB10 created specially for the film.

Itsch the man frae Fountainbrig!

Good for a fishing trip.

Bits and bobs from Thunderball

A happy snappy!

Included with the cars was film depicting their use in the actual films.As well as the actual cars there are models of cutdown vehicles and scale models.I'm sure destroying a model was a lot cheaper and less tearjerking than writing off the actual car.

Cut down Aston Martin

Lady Watson's second test drive.

The company tuk-tuk

A load of bikes.

After a slow meander around these beautiful vehicles I once again arrived at the gift shop but didn't spend so much this time.

Ian Fleming's other creation.

"I wish,I wish,I wish"

Lady Watson turned it down.

Roger Moore's cap.

JB's obituary

Another cut down car for filming

My fav Aston Martin complete with Stradivarius.

From Tomorrow Never Dies with the wings sown on the correct part of the sleeve.

Women drivers!

Just what you need for the snow and ice.

Time was ticking on and so I headed for Kings Cross station for my chariot home to Prestonpans meeting up with Lady Watson who regaled me with tales of her day spent in Kensington Palace and later on in Harrods.Well at least I didn't fall asleep.