Date: Sunday 13 November 2011
It is the last day of our weekend visit to London. We will be visiting the Cenotaph to pay our respects and observe the main Remembrance service held at Westminster, with Her Majesty The Queen taking part.
I wake up at 0715am after a well deserved sleep following yesterday's busy day and night out. I pop out for my morning "fresh air" break. Being in the fresh air also wakens me up a bit more. I make my way back to my room where I have a refreshing shower and get ready for the day ahead. We are checking out this morning, so I ensure that I have everything packed in my bag and before I make my way down to reception, I have one final check to ensure that I have left nothing behind. I pick up my bag, and make my way down to reception where I hand in my key card for the final time. I now have to wait for Mr UKBuses now, and while I do I can smell the breakfast in the breakfast room / bar. We don't have time this morning to help ourselves to an "all we can eat" breakfast as we need to get to Westminster so that we can get a good spot to watch the Remembrance service. Mr UKBuses gets his own back on me for meeting up with him late, last night before we hit the town, as I am down in the reception area for about fifteen to twenty minutes before he turns up. He hands his key card in and we leave the hotel for the final time as we make our way round the corner to the East India DLR station to get our DLR railway replacement bus to Canning Town Interchange. We don't have to wait long before a bus turns up and after boarding, it only takes a few minutes before we are at Canning Town ready to catch the tube to Westminster. As we make our way to the tube station, we are checking in all the shops along the way as Mr UKBuses needs to get a replacement poppy. This is his third this weekend, the first one he had, he lost it somewhere in Birmingham on the way to New Street Station. He purchased a replacement one yesterday from a lady during the Lord Mayor's Parade, and lost it shortly after on the tube. He is bound to get one when we arrive at Westminster, I wonder how long he will be wearing it?
We make our way to the platform at Canning Town and we are lucky as we only have to catch this tube to get us to Westminster. A tube arrives and we make our way along the Jubilee Line to get to us to our main destination for today, Westminster. It takes us just under twenty minutes and we arrive at Westminster. We only have a short walk to get to Whitehall, and along the way, Mr UKBuses is able to get a poppy to wear from a newsagent along the street, I get one too which replaces one that I have been wearing all weekend and has been battered about a bit, at least I have a crisp looking poppy to wear just in case we make an appearance on the television coverage. We are at Whitehall, and we are passed clear plastic bags to put our personal belongings in from our pockets as we have to have our bags checked and walk through a scanner before we can take our places. Mr UKBuses gets through okay, after having my bag checked, it is my turn to walk through the scanner and it goes off, I am ordered to one side where I have to have a body scan with a portable detector. It turns out that I left my inhaler in my pocket which contains metal, but I am allowed in and I am reunited with my bag. As I get my belongings (phone, camera, keys, etc) out of my bag, I find out that my policeman has left my packed clothes in a state, Mr UKBuses gets the personal touch as the WPC who checked his bag, helped him put his clothes back into his bag by folding them for him. We now have to find a place to stand so that we can watch the service.
It looks as we arrived at the right time as the crowds are starting to gather, we make our way up towards Downing Street, and we find a spot just up from the Cenotaph and a good view as The Queen will be standing virtually in front of us. We take our places and put down our bags, it is just before 0930am so we have to wait another hour before the service starts, we get here this early so that we can ensure we get a good place, but it looks like we will have to be even earlier next time, as people have had similar ideas and they are right at the front. Even before the service has begun, it feels strange to be here, even though there are hundreds of people here, there is no running around trying to get anywhere, the area is quiet considering the number of the crowds. After an hour, the bands / troops start to arrive, they make there way down Whitehall and as they take their spots on each side of the road, our view is restricted now as they stand in front of us, this doesn't worry Mr UKBuses as he still gets his pictures and videos by holding his camera in the air. The main service starts, and after another half hour, The Queen, Prince Charles and Prime Ministers past and present take their places by the Cenotaph. It is now eleven o'clock and as Big Ben tolls, the two minute silence starts, and it is surreal as you can hear a pin drop, the two minutes pass by with no problems apart from one person who decides to shout at the top of his voice "No More War". The last post is played which sends a shiver down my spine, The Queen and Prime Minister lays wreaths onto the Cenotaph, and a hymn is sung by all who attend followed by The Lords Prayer, and finally the national anthem, God Save The Queen. The current and ex-service men will make there way down Whitehall and to the Cenotaph to lay there wreaths, we leave at this point as we need to make our way across London to get a bite to eat and to catch our train back home. I'm glad that I have stayed in London so that I can experience this and pay my respects to those who lost their lives during the wars to protect our country.
When we get back home, we find out that we do make it onto the BBC coverage, a still from the coverage is shown above right, can you spot us. Video footage can be seen below.
We make our way back to Westminster tube station but we do find it hard going as we do get stuck a few times through the crowds along Whitehall, we have to squeeze through some very tight spots along the way. We finally make it past the security area and I do need a "fresh air break" after making my way through the crowd. Nerves calmed we make our way underground and we head onto the District Line and make our way to Victoria. Upon arrival we make our way to our last London J D Wetherspoons of the weekend, instead of using the pub in the station as we did yesterday, we head to where we would have gone yesterday for lunch, "The Willow Walk" and as Mr UKBuses finds a seat, I get the round in. We see the tail end of the coverage of the Remembrance Sunday on the pubs television, and it seems strange that we have just come from where the TV pictures are being filmed. Back to lunch, and Mr UKBuses and myself opt for our usual Wetherspoons fayre. After finishing our lunches, our main priority is to get to London Euston, where we need to catch our train back home, so we make our way back to Victoria tube station, and we jump onto the Victoria Line which will take us straight back to London Euston, or so we thought. There are problems up ahead on the Victoria Line with signals, and the tube services are being held up. As we make our way along the line, the train is being held at each station for about five minutes each time before moving again. We are starting to get tight for time, and as we arrive at Warren Street tube station, the driver informs us that we may be here for some time, so we decide that we will change onto the Northern Line at this station after the driver's announcement, so we make our way to the Northern Line, as we start to walk away from the platform, the tube closes its door and promptly makes its way to the next station, London Euston. We run to the Northern Line platforms at Warren Street, we didn't realise that it is a bit of a walk. As we arrive on the Northern Line platform, luckily a train arrives and we jump on to get us to London Euston. It is a last minute dash through the ticket barriers and into the main London Euston railway station. As we make our way up the escalators we find that our 1318pm Virgin Train will be departing from platform five. We can calm down now though as we have just over five minutes to get onto the platform and our train.
No time for a "fresh air" break, we make our way to platform five, and board our train, I do notice on our coach door that the service is leaving Euston at "1418" and think nothing of it, as we take our seats, we get a table seat as it is available, the time is 1318pm, and we pull off and start making our way towards Birmingham, as we pull out of London Euston, Mr UKBuses notices that he has lost his poppy, next year he will be stapling it to himself so he doesn't lose it. This should be a fast train as we are only stopping at Coventry and Birmingham International before we reach Birmingham New Street, but we are making a brief stop at Watford Junction states Mark, our Train Manager. After we pass Watford, I go to the shop to get refreshments and as I come back to Coach A, I utter the words "Tickets and passes, please", Mr UKBuses doesn't fall for it this time, but a passenger on the table opposite thought it was funny. After we stop at Coventry, Mark, our Train Manager informs us of the time that we will be arriving at our stations, it turns out that we will be back an hour later than the printed timetable, I then notice that the times on the display screens are an hour behind - I think Virgin Trains have forgot to put their clocks back a few weeks ago and are still operating to British Summer Time (BST). We arrive back in Birmingham New Street and have to wait about twenty minutes for our train to Smethwick Galton Bridge, luckily it is already on the platform opposite, so we take our seats and rest our legs. After twenty minutes we pull out of Birmingham New Street and head towards Smethwick Galton Bridge, where we change to the Snow Hill Line. We have another twenty minute wait at Smethwick Galton Bridge, but as it arrives we get on a "shiny new train", back to Stourbridge Junction where we change onto the Stourbridge Town Shuttle otherwise known as "The Parry's People Mover". As we arrive at Stourbridge Town, we head towards Birmingham Street and Stand C to get Black Diamond's service 276C back home to rest after an action packed weekend.
I've had a fantastic weekend in London, with a fantastic hotel and fantastic company. I cannot wait until we go down London again as I want to try out my Oyster card and be classed as a proper Londoner!
We make our way to the platform at Canning Town and we are lucky as we only have to catch this tube to get us to Westminster. A tube arrives and we make our way along the Jubilee Line to get to us to our main destination for today, Westminster. It takes us just under twenty minutes and we arrive at Westminster. We only have a short walk to get to Whitehall, and along the way, Mr UKBuses is able to get a poppy to wear from a newsagent along the street, I get one too which replaces one that I have been wearing all weekend and has been battered about a bit, at least I have a crisp looking poppy to wear just in case we make an appearance on the television coverage. We are at Whitehall, and we are passed clear plastic bags to put our personal belongings in from our pockets as we have to have our bags checked and walk through a scanner before we can take our places. Mr UKBuses gets through okay, after having my bag checked, it is my turn to walk through the scanner and it goes off, I am ordered to one side where I have to have a body scan with a portable detector. It turns out that I left my inhaler in my pocket which contains metal, but I am allowed in and I am reunited with my bag. As I get my belongings (phone, camera, keys, etc) out of my bag, I find out that my policeman has left my packed clothes in a state, Mr UKBuses gets the personal touch as the WPC who checked his bag, helped him put his clothes back into his bag by folding them for him. We now have to find a place to stand so that we can watch the service.
When we get back home, we find out that we do make it onto the BBC coverage, a still from the coverage is shown above right, can you spot us. Video footage can be seen below.
We make our way back to Westminster tube station but we do find it hard going as we do get stuck a few times through the crowds along Whitehall, we have to squeeze through some very tight spots along the way. We finally make it past the security area and I do need a "fresh air break" after making my way through the crowd. Nerves calmed we make our way underground and we head onto the District Line and make our way to Victoria. Upon arrival we make our way to our last London J D Wetherspoons of the weekend, instead of using the pub in the station as we did yesterday, we head to where we would have gone yesterday for lunch, "The Willow Walk" and as Mr UKBuses finds a seat, I get the round in. We see the tail end of the coverage of the Remembrance Sunday on the pubs television, and it seems strange that we have just come from where the TV pictures are being filmed. Back to lunch, and Mr UKBuses and myself opt for our usual Wetherspoons fayre. After finishing our lunches, our main priority is to get to London Euston, where we need to catch our train back home, so we make our way back to Victoria tube station, and we jump onto the Victoria Line which will take us straight back to London Euston, or so we thought. There are problems up ahead on the Victoria Line with signals, and the tube services are being held up. As we make our way along the line, the train is being held at each station for about five minutes each time before moving again. We are starting to get tight for time, and as we arrive at Warren Street tube station, the driver informs us that we may be here for some time, so we decide that we will change onto the Northern Line at this station after the driver's announcement, so we make our way to the Northern Line, as we start to walk away from the platform, the tube closes its door and promptly makes its way to the next station, London Euston. We run to the Northern Line platforms at Warren Street, we didn't realise that it is a bit of a walk. As we arrive on the Northern Line platform, luckily a train arrives and we jump on to get us to London Euston. It is a last minute dash through the ticket barriers and into the main London Euston railway station. As we make our way up the escalators we find that our 1318pm Virgin Train will be departing from platform five. We can calm down now though as we have just over five minutes to get onto the platform and our train.
No time for a "fresh air" break, we make our way to platform five, and board our train, I do notice on our coach door that the service is leaving Euston at "1418" and think nothing of it, as we take our seats, we get a table seat as it is available, the time is 1318pm, and we pull off and start making our way towards Birmingham, as we pull out of London Euston, Mr UKBuses notices that he has lost his poppy, next year he will be stapling it to himself so he doesn't lose it. This should be a fast train as we are only stopping at Coventry and Birmingham International before we reach Birmingham New Street, but we are making a brief stop at Watford Junction states Mark, our Train Manager. After we pass Watford, I go to the shop to get refreshments and as I come back to Coach A, I utter the words "Tickets and passes, please", Mr UKBuses doesn't fall for it this time, but a passenger on the table opposite thought it was funny. After we stop at Coventry, Mark, our Train Manager informs us of the time that we will be arriving at our stations, it turns out that we will be back an hour later than the printed timetable, I then notice that the times on the display screens are an hour behind - I think Virgin Trains have forgot to put their clocks back a few weeks ago and are still operating to British Summer Time (BST). We arrive back in Birmingham New Street and have to wait about twenty minutes for our train to Smethwick Galton Bridge, luckily it is already on the platform opposite, so we take our seats and rest our legs. After twenty minutes we pull out of Birmingham New Street and head towards Smethwick Galton Bridge, where we change to the Snow Hill Line. We have another twenty minute wait at Smethwick Galton Bridge, but as it arrives we get on a "shiny new train", back to Stourbridge Junction where we change onto the Stourbridge Town Shuttle otherwise known as "The Parry's People Mover". As we arrive at Stourbridge Town, we head towards Birmingham Street and Stand C to get Black Diamond's service 276C back home to rest after an action packed weekend.
I've had a fantastic weekend in London, with a fantastic hotel and fantastic company. I cannot wait until we go down London again as I want to try out my Oyster card and be classed as a proper Londoner!
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