Hay Girl in the Big City Again Part One

I've been away for a week - it feels like longer. We packed a lot in - culture, shopping, and good beer!

I'm sure Londoners are getting friendlier. Or maybe it's just me? Anyway, I've never struck up a conversation with a complete stranger on the tube before, in the rush hour (we ended up talking about New York taxis!). And, on the last morning of my visit, when I had to buy a ticket to Victoria all on my own, a young man in the queue behind me talked me through the process and showed me which ticket type I needed.

On the first night in Sidcup, I heard something I've never heard in Hay - foxes having sex! Noisily! (I thought I was supposed to be in the Big City!)

We got a bit carried away in the V&A. There were amazing kimonos in the Japanese gallery - and Mark took me round the cases, explaining what the objects were (like the difference between a saki bowl and a tea bowl) and then confessed that most of his knowledge came from watching The Water Margin! He got it all right, according to the labels, too. We spent some time admiring the katanas and other blades, especially the one made by a master craftsman who had managed to beat the image of a sinuous dragon into the blade as he was making it - it wasn't etched in afterwards; it really was part of the blade.
There was amazing embroidery in the Chinese gallery, and the head of a large statue of a Buddha, up on four pillars that you could walk underneath - which gave both of us a strange wobbly feeling.
The Medieval and Renaissance galleries were spectacular. They have one of the most beautiful statues of the Archangel Gabriel I have ever seen (with slots on his shoulders for the missing wings). There was German stained glass, showing a scene of Jesus getting circumcised in the Temple, which struck me as an unusual choice of subject. I think my favourite item, though was the almost life-sized Jesus sitting on a donkey, on wheels, which was trundled in procession around the streets of a German town on Palm Sundays.
We had a snack in the most opulent of tea rooms, full of original Victorian tile work and stained glass windows. Outside, children were paddling in the pool in the courtyard (the sign said that paddling was permitted, as long as people didn't take their clothes off). Beside the pool was a wooden sculpture which Mark said looked to him like "Ents partying".
On the way out, we passed a man who was ignoring the exhibits to photograph the marble staircase in extreme close up, for an art project. This was just to one side of the main entrance, where they have an enormous modern glass sculpture hanging over the desks, in greens and yellows. It was quite spectacular.

From there, we went on to Harrods, past various embassies. The food halls have changed a lot since I last went in there - I don't remember all the places to sit down and eat they have now. It did amuse me that the ice cream parlour was called Morelli's (Leon Morelli used to be Richard Booth's greatest rival in Hay). They were also selling Tyrell's crisps, which are local - only the best in Harrods! And speaking of the best, how about 22 carat gold leaf tea? They had some on display under glass. And yes, it really was gold.