Same Shirt, Different day-2012 Adventures of the "Devonport Wonder Babes"

Saturday 4^th August

Off early to watch Women’ Triathalon around Hyde Park. Had nice walk from Tube station through Green Park down to Buckingham Palace and found spot right against barrier where we could see the cycling leg.

The riders did 7 circuits of this course and we saw about 4 of them, and were easily able to see all 3 New Zealanders in the first two bunches.

Then walked up to Hyde Park itself with hordes of other people hoping to catch the end of the run on the big screen we knew was there.

But that turned out to be not what we had hoped. Firstly the only entrance was up at the other end of the park at Speakers corner, a 10-15 min walk. Secondly it wasn’t just a screen in a park where people could take a picnic and sit on the grass but a whole enclosed space, with music blaring and from what we could see just one screen way over the back corner. Worse thing was that to get in there you had to go through whole security screening  process and with my Swiss army pocket knife in my pocket that wasn’t an option plus no food or drink allowed in.

Walked back down Oxford St and around corner to 139 bus stop. Half way back to flat we spied a street market going on in Church St and hopped of the bus and spent about 2 hours there amongst the most amazingly diverse group of people. Later we discovered that it is a community with lots of Somali and Pakistani Muslim people.

Then caught bus home laden down with fresh fruit and vegetables and resolve to return and look thru Alfies Antiques in Church St, 4 floors of different individual  traders, very similar to what there once was in Devonport, but this one has been here for a very long time.  

There have been people living here since Saxon times.

Spent late afternoon and evening watching athletics from main stadium with break in between to go down the road for dinner at a really nice quiet little Italian restaurant called Osteria Spiga  in Broadhurst Garden Rd. Had a beautiful meal for reasonable price there in a downstairs area, with just 2 tables, and cheerful conversation with a couple sitting next to us who were regulars there, she was originally from Melbourne and he had travelled a lot in Africa doing consultancy work for UN. A pleasant evening all around.

3 Gold medals for Team GB in athletics tonight including Jessica Ennis  for heptathalon who has been the UK poster girl for these games, so there was huge pressure on her to perform well  which she did and won by at least 300 points.