Today was our Jane Austen day! I had pre-booked us tickets to Alton, the train station nearest to Chawton. Sherlock was not terribly excited about going, as he finds her books "boring and nauseatingly predictable," but I distracted him on the train by teaching him how to crochet a granny square for approximately the 243rd time (he deletes it every time, apparently). I worked on a scarf for Harry.
Whilst using the loo on train, I found this sign quite amusing and just had to share.
And then we were in Alton! We got off the train and looked for what bus we needed, only to find that...their buses don't run on Sundays. But it was only a bit over a mile and a half, so we set off on a Sunday stroll towards Chawton. And then we were there!
We spotted some people just our size and I thought it would be polite to have a chat, but someone got all stroppy about me not paying attention to him.
The museum had some children's activities which I thought might distract the git, but when I turned round, he'd done this:
After touring the house and grounds, and having our lunch in the garden, we saw a vintage double-decker bus pull up to the gate and found out that on the first Sunday of the month, someone runs a vintage bus shuttle from Chawton to the Alton train station free of charge!
We'd made it back to London earlier than I'd anticipated, so I thought I'd reward the world's only consulting detective with a stop by one of his favourite places.
Lestrade didn't have anything intetesting for us, so off we went on our sightseeing journey again. Next stop was the restaurant where I saw Sherlock (pretending to be a waiter...bit not good, that) for the first time after mourning him for two years. Still wish I'd hugged him instead of decking him, though. I was just in such disbelief, you know?
And as long as we're in that part of my life, here's me in front of "the lie in Leinster Gardens." Intriguing aspect of London regardless of the tumultuous personal events that took place there.
On a happier note, we wandered past Leadenhall Market, which was used as Diagon Alley in the first Harry Potter film. Gorgeous building!
By that time, we were fairly exhausted. We'd also decided that our least favourite Tube line is the Bakerloo...and then immediately felt a bit tickled that we've been here long enough to have a least favourite Tube line (I believe our favourite is the Circle line). Anyway, we trudged back to our hotel, ordered dinner, and each settled down with a nice drink. You all know that Sherlock can't hold his booze, so he wisely went for a Pepsi; but after walking all over kingdom come today, I felt I'd earned something with a bit more of a kick.
Back in the room now and ready to relax a bit after posting this. Hope everyone's Sunday was as brilliant as ours was!
- JW