Man the six inchers!

BEDFORD ROAD: After spending two weekends under the influence of illness and another in Brittany it was time to turn our hands to being tourists. So after taking inEl Topo (Tagline: See the naked young Franciscans whipped with cactus. See the bandit leader disemboweled. See the priest ride into the sunset with a midget and her newborn baby. What it all means isn't exactly clear, but you won't forget it.) at the recently renovated NFT on Friday night and working on Saturday morning it was time to take advantage of Londres.

Thanks to the generosity of the people at South Western Trains, or perhaps in compensation for their ridiculously overpriced train tickets, a load of London attractions are currently 2 4 1 upon presentation of a voucher and a South Western Train ticket. In an effor to mix the glorious, if unseasonal, April sunshine with our plans we visited the HMS Belfast which is moored on the Thames. This warship (or whatever the trainspotting military historians call a boat of her class) served in World War II and then the Korean War and now acts as a museum.

The six inchers

It was really cool. We were able to climb down into the bowels of the ship to look at the engine, we could peer out from the gun sights, we even got to see the onship DJ booth. In between we took time out to watch the Grand National which is the most random and ludicrous horse race I've ever seen. A field of about forty, they use a rope across the front to start, it goes for about eight minutes and about half the horses throw their jockeys leaving some of the horses to continue the race sans rider. Heading back to the ship with even the slightest beer buzz and some incredibly steep and narrow staircases to climb probably wasn't the brightest idea but we survived.

On Sunday we were supposed to visit Leeds Castle. Which is in Kent. Not Leeds. But we got far too drunk watching Point Break the night before and missed the coach. So instead we visited the London Wetlands Centre which was also 2 4 1. This outdoor centre is supposed to educate people about the various habitats of wetlands birds around the world but on a 25 degree April day the exhibitions labelled Iceland and Tundra seemed anything but. And the whole thing was packed full of ducks and pigeons. A little like visiting a zoo full of squirrels. But it was fun to be walking around a fairly large wetlands park and I do enjoy the serenity of the bird hides. I probably like the ones at Banyo better but then I'm a little strange like that.

This isn't a duck

Then after we finished we walked down to the pubs by the bridge at Hammersmith but they were too crowded so we sat in the park next door sipping cider feeling quite contended with the world. We finished the weekend watching Sunshine which was good except for a rather bizarre and rubbish twist.

Kate took this picture: they're flowers