Isleworth a Trip

So, the title of this post is punnier (maybe?) if you know that the name of the town is pronounced Eye-zell-worth rather than I’ll-worth.  Anyhoo, here’s the latest from Pecklandia.

First, you should meet our newest pets — Zoe, a Jack Russell and Queen of the house, Charlie (our 2nd Charlie), a chocolate Labrador and all-around Mr. Nice Guy and tail-wagger, and Tino, the puuurrr machine who knows that orange is the new black!

We are located in the parish of Isleworth in West London.  It is located along the Thames and has a lot of schools and parks.  There are children everywhere.  The younger ones are often on push scooters with their parents on their way to or from school.  We are generally dodging the older ones who are walking while texting or otherwise involved with their phones.  In less mundane matters, we are learning a bit about the history and royal ties of the local area.

The very cute nearby town of Richmond is part of the borough of Richmond-upon-Thames which straddles the Thames River. It has a large number of parks and conservation areas.  It has been home to royalty and is currently home (so we are told) to rock royalty including Mick Jagger. 

We have enjoyed walking and running along the paths that follow the Thames but have been surprised by flooding on them on more than one occasion.  One day I ran out on the path only to have part of it be under water when I ran back.  With London being so far inland we were sure it couldn’t be tidal, but we have learned we were wrong.  The Thames has one of the most powerful tidal flows of any river in England.  It is a tidal river for 55 miles from the outer estuary between the Essex and Kent coasts to just past Richmond.  The difference between high and low tide at Tower Pier can be up to 26 feet and it takes about 5 hours for the tide to come in and more than 7 to go back out.(londonsriver.com)

We spent a lovely afternoon at Wimbeldon touring the grounds, visiting the museum, and wishing we could come back some July to watch the games.  The most amazing part of the tour (since Rafael Nadal wasn’t around) was learning about all the work that goes into the seeding and maintaining of the grass. The grass has to be sufficiently dry before it is cut and then they only cut 1 mm at a time!  The ideal height for the grass is 8 mm.

 

We have made it into London a few times as well.  We have the best of both worlds. We are living in a lovely residential area but close enough to pop into the big city.  Our first trip into London was to the Kensington area to find a big head sculpture that we had seen in a brochure.  All we knew was that it was suppose to be near the High Street Kensington tube stop.  We checked in the station, outside of the station, in a couple of nearby parks, and at City Hall and the library without luck. We even asked a few passers by, but they didn’t know either.  Bob finally asked in the library, and they suggested we check the School of Design a few blocks away.  So you can thank a London librarian for the photo below.

We also spent a good part of a day visiting the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) and walking through some of London’s lovely parks.  We sat in on part of a session of the House of Commons and heard them debate a government proposal to address youth homelessness and heard another member propose that the nation hold celebrations later this year to mark the Queen’s Sapphire Anniversary on the throne.