London, family, and the great Airbnb swap!

London is famous for a lot of things. For me, one of my favorites is the public green spaces. In March the leafless sticks that have lain dormant for months now, are starting to bloom and bud. New leaves are emerging, bulbs are battling their way through the earth and spring flowers are smiling out through the mostly barren garden beds.

Holland Park’s gardeners have been busy tilling the soil and encouraging some truly vibrant tulip activity. The first three days of my stay were very strange, mostly because my flat was in an unexpected situation. And although the description did say that it was a flat within a flat (and the host did say we “shared a hallway” to access the little flat’s front door) I did NOT expect to be living in someone else’s house, with no way to lock my door and the stench of cigarettes, and hoarder style mess greeting me every time I came and went. After three days of hopping on and off trains and walking the absolutely lovely neighborhood, then feeling down as I returned “home” to such an uncomfortable ( and frankly quite dysfunctional) living environment… I was done. The cream on the cake was the screaming argument between my host and her husband on Thursday night, which rang throughout my flat, and prompted my search for new quarters, a polite request for a refund, and a short transfer to my gorgeous little flat in Blackheath. Phew. The refund came through with a promise not to post a review and I was settled again… on the COMPLETE other side of London.

On a very positive note, Blackheath is MUCH closer to Imogen, and is walking distance to Greenwich Park, which I have walked and ridden through numerous time over the past 8 days since I switched flats.

Greenwich Park is home to the Queen’s House, Maritime Museum, and the Greenwich Observatory. It’s a huge green space and tourists and locals spend hours there each week walking their dogs, riding bikes, and walking. Did I tell you Londoners LOVE to walk? FAST! I now know why there are people posting on TikTok about going into “training” for their holidays abroad. Having a car in London is a DRAG. So people walk. I have been tracking my steps every day in my journal. Holy shit. My record thus far is 18,562 steps in one 24 hour period. Ummmm, that’s 6 times my daily average in San Diego. OK, I know, my average is super low, but this is a change I will be implementing when I get home.

Anyway, onto to the “family” portion of my post. My 1st cousin once removed lives in London. Actually, she walks in Greenwich Park on a regular basis with her daughter Rae who is 2 1/2. She and her husband, James, live in Hither Green which is about a 45 minute walk from Greenwich Park and, because she’s a mad Londoner, that’s not far!

So, at my Mum’s suggestion, we all decided to meet for lunch, and Nicole suggested the Greenwich Tavern (which is walking distance for us all; me from my new flat in Blackheath, Immy from student housing in Deptford, and well, you know that anywhere in London is apparently walking distance for Nicole!)

We met and instantly liked each other. Rae was very entertaining and we had a lovely lunch.

Immy says she now knows where my nose comes from. LOL. I’m so happy we all met. It feels really good for Imogen to have actual family in London.

And here’s a mini extract of how this all works. Nicole is my Mum’s brother, Reg’s, grand-daughter. So his son Graeme is my 1st cousin. Graeme is 73. We have weird generations in my Mum’s side of the family because Reg was 13 years older than my Mum (Reg passed away many years ago). So my Mum became an Aunt when she was only 10. Thus, the age difference between Nicole and I. Nicole had Rae when she was 38, so similar to me she is an older (but way more fun) Mum.

Hope you enjoyed this post Blog world. I’ve got another one in the making… stay tuned!