London trip, March 2026

Last Friday we took Bailey out to her boarding camp in the morning and then we hopped on the Eurostar late afternoon and went to London. We were sitting in a London theatre that evening. Over the next six days we saw seven plays, took four guided walks, and took in two museums. And we hit a lot of pubs, several repeats and several new ones (to us). Clay's brother Hugh was in London at the same time so we shared some meals with him and a couple of plays as well. 

We've been to London many times but never run out of things to do. It's an easy place to navigate and just walking around is its own form of entertainment. Here are a very few very random pictures of some of the sights.

This is one of our favorite pubs in the city, the Nell Gwyn.

It's a tiny place down an alley. Nell was an actress and mistress of King Charles II. 

This was weird. It was in Trafalger Square, where many (most?) protests and demonstrations take place. This one was in favor of the US/Israel War on Iran. As you can see, they love Trump. The protestors were promoting the son of the former Shah of Iran (who was ousted back in 1979) to be new regime that they hoped that Trump and Israel would install. It was surprising to see, although absolutely everything exists in London so maybe not so surprising. It was, however, a very small crowd. It was gross and disgusting and I gave them the finger. 

This is the gate house to some church. It is one of very few structures that survived the Great Fire.

The other side of the gate house. The house above it is actually of later construction I believe.

This (above and below) is Smithfield Market. It's still a meat market but will soon to closing.

This is another great old pub, Black Friars. 

The Templar's temple church.

A quartet of buskers performing at Covent Garden on Sunday morning.

Also at Covent Garden

The National Theater at night. We saw a couple of shows here.

One of the four massive bronze Landseer lions at Trafalgar Square. 

Not Christmas decorations, these were for Ramadan. 

This sculpture in Haymarket is one of my favorites in London. 

It's actually a fountain in warmer weather. 

The V&A Warehouse is the storage facility for the Victoria & Albert museum. They have recently opened it to the public and it's very interesting. This is where they store the many thousands of items in their collection that aren't on display in the main museum or the soon to open annex, the V& A East. You can actually request a certain item to be brought up for you to see (if done in advance). I assume there must be a complete catalog listing on the contents. They have a permanent David Bowie exhibit because they hold everything that he collected over the many years of his career. This place is out in Olympic Park, the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. 

This picture doesn't give a sense of the size, but this is giant canvas used as the backdrop for a ballet. So it's theater size. The figures are taken from a Picasso painting.

This is the formal meeting room in the County of London building. It's being used as the set for an Agatha Christie courtroom drama called "Witness for the Prosecution." Twelve members of the audience served as the jury. It was very good and had an ending that no one saw coming. (I was quite certain that I knew who the killer was, and I was quite wrong.)

We just happened to see this statue of Isambard Kingdom Brunel while we were walking around. He was a civil engineer in England during the industrial revolution. He was responsible for the first tunnel under the river Thames as well as many significant and monumental structures (the dockyards, the Great Western Railway, trans-Atlantic steamships, bridges, tunnels, etc.)

This statue of Elizabeth I is on a church on Fleet street but it was originally part of the Temple Bar (last picture below).

The home of Dr. Samuel Johnson (who wrote the first English dictionary).

A monument to Hodge, Dr. Johnson's cat.

The Temple bar, originally one of the gates to the walled City of London. It's been moved and is now in Paternoster Square near St. Pauls. I'm assuming that the empty niche in the center of the top is where that statue of QE 1 came from. 

As always, FUCK TRUMP, FUCK HIS ENABLERS (the ENTIRE GOP), FUCK HIS WAR(s), FUCK ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS HIM. 

Seven months

Today is March 1st, meaning that we've now been here for seven months. Time flies. 

I don't really have anything new to report. Bailey and I walk about 10 miles every day. We've been attending lots of cultural events (a museum visit, two concerts and a dance performance last week), and we've taken in some movies, and are going to a circus later this week. We are going to London on Friday for about five days. Bailey will be staying at her away camp, which she seems to enjoy. Spring is happening. Flowers are blooming and flowering trees are coming out. Buds are forming on trees and shrubs. We've had some really beautiful days. I really like early spring weather. The coolness is great for walking and it's really great on a sunny day. 

I try to make sure that Bailey has an opportunity to play with other dogs every day. We go to the big field near the Citadel where people with dogs hang out. It's sort of an unofficial dog park. Lately, however, we haven't been hitting it when other people and dogs are around, or if they are, Bailey hasn't shown any interest in playing with them. I can't force her to play, so we just go on our way and continue our walk. She really enjoys off leash time in the wooded areas and we often encounter other dogs along the way, which provides other opportunities to play.

In the last few days I've been concerned that she hasn't had a good running session with any other dog for at least the past week or more. We've met dogs who clearly wanted to play with her, but she has politely declined the invitation. Maybe it just hasn't been the right dog in the right place at the right time. Still, she seems fine and still seems to really enjoy at least the wooden portions of our walks. I guess she's been getting enough exercise and stimulation without running with other dogs. 

Today's walk started out much the same. We headed first to the big field in search of play opportunities. We didn't find anyone there but we did pass another dog on a walk and she went up to him and tried to initiate play. That was the first time I've seen her do that lately and I was glad to see it, even though it didn't happen with that particular dog because they were walking away from us. We encountered other dogs while walking and again she showed more interest than she had lately so I thought that maybe it's just a matter of finding the right opportunity. Finally, on our third pass by the big field we encounter two young men walking with two off leash dogs, a golden retriever and a whippet. Bailey did a play bow with the golden and they had a brief chase, but it was the whippet who really engaged with her. 

That little whippet was one of very few dogs we've met who could outrun her. He was fast and he showed no signs of slowing down, ever. He led her in a chase all around that big field, doing huge circles around us but always remaining within sight. After what seemed like a very long time, (although it probably wasn't more than five minutes) Bailey slowed down and came to a rest near me. The golden had long since given up the chase and was off doing retriever things. I let her catch her breath, said goodbye and thanks to the other humans, and we headed back home. She always stretches out and naps after our walks but I think she's going to have a particularly sound sleep when Clay and I go off to a movie this afternoon. 

It made me happy to see her run like that again. She can do it when she wants to, I just have to provide the opportunities and let her choose.

A late walk on a wet evening.

This was the first daffodil I saw in bloom but later in the day there were hundreds. 

Off leash time in woods is her favorite.

One of our recent walks.

FUCK TRUMP, FUCK HIS WAR, FUCK ICE, FUCK ALL THEIR VOTERS AND ENABLERS.