Today we have a bit of light rain in the morning, which isn't uncommon for London in November. We did get a bit of good news in that we learned that the rail strike has been postponed as negotiations continue but that apparently doesn't stop random outages and slowdowns on the tube. Today the Circle Line was "suspended," and so we had to replan our afternoon trip. A full tube strike is still set for Nov. 10, which will complicate things for us if it isn't called off.
We took our Beatles Tour by Black Cab today which was brilliant (to use the Brit expression). Just Jeanne and me and the cab driver, Big T. He did an excellent job taking us to the sights and telling a number of Beatles stories, as well as a few of his own personal stories. There were quite a few stops, but I'll just mention two. The first was the Savile Road building in the first photo. This was Apple Records headquarters but also the site of the famous "roof top concert."
The second site is Abbey Road studios where Jeanne and I tried to replicate a famous photo taken there in 1969. The actual studio is directly behind us on the left side of the road. Our cab is the black car parked illegally on the right side of the road. By the way, this photo was taken while we were stopping traffic so there was no real time to pose properly!!!
Four other blokes trying to copy us. Since I have space here, I'll repeat the story the driver told us as this photo was used as evidence to support the urban legend that "Paul is dead" back in the late 60s. Paul, second from the back, has no shoes and is out of step with the other Beatles. John, dressed in white, represents the minister, Ringo, dressed in black, represents the mourners and George, dressed shabbily in double denim, represents the gravedigger.
Finally, we went to an afternoon tea at the Milestone Hotel. This is a very posh hotel overlooking Kensington Palace complete with a doorman in formal clothes. To give an idea of poshness, I've included a shot of the dining room. More like someone's living room than a dining room.
It was the best tea that we've ever been to. The Brits really take pride in afternoon teas, and this was no exception. The finger sandwiches were great, and the desserts were even better. Not shown: Our scones with clotted cream and homemade jam.
Phrase of the day heard while using the tube: "See it, say it, sorted."
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