Thamesside Living

Happy Fourth of July! Sometimes the Brits magnanimously wish me happy returns of the day, USA.
Today it was time to get out of town. My street High Holborn is always abustle with traffic and folks, and after all London is a big city full of business and people living their lives not to mention us tourists scurrying about. The crowds, noise, and glare on the concrete get to me, and I crave green.
I took the tube out to Richmond about a forty minutes ride and walked through the town to the Thames Path. Richmond has an exceeding considerate scheme where by certain businesses post a notice that their toilets are open for public relief. As these businesses were shut tight Sunday morning, this did me no good.
So I proceeded more or less west or up stream beside the Thames, gradually leaving the traffic noise behind. The air grew fresher. Fisherfolks began to appear. Ducks, geese, and swans splashed or glided in the river. All swans belong to the Queen by the way. People strolled or biked along the river and dogs frolicked.
But I wasn’t just out for a stroll. I wanted to visit Ham House, a beautifully preserved Jacobean gem set back on its lawn overlooking the Thames. The docents boast that Ham House is the crown of the surviving early seventeenth century style. Many rooms are paneled in wood, and sometimes the panels and ceilings are elaborately carved with garlands and fruit. Some ceilings are painted. The floors display graceful parquetry patterns. The rooms are undoubtedly beautiful, but I find this period heavy and over grand rather than elegant.
One tapestry stood out for me. In outstanding condition with the colors still bright, it shows scenes from common life—the peasants down on the farm.
I was in luck, too, because some Stuart Era reenacters were on site. Period music played on authentic instruments accompanied me through the rooms. Outside the pungent odor of a wood fire wafted through the gardens as various crafts people demonstrated their skills.
One thing you can count on with the National Trust besides excellent caretaking of properties and that is a good shop. I came away with some naughtiness--two little bottles one of black current liquor and the other of elderberry liquor. I will, of course, report on any taste tests.
When I left Ham House I walked back towards Richmond a few hundred meters to the “ferry.” For a pound one can be taken across the river in an outboard. And I wanted to visit Marble Hill House.
For a royal mistress Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk (serving George II) seems a decent sort. She was essentially sold to the Hanovers by her abusive husband and creepy father-in-law, and as soon as she could she retired having acquired prime river front property. There she built an elegant residence where she entertained her friends Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Horace Walpole among others. Marble Hill House in the English Palladian style is not as grand as Ham House but seemed much more livable to me. Indeed I proposed to one of the attendants that I move in. She agreed that it would be a wonderful place to live but selfishly insisted that if anyone got to move in it should be she.
I strolled back towards Richmond through a green tunnel of interlaced oak boughs and both green and copper beech, punctuated by willows. I could smell the river, and it was a wholesome, green planty scent.
And then across Richmond Bridge and back to reality—a bustling Sunday afternoon with noise and traffic.
So, Pil. All that walking. You must have worked up quite an appetite. 
Sure did! On High Holborn all sorts of foods are on offer. I could even have Krispy Kreme—oh but I didn’t. I stopped at the Lebanese joint a few doors down and came out with a box of mezze. Baba ganoush so smoky and delicious and dolmas filled with rice, currents, and mint. A freshly made falafel garnished a sort of tomato/pepper/chickpea spicy stew that was just luscious. And of course I have loads of pita and hummous to round it out.
And the sprint finish to the TDF was punctuated by three separate crashes. The roads were smooth and broad so I am not sure that the deal was or what the fall out will be.
Cherrio!