#31 Minding the Gap

England, like Norway and Germany, would have been a budget-excluding nation to visit if we didn’t have family or friends to host us. My partner is from England though, born and half-raised in London. His charming uncle and family live there still, near Hammersmith Bridge in Barnes or Richmond Upon Thames… It seems there are many ways to describe everything around there: The United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, The British Isles, The Commonwealth of England, etc. The geographical groupings and exclusions have been tricky to explain to the boys.

Our relatives in London were very welcoming, and they have an apartment adjoining their house which they lent to us for a couple weeks, wisely barring off the door connecting the two habitations for the greater good of all parties. We enjoyed many nice dinners together, involving healthy pescatarian spreads, story swapping, rolls on the floor with their “chill sausage” dog, Dougie, and the solidification of affections with relations who are usually hemispheres away. It was a very warm and accepting environment to be in. And acceptance and warmth is something our family really needs these days. From others. And from ourselves.

We are growing quite weary of travel. Weary of moving and adaptation. Weary of heightened awareness and sustained absorption. We are weary of one another, and I am weary of myself. I’m even weary of this blog and the energy it takes to capture our experiences. We packed a bit much into our two weeks in England, a nation the size of Mississippi (and so very unlike it). It was fantastic, amazing, spectacular…. but I’m weary of finding words. Fortunately, where words fail, there are always photos to fill the gap. I’ll lean on those this week.

My partner’s uncle and family were a total delight and very skilled at adapting to our rowdy crew… Dougie, the dog, helped bridge the gap in our “normals.”

The boys were very impressed that London dogs do 1,000 pound poos.

The charming and historic Hammersmith Bridge was walked many time as it take us to the Underground Station. We got to observe the tidal River Thames at many stages.

Scary, these two! Good world-schooling to learn how to navigate London’s Underground with its elaborate map. There are a few concepts that are fun to explain and then practice.

We’ve been talking about finding our favourite restaurant, Chipotle, for awhile. London is our only stop that has it. It’s like Mecca for our family. A religious experience. As we relished our favourite dishes, we watched London’s kaleidoscope of humanity walk by, and we talked about how small towns and small ponds of all kinds can make you feel like you don’t fit in, but it’s important to always remember that sometimes that just means you haven’t found “your people” yet. Big cities like London are where many people find their groove in life. There are certainly all sorts walking these streets. The boys loved it and might make it a home one day… who knows?

The British Museum entrance requires the wide lens.

At the admission-free, totally-packed British Museum, we had a nice wander around. This is a replica of The Rosetta Stone, which you are encouraged to touch. “Captured in Egypt by the British Army 1801” and “Presented by King George III” are inscribed on it. We discussed the means by which much of this museum’s collection of artefacts was procured by British imperialism. It fit in with all our conversations about French, British, and Spanish colonialism we’ve discussed so far. I didn’t really understand things like this at their ages. I’m glad they are developing this bigger picture of world history early.

The Rossetta Stone itself is famous for helping to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs because it had the same message in three languages: ancient Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Demotic. As hieroglyphics had been out of use for centuries, their meaning had been lost, but this message, which was a decree on behalf of King Ptolemy V of Egypt about honouring him and granting privileges by a council of priests (or something), allowed them to unlock the meaning of the mysterious pictographic script. The writing is tiny.

I had never really appreciated the jawline of these great stone statues from Easter Island. The Moai, made of monolithic volcanic rock, are still a wonder because their transportation across the island back in 1250-1300 CE is an engineering mystery. And they look cool. They command reverence. Must be the jawline.

This guy, who doesn’t want to go anywhere any more, was willing to hit the local Hammersmith pub with me a couple times. Coke and hot chips. Good bonding time. The news imagery on tv about the humanitarian crisis in Palestine gave us some conversation points to consider.

Almost as soon as we arrived in London, we drove off to visit some good friends in Cambridge, and our pal there was ready to roll out the red carpet for our crew. Big time. We feasted like kings… better than most kings, I’d wager. These are the massive steaks for our dinner, but first….

It was the lunch that untied our shoelaces with total awe and delight! Our friend is an owner of Mercado Central (the dark blue building we are heading towards). It’s a very gourmet Spanish restaurant, and no detail was spared. Wine, dessert, monkfish, Spanish jamon, shrimp, croquetas like we’d never tasted (and probably never will). Wow! This restaurant is seriously skilled at delivering magical dishes. We all agreed it was easily the best meal of the year. Perhaps a lifetime.

The Madrid expat crew reunited. Joining us left is my partner’s BBC cameraman and good mate, who is also now in Cambridge. With good friends, the affection flows so easily as if no time has passed. This was such a high point of our trip. (My partner has a moustache at the request of the boys. It is gone now.)

And our boys are so good at jumping into the adult friend vibe. I knew these two would hit it off.

After our amazing lunch, we had Cambridge to conquer.

Clearly, they were born for such endeavours.

A bicycle helped get the little one rolling again. Feet dragging is a literal thing with him.

Punting is something I’d never heard of. It was described like the canal boats in Venice being propelled by a driver with a long stick. That’s what it was. While our boat was booked, some of us watched watercolour landscapes emerge from blank paper. I’m not sure our observance was completely welcomed, but the boys offered lots of praise and delight!

At least one among us knew how to captain the “punt” (boat). Thank goodness.

Punting is a beautiful way to see the buildings and bridges of Cambridge. “The College Backs” they are called.

Until your wild children decide it is much more enjoyable to jump into the water and swim around a bit, boarding other people’s punts, dancing on the front of ours, and starting splash fights with other more lively punt crews.

It was quite the experience to be, once again, the mother of “that family.”

The boys were, as always, very good at chatting people up. The man behind us was punting around his parents who were visiting for his graduation for his physics doctorate. The boys chatted with this scholar as if he were a soccer mate.

Back at the house, our gourmet-lifestyled friend rolled out the second act of culinary delights.

Our eldest was keen to learn all he could.

A dragonfly needed rescuing from the skylight… and I could see all of these men as their 13-year-old selves in this moment. What beautiful humans to reunite with. Now we just have to plot the next reunion… which seems impossible to fathom at this point. Unless they come to us! (hint-hint)

Back in Barnes, we played in the bright and quiet streets and found some good parks to explore… until a stomach bug hit and one of the boys confessed to actually drinking a cup of the Cambridge River water! We travel the world and not one boy illness until we arrive in England. They fell like dominoes to a 24-hour tummy bug.

We were a few people short for our London Ghost Tour due to this tummy bug, but we two had a great time learning both history and urban legend in the streets around Parliament House. Big Ben is actually the bell inside the tower. The tower is called Elizabeth Tower.

We heard lots of stories about the old buildings of London, like Westminster Abbey’s resident ghosts who have been known to guide tourists and then disappear into walls. There are also the monks who haunt the Jubilee Underground line, which was built through a grave site, and the ones in 10 Dowing Street, Churchill’s War Rooms, Buckingham Palace, the Guard House, and many other sites. Ghost tours are the best for sneaking history into the brain.

We saw the changing of the guard at the Horse Guard House as part of the tour (quite a few stories there). It was funny to see the more modern guard lounging around, armed to the teeth, while the “Life Guard” (the mounted regiment) kept the traditions alive with such elaborate ceremony and seriousness.

Buckingham Palace was a bit grey and lifeless on this overcast day, and it didn’t have many interesting ghost stories either. Perhaps the ghosts in all the closets make up for it?

A walk to Soho to check out a historic spot led us through Chinatown.

The Broad Street Water Pump was a site I wanted to find and share with the boys. During the Soho Cholera Epidemic in 1854, Dr John Snow was able to trace the source of the outbreak to this water pump through mapping cases and interviewing residents. Having a hard time convincing the parish council that contaminated water was the source of the outbreak, he did eventually get them to remove the pump handle and limit the spread of Cholera. Before the disease-causing capabilities of “invisible” microbes had been widely established, Snow’s work in the systematic tracing of cases and his fight to address the threat to Soho residents was ground-breaking public health work. Now “removing the pump handle” is an expression referring to decisive government action to address threats to public health. On the spot today is the John Snow Pub, outside which I had a Guinness and paid hommage. This kid kept me company… and hopefully learned something.

We found a place with 4 pound pizzas and yummy chocolate shakes. The people-watching was spectacular.

Piccadilly Circus. I love researching the origin of names, and this one is begging to be investigated. A piccadilly, if you don’t already know, is one of those frilly white collars that looks like a doily neck brace, and a successful 17th century tailor of these collars had a home here. “Circus” comes from the circular shape of this unique intersection where Regent Street, Piccadilly, Shaftesbury Avenue, Haymarket, and Coventry Street meet. Useless information, but I love it.

We caught a movie at the local Westfield Centre near Wood Lane. *How to Train Your Dragon* was quite good. Nice to not have to worry about language or subtitles or any other such details.

Our Beefeater guide was about 60% history and 40% jokes…which made you doubt the history. Really, it was quite fun, and I loved sharing it with the one boy who could make it. I went as an 11 year-old and loved it. I was really hoping to share it with all three boys. Microbes had other plans.

They had a beautiful art installation of poppies climbing the White Tower to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII.

This was a humbling parent pivot. As a child, I was captivated by the stories of The Tower and Henry VIII, in particular. I really wanted to find “the block” that was used for beheadings as I remembered this so well as a kid. When we got to the spot that I felt like it should be, there was this memorial. On closer inspection, this glass pillow has replaced the block to honour the poor souls who were executed. I had to do a quick and graceless swapping of my gruesome-history-loving hat to a more modern hat that recognises the injustices of the past and its victims. I think I pulled it off well enough. “Where’s the bloody block!?!… Oh, wait, let us take a moment to recognise…”

Another AirB&B Tour was a Harry Potter walking tour that started at Platform 9 3/4 in King’s Cross Station. This alley in Goodwins Court was the inspiration for Knockturn Alley, the dark arts side of Diagon Alley. The curved glass windows are quite cool. And there is a Harry Potter themed AirB&B here with a sign that says “Muggles Tolerated.”

This street, Cecil Court, is thought to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley. At the very end, you can see that Chipotle is on Diagon Alley… we were totally delighted.

This is near Scotland Yard, which served as the outside of The Ministry of Magic in the films.

Walking Hammersmith Bridge to catch our early train to Gatwick for a flight to Norway mid-way through our time in London. Yes, we are a bit crazy. We know. I feel it.

This tour was one of the best so far- a street art tour in London’s East End. If you’ve been following along the whole gap year journey, you know that I am drawn to this rogue art form. This tour made me love and understand it even more. There are a few types of graffiti. This here is a collection of paste-ups. Apparently, it’s not actually illegal to paste on top of something that’s already there because your adhesive is not damaging to the facade. This section here is a space which is allowed for this purpose. It is dense with messages and emotion.

Tagging is another form of graffiti, which is quite common. We actually saw someone tagging a door while on the tour. This is simply when a person writes their name in a stylised way on a public surface. Our guide explained that in many neighbourhoods this is a way of speaking out against gentrification. When you don’t feel you have a voice or a platform, tagging and other graffiti is a way to be seen and have an impact, a way to convey the frustration and anger felt by some members of society. The orange fox paste-up is done by a woman artist, and it is meant to express the sort of nighttime sneaking around that these artists have to do. For women, in particular, the nocturnal nature of this art can be dangerous.

I didn’t catch the names of all the artists, but this one is a popular local. Many of these artists end up getting famous and being commissioned to do big pieces, which can be quite tricky legally. Having an online profile of your work needs to be done under an alias. Then, anonymity must be maintained, even when your work starts to get recognised because of all the “vandalism” that has been performed under your signature. There is also a lot of etiquette about spaces and who can use them in this underground community. You can see to the far right of this piece that someone has tagged it. It is off to the side, so not really disrespecting the work, but this is a way of someone saying, “This has been here for awhile. Let’s consider something new in this space…” Or something.

This piece is by an Australian artist and incorporates the dot work that can be seen in many Aboriginal painting styles. The dots are allowed to drip as part of the style inspired by a children’s workshop where all this kids’ dots dripped, but in general, making a dot that does not drip is one of the first skills to develop as a grafitti artist.

This is a “permission piece” done by a woman during the Covid lockdowns. It is important for women, especially, to be able to work with permission because it allows them to work in daylight, not alone at night. This work is especially skilful because it was done on scaffolding, which is very difficult to get a perspective on and to have to work around all the poles. Using a cherry picker, as people often do, allows you to pull back from the piece to get a good perspective as you work. Remember: All of this is done with spray paint. Such an impressive art form.

This artist, Alleynaut, had a lot of poetry around the area.

Lots of politics here. The clown is Trump and Elon Musk is a Nazi, which is part of a group of works called The Turd Reich. The beautiful stick figures are conveying a clear message with such simple forms. Look at the body language. How can apology and forgiveness be so clear yet so simple? You could spend all day reflecting here… and this was just one spot of many.

This one, which is rudely playing with the movie Up, uses a new style of painting, which actually looks best when a photo is taken with a phone. Our phones use High Dynamic Range (HDR) which makes colours more vivid and makes these balloons look best when posted on an Instagram profile. It looked pretty impressive in person too.

Some graffiti involves elements of sculpture or collage, which can be quicker to install, but the fines can be higher if caught because the glues used can actually require the surface to be repaired, as opposed to just painted over.

This metal devil is standing on top of an oil barrel at the top of a pole. He is actually welded on, and the artist is a man in his 70s who works at night. One of my boys asked, “Why is his weiner so long?” Our guide explained the message of the evils in our environmental impact. Across the street is a wind turbine work by the same artist. Interestingly, these works on the tops of poles are not often taken down because they are not even noticed. Only people looking around at the world would even see this devil and his cleaner counterpart.

This artist uses street signs to play. Some used LEGO bricks. Some made fake historic tiles.

This Portuguese artist used the blue and white tile style of his country to spread a message of peace. So many of these artists are delivering messages of a noble nature: acceptance, peace, compassion, uprising against injustice, demonification of the harmful forces in our world. They are the voices of progress, fairness, and the type of fight that makes us humans better. I am totally in love with these artists and the very special nature of their unpaid medium. Their ingenuity, their risk-taking, their skill, their challenges, and the way it is shared with us all without an admission price. They might just recruit me to their ranks. Total respect.

I could go on and on with all the learning we did on this tour. There is much more, but this last one is cool because the artist really uses features of the spaces he works on, incorporating pipes, chains, and protruding angles. He also anticipated that the lower part of this wall would get gratified, so he designed his stilted city and the man in the boat (left) with space for their works to become the bubbly sea below. Apparently, he had fish below that got covered up- an intentional message about humans overfishing our seas. Don’t forget that so many of these artists are using very difficult spray paint techniques while constantly looking over their shoulders, ready to run from the cops. How cool are these humans.

And to end the tour, we got to have a play in a studio, which really helped us understand the challenges of this paint and deepened our appreciation for what we had seen on the tour.

We mostly used stencils and played with how distance and speed have different effects. The artists have to be so confident with their movements because going slow will cause drips. It’s unbelievable to look back at all the artwork we saw and try to imagine how they achieved what they did with spray cans… at night… while at risk of arrest.

And the travel-worn Crocs got a fresh look.

On the way home, we stopped at Princess Diana Memorial Park to meet up with an American-English family we met in Australia. Short on time, but long on good vibes. Such lovely souls.

Back at our London home, this guy made Chocolate Cake a la YouTube with the help of his lovely assistant (first cousin once removed).

And I managed to make my first decent meal in months. It is so hard to cook when you don’t have your usual ingredients and kitchenware. AirB&B living has its perks and downfalls. A big perk I’ve been appreciating is not being anywhere long enough to have to clean. I’ll take the wins and try not to mourn the challenges too pitifully.

One of our London highlights was being treated to a generous stock of English books. Our book-seller cousin was a pro at helping the boys find reads to please their unique interests… and then some! What a lovely memory and a loving connection made.

I took advantage of all the arts in London and signed us up for a screen-printing class too.

Then we printed them in the colours we wanted through a screen. Our teacher was so good at allowing the boys freedom to be creative but ensuring the product was well made.

“But First Cuddles” – perfect for this guy

And back to the airport we went… weary but onto the Iberian Peninsula for our final two countries.

Thank you, England, and all our lovely, loving people. It goes without saying that we will return one day… even the most reluctant among us, no doubt.

One response to “#31 Minding the Gap”

Sue Mc

September 14, 2025 at 7:47 pm

Wow Dede, England looks really amazing! So many things to see, we’ll have to stay there for a month as well! We thought that photo of the traditional guards and the new police was great, as are all your other photos and stories! You’ve spent so much time on this blog, it really is a marvel! You and many others will treasure it forever! Xxx

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Mapping the Gap