My mini adventure

Today I have been on a mini adventure - alas it wasn't in a Mini (car) but via the delights of London buses and trains (does anyone else remember those adverts for Mini's - the Mini Adventures??). Anyway, I decided that I wanted to do something fun on my last day before chemo starts again tomorrow. I found a website that shows where all the gold postboxes are in the country (www.goldpostboxes.com) and it turns out that there are (currently) 6 in south-west London. Hopefully the Paralympians will do well in the coming couple of weeks and add more. Well, with the locations pinpointed I then planned my day using the trusty TfL Journey Planner. I decided to start with Pete Reed's postbox outside Chiswick Town Hall. I jumped on the train to Chiswick and then the E3 bus. I was planning to walk from the station to the town hall but as I got off the train, the heavens opened. Now of course I should have known this was going to happen, but I'd somehow missed this part of the forecast and left my umbrella at home, so off on the bus I went!! Here's Pete's postbox: 

So, having found the postbox I bought an umbrella and went to catch the bus (the 237) to my next destination - Isleworth. Just up the road from Isleworth station I found the first of Mo Farah's gold postboxes, to commemorate his 10,000m gold medal. Here it is: 

My next visit was to Mo's other postbox, commemorating his 5,000m win. This one was located in Teddington, so I caught the train down from Isleworth, via Twickenham. Here's Mo's second gold postbox: 

OK, so I was now half way through my list of postboxes. The next destination was Wimbledon, where two postboxes could be found, so it was back on the train. Just up the road from the station was Sophie Hosking's gold postbox: 

Then came the climb up the hill to Wimbledon village and then back down the other side of the hill to the All England Club. It was during this trek that I discovered that the blisters I got yesterday (from trainers I have had for years!) were not as well protected as I had hoped by the blister plasters - ouch!!! Anyway, I was very grateful when I found Andy Murray's gold postbox outside the All England Club. Here it is: 

Now, with my blisters, my plan was to get the bus back to Wimbledon station and then the train down to Cheam for the last postbox of the day. However, the bustracker app on my phone told me that the next bus was in 25 minutes! I'm not really one for waiting around so decided that the feet could hold up to walking back up the hill to Wimbledon village where I hoped that there would be more bus options. Typically, as I got about 20m back up the road the bus that I was told was 25 minutes away went past!! Oh well! Once back in Wimbledon village I caught the number 93 bus. When I saw that the destination of the bus was North Cheam I decided to stay on the bus through to there rather than get off at Wimbledon station and get the train. Once I got to the end of the bus route, I walked down to Cheam and found my final postbox - that commemorating Joanna Rowsell's win in the team pursuit. Here it is: 

After taking this snap, it was time to walk to Cheam station and catch the train home!! So, after 5 and a half hours, 3 buses and 5 trains I had visited the 6 gold postboxes on my mini adventure! I had also seem many parts of London that I've not been to before. Oh, did I mention that having bought that umbrella by Chiswick Town Hall, it had stopped raining by the time I got to Isleworth and remained dry for the rest of the day!! Typical! Never mind. I am now the proud owner of another black folding umbrella which will no doubt end up being left on a bus or train or in a pub somewhere in the future!!

I am now resting my poor feet before enjoying my final ice cream for a couple of months - cold sensitivity comes back tomorrow afternoon with my oxyplatin infusion. And then I have to also prepare for a certain sister's birthday on Wednesdy!! (I don't think she reads my blog - gets enough of me without it - but I'll leave out any birthday info until afterwards just in case).

Oh, check out these fun prints http://www.stuartsoriginals.com/cities.html I saw the London - Sporting City and London - World City prints in a gallery window in Wimbledon and thought they were great! (can I find somewhere to hang one, let alone justify buying one!!?? Hummmm)

Anyway, bye for now folks! No doubt the next post will be back about the joys of chemo!!

Take care

xxxxx