Roses and Bunting and Furniture hunting!

On Wednesday last week, I arrived in London to an atmosphere of jubilation and excitement. I had inadvertently arrived on Jubilee weekend. I had no idea that the stodgy, old, British public could set aside their collective reserve, and throw themselves so wholeheartedly into a enormous display of gratitude to their Queen. The general consensus seemed to be that doing a job so tirelessly, and so diligently, for 60 years, whether you were a royalist or not, deserved some real respect! And she got it in spades!

Even though the weather was a bit gloomy, (real British summer weather, not that fake 80 degree stuff they’d been having earlier) – it did not dampen the spirits one bit. I actually heard it said that it was appropriate that it was a bit drizzly, added to the Englishness of the occasion!!

The timing could not be more perfect for the roses. Everywhere I walked through the London streets, I had to stop and snap the beauties tumbling over the garden walls. It was as if they had got the signal to be resplendent that weekend!

In Jessica’s street, there was a frisson of excitement – everyone was out putting up their bunting, and they were going to close the road for a street party on Monday. (Street parties are a  much loved British tradition)

I love my ‘granny’ duty of taking Arthur to Bishops park for his daily constitutional – and oh boy the roses there were just unbelievable!

Tiring him out is no mean feat, but I think I pulled it off!

The main purpose of my visit was to go and help out with some decorating  for my son’s recently acquired house in London.

#flattered!!

We loved this sofa in William Yeoward’s lovely shop on the Kings Road – manly yet elegant!

William Yeoward is so good at glass, how amazing is this lamp, now I want one too!!

I have learned from my kids that choosing a good house in London, also involves choosing a good local pub – lucky for us the new house has the Ladbroke Arms just round the corner.One we all know and love. Fun vibe and really good gastro-pub food!

Jess had been bunting shopping and bought us these ridiculous Jubilee hats! Not exactly sure where I’m going to wear mine!!

After lunch we did a quick walk down Kensington Church Street – my kids loved the Robert Kime shop – $$$$!!  We bought some gorgeous pillows – is it nature or nurture?? Who cares – our joint interior design project is going to be amazing!!

The Churchill Arms across the road from Robert Kime had taken the whole Jubilee thing to another level!

Had to pop inside to take a look – wow!

One of my favourite antique shops in London is the Lacquer Chest on Ken Church Street, the owner has such an amazing eye for unusual and unpretentious antiques.

How gorgeous is this pine hall chair – never seen a pine one before – want it bad!

Even the snotty antique china shops that never seem to be open had got into the swing of things!

Next day my kids took me to brunch at the most scrumptious little restaurant on New Kings Road – Megan’s.  The most delicious fresh food and Prosecco  for brunch – what could be more yummy!! BTW it has a lovely garden to sit in at the back.

Constantly on the look out – my decorator eagle eye spotted this amazing turquoise lantern in the Charles Edwards window as we headed to the bus for Hyde Park.

And OMG how about these incredible lights in the Emily Todhunter window. http://www.todhunterearle.com/emily-lighting.php

The sun came out in the park and it was nice to see that children were paddling in Lady Di’s memorial – finally I see the point of it, but still I feel it was a bit of a lame attempt to honour her.

The colour combinations of the roses in Hyde Park were just breathtaking.

We had come to Hyde Park to see the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Herzog de Meuron and the dissident Chinese artist  Ai Weiwei. We were not disappointed.

Fascinating!

That’s recycled cork people are sitting on.

I had a flight to catch, but I was so dying to catch a bit of the Queen’s flotilla – the highlight of the Jubilee celebrations. There were to be 1000 vessels taking part, and the city of London had closed the Thames floodgates to hold the tide steady for the precession – (unprecedented!)

Jess and I nipped down to the river through the park so we could catch the tail end of it. Love this sign! Don’t get between an Englishman and his dog!

Next day up went our bunting – Jessica’s design, Angus and my implementation, and with Arthur just happy to be out in the street! We were definitely the best- not that we’re competitive or anything!!

Arthur could sense the excitement in the air and didn’t mind the drizzle one bit!

Looking across the water we could see a huge party going on – (that might be one of the buildings that Prince Charles called a ‘carbuncle’ on the English horizon) – they certainly seemed to be getting into the spirit of things!

We did manage to catch one orchestra boat  –

they gave us a wave.

As we turned to leave, we saw this wondrous sight coming up the river – sea cadets flying their national flags – such gorgeous colours on the dull background…..

I got a bit of video – Hit Play below

Bye guys!!