Filming at Tower Bridge...

It was exciting to happen upon a filmset one Sunday afternoon late in April. Jimmy and I were originally told to wait as we prepared to walk down the stairs from Tower Bridge, but then were quickly cleared to go ahead. We saw that something was being filmed, so we stuck around to see what it was.

We saw a clapperboard nearby that said Qatar Airlines, but were confused why there would be so much production equipment for a commercial. We stayed around long enough to watch an actress run down the stairs multiple times.

Jimmy had a chat with a cameraman between shots who said that they expected to work through most of the night. On our way home, we were surprised to see a large assortment of trailers and security nearby, again hinting that this was a big production. 

After dinner, we decided to walk back to see what was happening. They were now filming the same actress getting into a taxi over and over again after a man exited the taxi. Between shoots, someone would rush over with a coat and fix her hair. 

The tourists had all cleared out and no one paid any attention to us, so we could get very close to the director. After a friend posted that she saw Mission Impossible being filmed in Trafalgar Square, I assumed that we had witnessed some scenes as well and the clapperboard was a distraction. Many months later, I finally did a search and learned that I was way off. We had indeed witnessed an ad being filmed for Qatar Airlines, which tells a sweet story.  

 

Random Hashes in April...

In early April, we ran with EELS (East End of London Something) H3 on their Jack the Ripper Trail. I missed much of the craziness because I was too slow, but Opee witnessed the reenactments of where various victims of the infamous serial killer had been found. 

Two days later, we posed at this lovely spot for a London H3 group photo in Gunnersbury Park.

Later I led the circle at The Globe in Brentford. It’s always nice when we have a private room in a pub for down-downs.

We hashed for the first time with Enfield H3 in mid-April on a lovely night.

Although London H3 started in Aldgate on April 20, much of the trail was in Wapping. I encouraged Sparerib and Mouthwash to follow me to check out the view along the Thames before passing our building just a few minutes later. 

After the trail, Carla joined us for lunch at Old Spitalfields Market. On the way to drop her at the station, we came across Together Forever on Wheels by Gillie and Marc featuring our favorites: Rabbitwoman and Dogman.

 

Azalea Hash in Richmond...

Jimmy was on a train back from Brussels that evening, but I was happy to be around to do Man Magnet’s spectacular annual Azalea Hash for West London H3 on April 25. It was an A-to-B trail starting in Richmond and ending in Kingston with the bulk of the trail in Richmond Park. 

The main goal of this particular trial was to see the azaleas in bloom in Isabella Plantation, a large Victoria garden from 1830. Man Magnet regularly volunteers at the gardens of Hampton Court, so she was the perfect hare to bring us through this beautiful garden when it was in full bloom. 

Glad I wore the correct colors.

The rest of the park seemed almost boring in comparison. It got dark while we were at the drink stop which was in the park, but we eventually found our way out to the city streets and on to the pub,

 

Neighborhood Cygnets...

The first time I photographed our local swan nest at the end of Spirit Quay was on March 17.

On our walk to a London H3 trail starting in Aldgate on April 20, we spotted a newborn cygnet.

Then on the 24th, I saw the whole brood. 

From this angle you can see the fencing put up to protect the nest.

Not sure when they first swam, but they didn’t hesitate to leave the nest at just four days old.

One of the eggs never hatched.

Both parents took the seven cygnets off for a swim... 

…but while one sat with them in their new house down the canal a bit, the other sat on the remaining egg.

 

Guys + Dolls...

That evening Veronica and I headed to Bridge Theatre to watch the musical Guys and Dolls.

While I opted to book seats, this play had an option to stand on the stage. 

This was taken before the show, so doesn’t show how bits of the stage moved, so the standing audience had to move around as well. 

While we were very impressed with the staging and enjoyed the songs, we weren’t crazy about the story. 

The moon put on a nice show for our walk home. 

 

Walking in Winchester...

It was a bittersweet visit to Winchester to spend two nights with Carlin and Kent as I knew that it would be final visit there as they would be moving back to the Netherlands in July. Carlin and I went on a nice long walk where we came across a hash trail. 

The next morning we celebrated Kent’s birthday...

…and then walked to the nearby horse farm where we saw foals. 

It was a very relaxing visit. I would have loved to have stayed a bit longer, but needed to get back to meet Veronica, who was coming into town to speak at a postgraduate conference. I spotted this field of rapeseed from the train. 

 

London Marathon...

On April 21, we went to watch some of the London Marathon as the route came near Shadwell. We couldn’t join the hashers at their beer stop since Jimmy had a flight to catch that afternoon and I was heading to Winchester to visit Carlin. 

Here are the elite men flying by...

…and the elite women. We stuck around long enough to see some of the first non-elite runners came past. 

What we hadn’t taken into consideration was that roads in our neighborhood was completely cut off, so anyone wanting to get anywhere would need to take the Overground. I was shocked when I saw the huge line outside of the station as staff had to control how many people could stand on the thin platforms. I had built in only an extra 15 minutes to get to Waterloo and quickly realized that wouldn’t be enough time and I would likely miss my train. So I decided to walk to London Bridge Station in hopes of having better luck. While it wasn’t much fun walking with my duffel bag, it was cool walking past the runners on Tower Bridge. 

London Bridge was also crazy busy, so I went ahead and walked to Waterloo. Despite being an hour late, the conductor luckily agreed to honor my ticket. Jimmy’s journey to City Airport was a bit rerouted, but he had the good fortune that he was brought through a back door down to the platform at Wapping. Since then we have learned about a pedestrian tunnel that would have allowed us to get to Shadwell Station and I have already marked my calendar to avoid travelling on next year’s marathon.