And now a report from our London Correspondent….

My sister, Judy, is calling London home for a little while. How hard would that be? 😉 So, I have asked her to be my London Correspondent for the blog — and she accepted, even before she knew what the pay was to be! She knows London well, and loves to investigate the quirky and more unusual aspects. You are unlikely to be taken on a tour of the Crown Jewels, but you will get to see parts of London that others might not show you.

Now, it is over to Judy…

London never ceases to be surprising, and often one thing will lead to other exciting finds. One of the latest treasures I have discovered is a series of benches placed around the city in different locations to highlight different books and authors. The project is called Books About Town, and you can see all of the wonderful painted benches on the website:

http://www.booksabouttown.org.uk

The first one I saw is absolutely splendid, in Red Lion Square, which in itself is a little treasure, an oasis of calm in the midst of busy streets and offices, with its own little café.

Red Lion Square, with its cafe, trees and pigeons

I have only seen two of them so far, and one was from a bus, but that is definitely a trail to follow in the next few weeks. They are even available for purchase for those who would like a literary bench, though I think they would be too heavy to post to Australia.

The second literary bench, as seen from the bus. (They don’t look very comfortable 😦 )

On the subject of gardens and benches, another lovely and surprising find was the rooftop garden in John Lewis store in Oxford Street. This busy shopping street is always crowded with people, but on the rooftop of the department store is a delightful peaceful spot. They have set up tables and chairs, and a little café with umbrellas and many flower boxes, to provide shade from the sun, and yes, it was hot the day I went.

There are views over the city of London, but the traffic below is just a distant hum.

There were even tables and chairs, and activities for children. Well done, John Lewis.