September 22: Jeremy took Friday off, and we went to Windsor Castle, which involved a 50-minute train ride on the national rail. We managed to keep Jonah sufficiently occupied in his stroller both ways so didn’t have to contend with a toddler running up and down the aisles or in and out of the bathroom (referred to simply as “the toilet” here, and they’d wonder why you were asking to take a bath or shower in a restaurant if you asked for the "bathroom"). The Queen spends two months a year at Windsor Castle; she wasn’t in residence during our visit. Needless to say, the castle is stunning.
Much like his reactions to museums though, Jonah isn’t that interested in proper castle etiquette. We took a quick tour through the state rooms with Jonah in the Ergo carrier, trying to keep him entertained with Jeremy’s keys and other items we found rummaging in our backpack. We broke into somewhat of a sprint near the finish because Jonah started using his non-castle voice. Jonah, however, loved walking around the exterior of the castle and must have walked and/or pushed his stroller for almost ¼ of a mile (maybe a little less). Jeremy and I separately took a look into St. George’s Chapel, which is a spectacular example of Gothic architecture dating to the 15th century. The town of Windsor is also quite lovely. We enjoyed a somewhat leisurely lunch at an outdoor Italian café before taking the train home. That evening, Jonah started coming down with a cold.
On Saturday we had a lovely brunch with our cousin Putzi and her partner Frank. They brought Jonah a fabulous new toy with animals that pop up when you push, pull, or turn various levers. That kept him occupied for a while, until he went for the utensils as per the norm. We had to put the kibosh on that when he started wielding his fork, which Jeremy and I are used to but brought out the concerned grandmother in Putzi. In the afternoon we met up with Jason and his boyfriend, Jamie, at Regent’s Park, yet another park with an absolutely amazing playground. After Jonah got his fill of the playground (or, rather, we were able to coax him away with a ride on Jason’s shoulders, giving Jonah an Eiffel-Tower-type view), we walked around the Queen’s Garden, which has various postcard-perfect, small garden areas. We walked to Primrose Hill to catch a fabulous view of London on what was a glorious day along with a stunning sunset. So far, we’ve been unbelievably lucky with the weather.
On Sunday we went to Archbishop’s Park in the morning and in the afternoon to visit family friends of Jeremy’s parents who lived in the same house (then converted into separate flats) as Rhona, Harvey, Jeremy, and Josh during their sabbatical here back in 1983. The Protheroes have a fabulous home in St. John’s Wood just around the corner from Abbey Road Studio and the famous Beatles crosswalk. I expected something more spectacular, but the crosswalk looks like any other crosswalk in the city. Bummer. We, of course, took pictures in it anyway (mostly because I though my brother, Sam, would want to see what it looked like). In the evening, we had our good friend and KSG crew member, Brian Sage, who happened to be in town for work, over for dinner. It was a great visit and quite nice to see a friendly, familiar face.
Last night was a tough night for Jonah with his cold. Reminding us of his earliest days, he was up on and off all night and finally fell asleep in our bed for a few hours. We decided we needed to take him to a doctor today because we suspected he had an ear infection given his sleep (or lack thereof) pattern. At 8:30 am, Jeremy looked online and found the number of the local clinic. The clinic was able to schedule an appointment for Jonah at 9:10 am. Talk about customer service. Jeremy asked the person on the phone how much we would need to pay considering that we were foreigners. The receptionist laughed and said, “You pay nothing,” which we both assumed couldn’t be quite right. We arrived and filled out about five lines on a temporary resident form, and Jonah’s name was called on a loud speaker about 10 minutes later with instructions to go to room 8. There’s a map of the clinic, and you go find your own room, which in this case was a pediatrician’s office/examination room. The doctor was waiting for Jonah (yes, she was waiting for us!) and got right to business, asking us to describe Jonah’s symptoms and such. While there’s no ear infection, Jonah may have the beginning of some bacterial infection in his chest. She prescribed antibiotics and an inhaler with some respiratory drug to help Jonah breath more easily. We were in and out of there in 10 minutes, feeling like the doctor was warm and welcoming of questions but also incredibly efficient. She asked Jonah for the wood animal pieces back that she had given to him at the beginning of the exam. He willingly complied (always does when it’s a stranger). And off we went across the street to the chemist (i.e., pharmacy), which had a wide range of both conventional and homeopathic medicines. We turned in the prescription, were called up 5 minutes later and handed a bag, said, “Thank you,” and left. There was never any exchange of money. And people complain about socialized medicine… Our experience was amazing. I understand that the problem is with trying to see specialists and such, but I can at least attest to the fact that general care here is amazing and efficient.
This afternoon Jeremy left for Uganda, and Jonah and I strolled down to an adorable street of shops called Lower Marsh to get Jonah’s haircut. A salon—called Guys and Dolls—cuts kids’ hair on Mondays for only five pounds (that’s about 10 dollars). Jonah sat in the chair for close to 15 minutes while a nice woman cut his hair. Although I’d said I wanted to keep it long with a healthy trim, Jonah now looks like a completely different child with less hair than he’s had since he turned five months old. Still adorable, of course, but someone else’s child.
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