Spring is in the air

View from our Notting Hill flat after a spring rainstorm  

Highgate Cemetery 

Inspirational London Marathon runners; Our new old bikes

Finally, after the longest and coldest winter in 50 years, spring is starting to descend on London. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and the British are lying in parks with their tops off.

What a relief.

Over the years we have heard people talk about getting a bit down in the dumps towards the end of a long London winter. We’d always thought that such types would be well served by swallowing a block of concrete and hardening up.

We need to eat a good dose of humble pie on that front. Had the cold lasted a day longer, we would have caught a flight home.

To celebrate the return of double-digit temperatures,

we decided to buy bikes. It turns out that we actually live really close to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, so it has been sensational to go exploring and get to know more of London above ground, rather than being stuck on the tube.

A bit of warmth has given us a burst of motivation to get out and do stuff. This weekend we ticked off the Highgate Cemetery which has been on our London to-do list for over a year. The cemetery was originally opened 1839, but was abandoned in the 1960s when it reached capacity. After 15 years of complete neglect and nature being left to its own devices, a Trust formed to reopen the cemetery and maintain a policy of ‘managed neglect’, allowing cemetery-loving weirdos (like us!) to explore the grounds. The cemetery is overcrowded with trees, shrubbery and wild flowers, all of which have grown without human influence. The crumbling gravestones are covered in moss, and suffocated by vines, often leaving the inscriptions barely legible. It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, allowing the light to filter down through the trees creating an incredibly atmospheric mood.

On a slightly less morbid note, we rode our bikes into central London to watch Monique’s colleague run in the London Marathon. It really was quite inspiring to see so many fit, dedicated and motivated people pushing their bodies to the absolute limits. To show our support, we sat down on a sunny patch of grass with a packet of crisps, beer and cider to cheer them on. Spring is awesome!