It's been a busy few weeks leading up to their visit, and I must confess to having got a bit stressed out in the lead up to their visit. You could sense this if you followed my Twitter stream, on the day I was collecting them from Heathrow:
*Which numskull designed T5 Intl Arrivals so there are two exit points? Hounslow will be full of lost Americans tonight.
*Seriously, Heathrow T4 only has one place people can come out after Customs. This is ridiculous.
*They should just put all the arrivals in an arcade tank, and we could pick the out with The Claw, like the aliens in Toy Story
*I think I'm a little stressed. If I go quiet, it's cos The Aliens have landed.
*Gosh, Customs are taking awhile. I hope my dad hasn't stuffed his suitcase with live marmots again. ...They whistle, you know.
*I think The Claw is how the sorting works for Baggage Claim. It's operated by a 3-yr-old with attention deficit issues.
*Going to write a graphic novel about an airport totally run by toddlers & aliens. Will be super-creepy. The Costa only serves warmed milk.
But then they arrived, and it was great to see them.
On the first morning, the weather was fine, so we headed to London's Highgate Cemetery. My dad had always wanted to see it, and my mother had just been reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, which is set there. (See my fan art here.) Here they are, inspecting Karl Marx's grave.
We also visited neighbouring Waterlow Park, and Dad decided this tree looked just like a lady's bum. We met up with Audrey and Hayley Campbell for dinner that evening, and Audrey said that the Lauderdale House in the park was where Nell Gwyn supposedly dangled King Charles II's illegitimate baby out the window until he agreed to give it a royal title.
The second day, we went to the Geffrye Museum, just next to Hoxton tube station and floated about in tea cups.
Then we walked over toward Brick Lane and watched all the painfully hip hipsters promenading, and did some graffiti spotting.
I tweeted the puking rainbows photo and Woodrow Phoenix noted we were in the area and advised us to go look at the Broadgate Venus, on Exchange Square, overlooking Liverpool Street Station. So we did. And here's the broad, who is very broad.
She even has fantastic chubby feet, and is rather good for climbing. Here I am, giving her a pedicure.
For Easter Sunday, we went to the choral service at Southwark Cathedral, and were pleased to discover they had chocolate written into the liturgy. Here's a priest dispensing lamb-shaped mint Aero bars.
It's fun introducing my parents to my friends, they usually only get to see them on my blog. Here's Woodrow and his partner Bridget Hannigan. We also got to meet up with John Aggs and Nana Li, which made my parents' day.
We're off to have a few more adventures, so I'll be away from the blog for a few days, but check back later for more news...