A trip to the market

We decided to have a fairly relaxed day as we will be heading over to Bristol to check it out tomorrow. J found the Portobello Rd Market was on so we headed off to see that. (By the way, for those coming to London, the Oyster Card is an essential for getting about on public transport. It is quick and saves you lots of money. Even if you are only here a few days it is worth getting for its simplicity and convenience.)

It was pretty crowded but there were plenty of stalls although we managed to avoid temptation on the whole. We then wandered down to Notting Hill, past scenes from the movie and had lunch at NH Gate. After that we strolled through Hyde park and sunbathed for a while. It was a lovely day, supposedly 23 degrees.

The sun brought out some lovely sights and J was disapproving of my comments about a Bella Donna I was watching while J was in the loo.

We visited the new New Zealand war memorial at Hyde Park corner before heading home. It is very well done and quite striking although the tour guide hadn't mentioned it at all the day before.

I've been reading Ron Crosby's Massa Albaneta: A lost Opportunity at Cassino. There are a few errors in the details and I don't agree with his emphasis on the importance of this eponymous building, but the overall thrust of his argument is sound. Massa Albaneta was a building in the hills behind Cassino. The Allies attacked this area on 19 March 1944 but the attack was not given the support it should have. In the end it was one more failure of New Zealand's command. I'm afraid that Freyberg does not come off well in the battles for Cassino, showing neither imagination nor flexibility. JP and I have been looking into this attack ourselves, and in some areas have information that Crosby didn't have. I think we could have done a better job, but in any case it'll form part of our own book on Cassino.