Day 6 - To the museums

Judging by my map, I could get to the Kensington Museum precinct from Paddington with a half hour walk. It takes much longer than that, as I stroll through Hyde Park, pause at the old police house, and chatter with ducks on the Serpentine. 

A pair of ravens elude my attempt to successfully capture them - digitally.

The Serpentine flows fast. The morning has not yet escaped twilight. Solitary walkers in puff jackets, bench sitters on the Serpentine with hands in pockets, joggers dressed for the Arctic - these are just some of the early rising Hyde Park characters. The sight of joggers makes me want a cigarette, but I double bluff myself and restrain.

Towards the museum precinct I encounter a young woman and her son ogling a top range Ferrari with a UAE numberplate. I ask the lady if the car belongs to her son. She laughs - high pitched and nervously. 

"You could buy a house with that car." She laughs. The car launches from the roadside with a guttural purr like a judge about to deliver a routine corporate law decision.

We stroll down toward the museums. She's been a little short of fulsome conversation since moving here 11 months ago from Germany. She wanted to improve her English but has ended up working as a maid for a German family. I wouldn't have picked her as German. Her accent is good, her comprehension fine, her sentences sometimes askew but easily understood. She is over here with her "little one" who wears a snug beanie and cautiously looks right and left as we cross each road. He's leading the way. He points further down the street. At a junction he points again. They are off to the Science Museum.