We were excited to arrive at our London destination, the Limehouse Marina, and park our car safely for the next 7 days after an eventful drive from Southwold. So many roadworks and a couple of scary moments with other drivers not paying attention. So far, we’ve been impressed with the English driving, so much more patient and polite than back home we feel, sadly, but today set our hearts racing a couple of times, we were thankful to have made it safely.

We were met by Clara, our friend for the week – a rescue dog from Greece, living her best life here in London with her family. She was bigger than I expected, with a very deep bark (we joked that having her bark for our car horn would be better than our piddly squeak!) but was a bundle of joy to be with. We were warned that she hates cats and foxes, and these things rarely show up in her back yard, but if they do… We were surprised to hear that foxes would be in inner residential areas, but urban foxes are definitely around. Our first night was spent getting to know Clara’s routines and chatting with the family about their holiday plans, and our experiences around the world. The family crept out on their holiday early the following morning, leaving Clara to us. She was a lovely dog who enjoyed walking around the marina and along the canals with us – we were always on alert however for other dogs she may react to, but it turned out she knew a lot of those we bumped into – the common call out was “is that Clara?” so we’d stop and chat while Clara and her friends sniffed around each other. We discovered the “secret jetty” that was secure enough for her to be off lead for a short time – she always tried to head that direction and if the jetty was empty of others, we would allow her to enjoy.

The Marina was full of wide and narrow canal boats, it was interesting to watch one maneuver through the locks to the Thames River. Many though, were people’s permanent homes, berthed long term. All along the canals we walked, we’d see a range of boats – some obviously lived in, some air bnbs, some looked abandoned.

Our hosts had recommended the Thames river ferry to Greenwich, and one afternoon, we joined the crowds wandering through and around Greenwich Park, the Maritime Museum (free) and up to the observatory – it was very busy, London seemed to be full of large groups of foreign students doing study tours – a new form of summer camps – with their different coloured lanyards and backpacks marking out each group, as well as hordes of other locals and tourists enjoying the city sights. We did not go into the observatory, but saw the meridian marker on the wall.

Another day, we caught the DLR (light rail) into the city centre and then the underground to Oxford St to see some of the sights and spot the palace and parks. Onwards to Harrods – we decided to walk across Hyde Park – it was a long way! Once again everything was very busy but we loved just looking at the displays of fresh fruit and other foods in this high-end store. There were people everywhere, so different to the last time when we came out of season. Looking at the time, we realised we needed to head home for Clara, but discovered that there were rail delays, so headed to the river thinking it would be quicker. We hadn’t realised how far away we were, but marched off towards the river through the suburban streets of Mayfair and Chelsea, dodging the Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Porsches, Ferraris and McLarens parked outside the terraced housing. It took 20 minutes to reach the closest ferry terminal only to discover that it wasn’t running from there – we needed to be another 20 minutes away at the Battersea terminal. Hot and bothered, we set off again and were very glad to finally get a seat on the ferry towards Clara. It was a rushed day, not planned very well – we should not have aimed for Harrods without checking distances. Our personal trackers told us we’d walked around 20km, what with dog walking and London walking – the next day we took it a bit easier for sure.

The dates for this housesit dovetailed perfectly with a previously planned special treat in London, we wanted to see a show and had booked, months in advance, to attend Abba Voyage. The day we said goodbye Clara was the evening of the show so we moved location to a hotel on the Isle of Dogs that was easy access to and from the ABBA arena. The show was just fabulous – using avatars for the performers, enhanced by amazing lighting effects and a live band and backing singers. It was hard to determine how they did it, the avatars were so real. I loved singing along to these well remembered songs and the full arena audience (approx 3000) was made up of all ages. It was definitely a buzz to attend this special show and worth the eye-watering cost – glad we’d booked and paid before we left because we’d never spend that much now.

We enjoyed our short break in London, staying in a great location, looking after a beautiful dog who introduced us to the canal walks, exploring new sights. This was a great housesit and we were so pleased to have been chosen.