The Governor and Torchie

Train driver ready to go

Locked and loaded

In the tunnels

Sorting the mail, the floor was moving,
mail just keeps coming through the slot
it's hard to keep up

Putting a call through to the palace

It's a tough job but
someone has to get the mail around the city

New tea shop, Mariage Freres

The Petersham, part of Petersham Nurseries

Exploring Covent Garden

Loved these flowers

We have made it to Phoenix Place for a special excursion underground. We have tickets for Mail Rail and are about to board the little red train to experience how the mail was transported under London for nearly 70 years. 

All aboard! Well, no, first we need a photo with the driver and to check out the controls, now we have slowed down proceedings with the whole train laughing with us, or at us? And off we go, down, and down and down, we are right under London now, I wonder how deep this goes. A turn, a tunnel and now we are at a station. An interactive display is projected onto the station walls sharing letters from different people, I like the one from the little girl who sends birthday wishes to Princess Elizabeth in the 1930s.

On we go to see where the men loaded the bags, they had 3 minutes to fill each carriage before it automatically moved on. This is a brilliant bit of complex human/machine design to move up to 4 million letters a day.

All good things must come to an end and before we know it we are back at the station. Time to go on and explore the museum, eagle-eyed Jane spots the dress up rack and before you know it she is the Guv’ and I am Torchie (a worker). 

We start by sorting the mail. The floor moves and we have limited time to put the mail into the correct slots. Beep, wrong slot Catherine try again - they must have data codes in them. Quick this one is for Kent, another for Edinburgh, this is fun. Oops, out of time, start again. Success. Now to move onto shunting trains, this is much harder, pause, forward, switch. Gee, lucky one of the other train riders is an expert and he helps us. He is about 30 and thoroughly enjoying showing us how to do - I wonder did his Dad teach him how to do this. Eventually, success.

On we go to the gift shop, Rosco scored a good present today. Now across to the postal museum for more dress ups and shenanigans. What a fascinating story about a lioness that attacked the Exeter Mail Coach and after all the palaver the lioness was eventually found hiding under a building. How cute a little hole for kids to put their hands in to find the lion under the building. Must do that. Ahh, that was NOT what I expected. Am now screaming like a schoolgirl - that got the heart pumping!

Feeling a bit hungry now, we have a nice place picked out of lunch so let's go. Onto the underground at Russel Square and then pop up at Covent Garden. Jane is in charge we are going straight to lunch. Oh, oh a detour there is a new tea place. Maison Frères, divine. Finally, we arrive at our lunch destination, this is nice, flowers everywhere, such a nice place, let start with a rose petal bellini. This is the life. Now to decide the menu and sit back and enjoy this gorgeous afternoon before we go on and explore all our favourite places in Covent Garden area. Then it's back to Ladywell Lodge to get through some work.

Update: The Londonist site shows how to find the above-ground locations for mail rail.

There will be a short break from blogging whilst I do a few days of work. Back on the tourist trail at the end of the week.