What a Wonderful World: London Games

What comes to mind when you think of "London"?

Perhaps Big Ben, which by the way is the name of the great BELL in the tower?

Palace of Westminster with Big Ben and
the Elizabeth Tower
(renamed for Queen Elizabeth II
on her Diamond Jubilee)
in the distance
(Photo taken by John)

Or perhaps it's the London cab, London Double-decker Omnibus or the Union Jack?

My one-in-a-million photograph with all
the quintessential London icons

I am on a roll: British Airways jet and London Cabs

What about Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland who had to play a game of croquet with the Queen of Hearts? Lewis Carroll is the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer who lived from 1832 to 1898. The pseudonym is actually the anglicised form of his name in Latin flipped around!

Alice with a flamingo for a croquet stick
(Taken from sabian.org)

Like the English royalty and nobility in the days of yore, the children had the chance to play croquet courtesy of Elder Paul at his lovely home in Sunbury on Thames.

Elder Paul explaining how croquet is played

Geoff taking a swing with his mallet

Christy and Geoff seem to be playing hockey

John, Geoff and Christy try their hand at croquet

The ball finally goes through the iron hoop

Croquet is thought to have originated from France and was likely to have been brought to England during the reign of Charles II of England. It became popular in England in the 1860s. It is usually played on a lawn with mallets that are used to strike wooden or plastic balls through iron hoops pushed into the ground at regular intervals.

Dessert consisted of a huge serving of cheesecake and vanilla ice cream, which meant the children had a lot more energy which led to their favourite sport: rough-and-tumble.