After a 5-day self-isolation period imposed upon me by the NHS test and trace tracker app, I have had time to think and revise this website and blog and have decided to separate the reviews from the blog section and give them their own sections, so restaurant reviews, pub reviews, and entertainment venue reviews can now be found under the review section on the main menu. This will make it much easier to navigate around the site.
The wife and I decided to participate in our allotted allowance of exercise as we are supposedly allowed to do under the Covid lockdown.
Our normal exercise would be a walk around the Greenwich peninsular, Blackheath or Greenwich park and back home. Today we went to Greenwich Park and I will warn you if you are trying to avoid a lot of people in this Covid-19 scary time then Greenwich Park is not the place to be.
The weather was cold but that did not stop hordes of people partaking in leisurely strolls with their family or friends covering every path in the park.
One good thing about Lockdown 3 that they should have done during lockdown 1 is that they left open access to the flower gardens, which in summer would have been great. Unfortunately, it is now winter, and the gardens were muddy, and the flowers looked a bit sad and dreary.
When we tried to see the view at the top of the hill by the observatory, we could not get access as the whole area has been cordoned off and a police officer stands guard to make sure you do not cross the cordon. This would normally be busy with throngs of people trying to get a good view down the hillside in summer, but this is a foggy day in winter and hardly a magnet for sightseeing .
I hope this access restriction is only associated with the Covid-19 lockdown and we can get back to enjoying the Greenwich Park as it is meant to be enjoyed soon.
Charcoal Meze House
42 Woolwich Road, London, SE10 0JU
The Charcoal Meze House is a small and friendly Turkish restaurant that we have visited quite a few times and it is one that we will continue to frequent as soon as the Covid-19 restrictions have eased.
When we first noticed this establishment, it had only just opened about a month earlier and we were drinking in the River ale House on the opposite side of the road. Being a bit of a geek, I googled it to see reviews on the place and was a bit sceptical when it had quite a number of good reviews and they all gave them a five-star rating.
With a cautious and sceptical mind, we crossed the road, went in sat down and waited to see what would unfold.
The service was first class, and the staff and management were very friendly and attentive, and the food was great. At the end of the meal, we were offered a Turkish coffee on the house which just topped off the evening.
At the end of the evening I was sold, and the scepticism was dismissed, and I also gave them a good Google review as well as a five star rating.
Today is the first day of the third national lockdown and the government has set it down in law for it to be enforced until March 31st. Although they say that this lockdown will not go on that long and we will probably ease the restriction sometime in early to mid-February. I am not so sure.
It is just the same as tier 4 restrictions but with the added element of the schools closing.
The Greenwich council was ahead of the game here as just a few weeks ago they tried to close all the schools in the borough of Greenwich for a period as they could see that the new variant of the virus was spreading like wildfire via the schools. Unfortunately, they caved in after the education secretary Gavin Williamson threatened them with legal action.
It is all well Boris pontificating about how safe the kids are at school, and about that he may be right, but what about the poor teachers and the parents and grandparents who come in to contact with their asymptomatic contaminated kids.
The London Borough of Lewisham has highlighted this with two teachers dying of the virus within the last few days, and it has been estimated that school staff are six times more likely to catch the virus than the rest of the ordinary population.
Last month I knew of a few people that I know who had tested positive, but this month that figure has increased dramatically and with the latest estimate that 1 in 30 Londoners are testing positive with the virus I am not surprised.
Well, there you go. Ringing in the new year 2021 while wishing good riddance to 2020, celebrated with the usual pyrotechnic display but this time from various clandestine locations along the Thames, including one at Greenwich just by the O2.
This time with the addition of precision drone formations creating spectacular aerial displays that I personally thought outshone the actual firework displays. I hope we see more such displays in the future.
To say 2020 has been a shit year would be an understatement in most people’s eyes, and we can only hope that throughout 2021 things will gradually get back to a sense of normality.