London: The Regent’s Park (bonus post)

Yesterday, I said yesterday’s post would be the last one of this trip. I inadvertently lied. You can thank Air Canada for this bonus missive on Regent’s Park. I published it at the airport after a somewhat extended stay in London.

When I woke up this morning, I checked my phone and found a notification from Air Canada saying my flight was delayed by almost two hours. A little while later, I got another notification saying it would be delayed for about an additional hour and a half.

When I finished breakfast, I checked the inbound flight and saw it was taxiing on the runway in Toronto on its way to London. That was only a few minutes after the second delayed departure time, so, barring further delays on this end, I had a good bead on when I would leave.

I originally booked an early afternoon departure rather than a morning departure so I wouldn’t have to rush to the airport in the morning. Now, I had time on my hands. I spent it walking to, through, and around The Regent’s Park. Despite that, I still got to the airport more than three hours before my flight, hence this post.

The Regent’s Park

The Regent’s Park is yet another royal park. Those royals do love their parks, don’t they? Good job, royals. Good job.

The Regent’s Park was large, verdant and peaceful. It included:

• Lots of trees, bushes and lawns. 
• A small lake. On the map, the lake looked roughly like an open calliper, one with a tail behind the joint, not the tailless variety. A swan and some ducks swam in the lake. Some Canada Geese stood on the concrete edge around one section of the lake, preening themselves or staring pensively at the water. The Canada Geese were probably killing time until the same flight back home I was taking. I could be wrong about that.
• A small pond of an uninteresting shape, with equally uninteresting resident fauna.
• Numerous sports pitches. Unfortunately, signs said they were available only for pre-booked matches, despite being mostly empty (although, one group of kids was playing what I think was cricket in one of them). Pity. Otherwise, I definitely would have tried to set up an impromptu match of some sport or another. (Anyone who knows me knows that’s a bare-faced lie. I am to sports as a fish is to cycling on Mars.)
• An open-air theatre. When I was there on a Wednesday morning, it was open to only the air, the birds, and any other little creatures roaming around, not to human patrons.
• Queen Mary’s Garden. I’ll say this for Queen Mary, she’s a truly excellent gardener considering she’s been dead for more than 65 years.
• The London Zoo. I didn’t go in. I qualified for the old fogies rate, aka the concession rate, of just under £30. Still, that seemed a tad steep considering how little time I had even with my late flight.

In short, because this is already too long, it was a very pleasant park. Thanks, Air Canada, for the extra time in London. Pictures of The Regent’s Park are below.

With that, this really, truly, positively is my last post of this trip. Unless, of course, Air Canada cancels my flight entirely while I’m waiting here at the airport. Stay tuned.