oil painting, winston & oak panelling

Me and Margaret. In oils.

Context first. My class trips at junior school involved a trip to a Voortrekker museum (at least once a year), a trip to the beach and/or aquarium, and a trip to the mangrove swamps.

The Brit tells me that school trips he went on, growing up, involved a 'culture trip' to France, going to Windsor Castle, and there was one trip to the Houses of Parliament.

Well, today, I got to do my first trip to parliament, obvs, and I did feel like a school child, especially when I found this giant oil painting of The Iron Fist, my totes favourite person Margaret Thatcher.

She always wore blue. It was her hue, was blue.

I was there for a work project and got to meet some MPs, but most excitingly I got to shake the hand of Winston Churchill's grandson.

Dude. I totes got to shake the hand of a member of the Churchill family.

It's up there with the other random crap I've put on my Life List.*

Below us, out the window of the room I was in, (wooden panelled. Oak. Obvs), was a large student demonstration, and dudes camping out in tents on the pavement.
And Big Ben was connected to the building I was standing in.

Loads of school children were on tours, so I'm not sure how special it is to them, but going into parliament and meeting some local MPs was pretty awesome to me.

On the way out I had my moment with Mags. She's such a fox.

*Life List, for those interested:

1) Met Nelson Mandela. Twice;
2) Driven across four Eastern Bloc countries in a red Skoda Fabia, with my mother;
3) Published a book at 28
4) Ate 1 x snail at 18 (drenched in garlic and butter, obvs)
5) Climbed the world's third largest pyramid in Teotihuacan, Mexico
6) Worked in 4 different industries in my life - journalism, copywriting, PR and advertising
7) Is related to French Royalty
8) Once ate two pasties, one straight after another
9) Made a radio with my Dad when I was 14
10) Looked after 7 children for a year in France