As not much would be open today, we walked to the South Park Street Cemetery
There is a grave with headstone here for the three young children of Dr Macwhirter who died in the early 1800’s.
The grave is deteriorating with cracking plinth. The inscription is also fading & wearing away. Still, not bad for 200 years in such a climate. There are some huge monolithic tombs here & so many died at young ages. There is a lot of moss everywhere too. It is an amazing oasis in the centre of this teeming city.
We asked the caretaker whether we could do some repair work to the tombstone. No, we had to get written permission. A pity, because we saw on one of the streets, renderers & the like sitting waiting for work.
We then went to Flury’s, a well known institution for coffee & cake. Now you have to wait outside in the heat until a table is vacant & then you walk through a security device. Once inside, you then wait another 20 minutes for service. Entertainment for the waiting queue was provided on the footpath by a man with two trained monkeys. They performed tricks at his command. At least they appeared well cared for, unlike others we’ve seen.
Along Russell Street we found a few antique shops & auction houses still there but very little of interest. One proprietor told us that the government was now preventing the sale of antiques so it was very difficult to buy, let alone sell, antique goods.
We were looking forward to an advertised Rajasthani dinner at the hotel. Alas, it wasn’t on as the chefs had gone home for Durja Puja.
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