It was the official start of spring – not a single cloud in sight – and the first day that I had been liberated from a heavy coat in six long, miserable months. Though I spent far more of it than I should have wedged behind a mass of tourists, as all of us attempted to escape the clutches of South Kensington station. Meanwhile, queues snaked out of every pub outside, with punters trying their best to catch the midday sun.
The crowds were hardly a surprise. This is London’s museum quarter: home to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the Royal College of Music Museum, and the Natural History Museum. The pavements were rammed with parents steering buggies in a single direction: the Natural History Museum, which was also where I happened to be going.
