Old friends and the West End

As arranged, on Thursday we met Shona, Sanjiv and their sweet little daughter, Sopie for lunch in Leicester Square.  Sanjiv had chosen a Chinese restaurant and we were the only patrons for the first hour.  

Catching up with old friends Shona, Sanjiv and Sophie.

Very unusual for a popular restaurant in Leicester Square. This was the first indication that the Corona virus was having an effect in London. We chose not to hug or shake hands with Shona and Sanjiv, instead to settle for an extra friendly hello. 

We had a lovely lunch. Sanjiv turned out to be a fun outgoing guy, (to be expected, as Shona had picked him). Sophie was an angel, she has the biggest, most expressive eyes but was very shy. It seemed like only yesterday, since we last caught up!  We left Shona and her family outside the restaurant and as the weather was pretty foul, we caught a bus to the Intercontinental Hotel, to continue the walk down memory lane. 

Ah the Intercontinental Hotel, where the Ajayi love story all began.....The outside looks exactly the same but of course the inside was completely different. Although, as I pointed out to Rich, I never saw the “ front of house” whilst I was working there, being a chamber maid, we were strictly back of house. 

Where it all began, 35 years later.

We spent a lovely hour or so enjoying a "mortgage busting" drink in the Lobby Lounge, listening to the pianist and watching the world go by. Most of the front of house staff were European, I guess it would be the same for all the staff now. I wonder if they still have the fantastic staff canteen?

We're strictly front of house now!

We had arranged to see a play with Andy in the evening, but due to cast illness it was postponed until Monday. So, on the offchance, we bought tickets to see "A Play About a Bank Robbery" instead. 

Leicester Square at night, in the rain, still looks like Christmas

We met Andy, back at Leicester Square, in the early evening. We went for a quick drink and then headed to the theatre. We had great seats in the circle and settle down for the show. 

At first Richie and I were both thinking, uh oh what have we chosen - the dialogue was very slap stick and "who’s on first" type jokes. However as it went on, it became more and more hilarious and was very cleverly put together. The play we'd  originally planned to see was a drama, so this was the complete opposite but we all agreed it was good fun and good laugh, in the best British slap stick tradition.  After the play we headed out to Andy’s favourite Italian cafe.  Note to self, I never had a canoli, (another thing to try and make?).