The last few days in London

Saturday, was a much needed rest day, which we spent in bed, reading and relaxing. Richie was a bit stir crazy by the late afternoon, so we got up and dressed and met Micky P. at The Lilly pub. We hadn't realised how crowded it would be on a Saturday night, nor how young the crowd would be. 

So after one drink, we retired to a bar in the nearby Ibis Hotel. Another great night of memories and stories of the old days...and us telling Micky, he must visit Australia, and then getting nostalgic about WA beaches etc...

We finished the night with another curry from the Famous Lilly restaurant and retired back to our cozy apartment.

Our second Sunday in London, we finally visited the Bricklane markets. They didn't disappoint and were as good as advertised. Lots of funky vintage stalls, lots of very groovy people and an amazing variety of food stalls. 

THE place for vintage clothes

Brick Lane Markets

It’s a really long market that is both indoors and outdoors. There were some seriously fabulous vintage clothes, however we didn’t buy anything but we’re quite temped. They had the best selection of coats ever - if you want a funky vintage coat, this is the place.

Brick Lane, is still the place for all things South Asian food wise, its got it all!

Samosa, pakoras etc yum yum

We walked from Bricklane to Petticoat market. It this was closing up when we arrived. However, it is now quite a sad little market and the stalls appeared to be full of tacky Chinese knockoffs and very blah clothes, so we didn’t miss much.

Brick Lane, also has a great variety of street art. Richie took some great snaps .

and my favourite

Next stop on our market day was Camden Town, a place we often visited when we lived in London. We weren’t sure if it was Camden or us, or both of us, that had changed so much (well it has been 30 odd years, I guess). Camden had sadly lost its punky alternatives edge and become a Disney, touristy version of its former self. There was one old sad Punk, on the bridge working for tips from selfies.

Pales in comparison to its former self

The Camden Locks were however really interesting. We spent a good half an hour watching the barges going through the locks. Quite a performance. The barge sails into the gate, one gate is locked and another is slightly opened and the water either pours in (or out) then when the level is reached, the gate is opened and off she sails. 

We did however spot, Poppies Fish and Chip shop - which we’d seen in a foodie vlog and had planned to experience. So after a quick disappointing browse around the stalls, we headed to Poppies for a really, really delicious Haddock and Chips, it cost an arm and a leg but was well worth it.  

Poppies Fish and Chips, devine

We then caught the number 27 bus home and I enjoyed another voyeuristic ride, eyeballing as we travel along, into everyone’s flats - well they will leave their curtains open!

You see all sorts of interesting things from the top of the bus

Monday was another full day. We finalised the booking the Brighton leg of our trip and then headed out to the London Stadium - home of the famous (well in our house at least) Hammers. 

1980 FA cup winners.....I won't say it's a long time between drinks.....

I'm forever blowing bubbles...

Richie was in hog heaven and we had a lot of fun making purchases in the West Ham shop. Actually he was quite restrained and only bought one t-shirt and two hats.

On the way back to the station, Richie got chatting to a nice old boy from the area who was telling us about the developments around the grounds. He was a real old school Londoner, who of course reminded me a bit of Willy. 

We had a couple of hours spare, until we were due to meet Andy, so we headed to the Science Museum in Kensington. We reached there at 4pm, just as all the kids were leaving. Note to self - perfect time for a museum visit. The most interesting part was the space section and learning about the gaseous planets, which of course brought out our inner child and lots of bum jokes ensued!

That yeti gets about..

We met Andy at the pub near Swiss Cottage station and had a quick drink before our show. This pub looked like it hadn't changed at all in the last 30 years, but it was cozy and reassuring in its old fashioned way. 

The play was amazing, it was a drama about the British government spying on the British population and used a lot of social media to tell the story. It was so well done, very topical and well acted - you forget London and New York are the worlds best theatre cities.

So now we have a couple of days left in London before we head off to Brighton. We’ve been in our little West Kesnsington flat for nearly two weeks now and I will miss it when we leave. Just time for one last clothes wash before we leave.

Tuesday 10 March

We had another lovely rest day on Tuesday and then we met Rod and Andy at Leceister Square in the late afternoon. We went back to the same trendy burger bar, Byron’s then finished the night at a local pub. Rod was a bit tired, as he had just flown in from Turkey. He was due to travel to Wales to meet his cousin the next day. It was a very successful evening with lots of reminiscing and laughs.  Coincidently it was four years to the day, since Graham died, so we raised a glass or two in his memory. Footnote to this, Rod spent one night in Wales and then flew home to Canada, due to the virus shutting down everything.

The first catch up with Rod, Richie and Andy

Wednesday 11 March
After a lazy morning, we met Beatrice at St. Paul’s cathedral at about lunch time. Although we’d previously balked at the price, Beatrice had purchased discounted tickets online. It was well worth worth a visit, as Richie said he couldn’t believe he’d spent three hours in church and enjoy it!

Waiting for Richie, who was enjoying the views from the roof

Richie climbed the million steps up to the Dome and took some fantastic pictures of the view. Beatrice and I stayed below and rested our weary legs and had a chat. 

The steps upto the viewing platform, St Paul's Cathedral

Views from the top

Fortunately the Cathedral wasn’t very busy, so we were really able to appreciate the beauty of the place. We also caught the 12.30 Eucharist and I was interested to see they didn’t share the “blood of Christ” - due to the Covid virus, which was beginning to slowly get a bit of notice, although most people seemed oblivious.

Beatrice and I resting our legs and soaking up the atmosphere.

We left Beatrice in the late afternoon, and we headed to the Old Bailey but we weren't able to visit inside and the outside looked much better from a distance. We caught the bus home (with about 50 foreign language students) and had an enjoyable and slow journey down Kensington High Street.

We finished the evening with a long awaited visit to the German Donor Kebab joint, located on Fulham Broadway that Kevin (king of junk food) had recommended. Have to give it to the man, he knows his kebabs - bloody delicious. We decided to share a kebab, which for once was a mistake as it was really delicious and I'm sure we both could have devoured a whole one each. 

German Donor Kebab, didn't disappoint