This was going to be a day in. It was cold and wet. Really how often do you get to London. We have to do something. Tired? Too bad…Let’s go.. We decided London Bridge via Westminster on the tube to Borough Markets would be easy. It was buzzing. I saw a mushroom risotto which I thought was £10 but it was £19.50 because I had chosen the one with black truffles!!! It was amazing and at £320 per 100g it is quite expensive! John wandered around while I found a quiet place to eat.

It’s odd what you’ll do when nobody knows or cares who you are. I was admiring a woman’s haircut and thought I needed a photo so of course I approached her. Not something I would do normally but hey she was thrilled. She had had the same old haircut for ever and had just had her new doo so was very pleased with my request.

I know we have been married for fifty years and known each other even longer, but John never fails to surprise me. Borough Markets is huge. He was overwhelmed. There was every imaginable store selling every imaginable edible product. He couldn’t find anything he liked. Eventually he found a restaurant! A restaurant! What the… The menu appealed to him. Oh for goodness sake….it’s food!

He settled on Applebees. I had a glass of very nice red and watched John eat his pasta with crab. Then we got into conversation with a most delightful and interesting woman who was sitting beside us. Kay was remarkable. She had spent her life in the diplomatic service and at one stage was the British Ambassador for Mongolia and then Honduras. She had so many stories to tell. We were enthralled. 

Next we walked to 120 Fenchurch Street and lined up in the cold with a thousand others to go and see a garden rooftop which we had forgotten we had been to before! But….we had not been to the bar before. 14 Hills was delightful and we sat and enjoyed our drinks in one of the most beautifully appointed bars in the city. 

Later we tried to eat at Searcys at the Gherkin but John hadn’t booked so that wasn’t going to happen. It was getting late and colder and colder. We determined the best course of action was to head home.

We trudged towards Liverpool Street station and were confounded by a very large group of workers outside having a smoke/vape. What was this? The new Friday session? One congregates and vapes/smokes as an alternative social activity to drinking. This can’t be very British. They were on a break. It was already five but they were all headed back for another couple of hours. Of course my curiosity got the better of me and I had to enquire of one of the participants who put me straight. I think initially he thought I was a participant. He mentioned how tired he was. Worked out I was a tourist- the accent always gives it away and went on to complement me on my hat. It was a winner. 

Well then, there was Eataly…Do you feel like pizza? Well of course. We had pizza and pasta and drinks. The really good thing was the fact that from Liverpool Station, right next door, it was a simple tube trip on the Circle line directly to Victoria. John was stuffed and his knee was beginning to play up so we ended up paying £7 for a taxi home. Worth every bit. The taxi driver also informed us of the current situation and he thinks the London Black Cab will be a thing of the past in the next few years. Mainly because of the Mayor. Well all things are political really. The new rules about the age of the vehicle down to 12, new must be electric and they cost £86000 and the fact it is no longer lucrative. His dad had 60 cabs. Sold up. The Uber will be the future. £300 for a licence, a cheap car and Google maps. It just won’t be the same.