Our third day trip last week was on Thursday, when we went back to London. We started with lunch at Borough Market. One of the joys of this food market is that there are many places to get takeaway hot food and everyone can pick something different to eat. M opted for a large salt beef bagel, TG wanted a filled bao bun and sweet potato fries, and I had a vegetarian filled dosa with a chickpea side dish from an Indian street Ford stall. There is a stepped outdoor seating area where you can look down on the stalls and watch the world go by while you eat.
After lunch we walked across London Bridge as I had booked tickets for the Sky Garden. This is a free-to-enter public park at the top of the building in the picture above - if you look closely you can see the viewing balcony at the front. (Aside: The building just to the left of this photo is where M and I first met over 40 years ago, when we worked in the same office.) Although tickets to enter the Sky Garden are free they have to be pre-booked as it can only accommodate a limited number of visitors, even during non-pandemic times. I think it only recently reopened, and I was surprised I managed to get tickets as they go pretty quickly.
The "garden" is on two levels, with a restaurant above (the box in the top left corner) and a couple of bar / cafe areas. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and the balcony was closed as a result - too much wind, I think. The views from inside are still pretty impressive though. After we had walked around we stopped for coffee and pain au chocolats before heading back down.
After the Sky Garden we split up. M had arranged to meet a couple of friends in the City, and TG wanted to go shopping in Oxford Street. By this time the weather was getting wet and nasty, so we had to dash between shops. We spent a bit of time in the giant Primark store (magnet for teen girls!) where she bought a Disney sweatshirt in the sale. We then spent a lot of time window shopping in Urban Outfitters, which according to TG is Gen Z style perfection, and finished off with a putter round the Disney Store. We are hoping that we will be able to make it to Disneyland Paris at the beginning of September, a trip postponed from last February, so in a fit of optimism I bought three little clip on Disney characters (£2 each in the sale!) for our bags. Whether we will actually make it, who knows! By that time we had had enough of the weather, so we abandoned a plan to go in search of soufflé pancakes for dinner and grabbed a couple of pasties at the station to eat when we got home.
Friday was a day of socialising with band friends. I have swapped jobs with a friend so that he is now treasurer and I am band librarian again. This also involved swapping several large boxes of stuff, an exchange in which I came off worse! Fortunately there was space on shelving in the garage so they aren't adding too much clutter. We stayed for lunch with him and his wife after sorting out the various things we needed to hand over, then in the evening another couple of friends came over to us and we had an Indian takeaway with them. On Saturday, TG and I went to the cinema for the first time since before the pandemic to see Black Widow. On Sunday I stayed home and had a restful day before going back to work. today.
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