Jan 3
Chalfont St Peter to
Newbury Park
I emerged from the house to find all of the car windows completely iced up. Simon produced a can of spray stuff (contributing to global warming might be an advantage under some circumstances) with which he managed to remove most of it quite quickly. He showed me a short cut in the map, promising that it wouldn't be too narrow but, simultaneously, making it sound rather terrifying. When I found it, it really wasn't too terrifying and I met virtually no traffic whilst negotiating the narrower lanes. |
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Once on the motorway, progress was steady and photographic opportunities were non-existent. The last time that I drove this route, the rain was torrential. This time, it was pleasant enough, with occasional glimpses of sun.
I arrived safely at Anne's, dumped my bags and we the caught the tube straight into London. We walked past the old Holborn Town Hall, which still sports a magnificent coat of arms over its front door.
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We even found a spectacular whisky shop. I don’t actually like the stuff but it did look splendid.
Near the British Museum we had an excellent Turkish meze. Lots of good food and a couple of glasses of decent Turkish wine.
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We emerged feeling much fuller and commenced my quests for an assortment of items in the sales. A whole afternoon on Oxford St produced only a suitcase and we returned home on the tube for a rest.
Right: Oxford St crowds |
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After a little more than an hour, we set off again on the tube, this time just the one stop to Gants Hill. After discovering the fish & chip shop (restaurant) was closed, we went to a large Chinese restaurant which we have frequented many times over the years but not recently. They fed us copious quantities of good food and we waddled home again.