Visit to London

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I took the early train to London with Ann this morning. I met up with Anthony from A2O to discuss display stands for the OCA (err, that’s enough abbreviations!). We kicked off early and were finished by 11.15.

I then jumped on the Tube and headed for London Bridge to meet Keith from the OCA – not to discuss stands, but simply to have lunch with him as a ‘thank-you’ for the excellent proof-reading job he carries out for the OCA Magazine.
We decided to eat at Fish! a restaurant very close to Southwark Cathedral. Initially, I couldn’t find it, but their free wireless internet access was registering on my Netbook, so I knew it must be close-by. Lucky I checked on-line and it turned out there were no tables spare for lunch anyway. I took advantage of the very warm weather and parked myself on a park-bench in Southwark Cathedral Gardens. What a gorgeous day – soon, the Gardens were packed out by workers having their lunch and sun-bathing (sort-of) – it was the nicest day so far, this year!

Plan B then! Keith eventually arrived by taxi (he had returned from the railway station at West Wickham because of signal failure and took a cab instead). We then headed off in the direction of Zilli‘s (in Dean St, Soho) – an Italian Restaurant that Keith knew very well, and they knew him. It was a horrendous taxi journey, lasting almost 40 minutes just to cover the few miles from Southwark to Soho. It reminded me of my work days driving in and around London – wall-to-wall traffic all going nowhere at 0.1mph!!
When we arrived, a table had been reserved for us just by the window looking out onto the street. Keith was concerned because the owner of the Restaurant had recently changed so he opted for the ‘safe’ Mushroom Risotto. I was a bit more adventurous and chose the ‘spicy sausage and taglietelle with broccoli and tomatoes – all washed down with a couple of glasses of white wine.
We left about 2.30 and went our separate ways. I caught the Tube at Tottenham Court Road whilst Keith went shopping for books.
I caught the 3.30 (just) and was indoors by 3.45.
The highlight of the day was sitting in Southwark Cathedral Gardens just watching the world go by!