John - Archived Entries for 2011 / 4

Try to pretend you don't want one of these tweed caps.

Dr John Hawkins

Welcome to my bit of the Maison de Stuff, home to a huge load of pictures, and my daily blog.

My email address is as above - I've put it in an image in a vein attempt to reduce the amount of spam I get.

John's Journal / Blog: Main Index
Archives
RSS
John's Pictures: Main Index
Main Index (text only)
Categories
Recent Updates
RSS
John's Travel: Main Index
Places
Map
RSS
Other Related Sites:: Maison de Stuff
Stuffware
Exif.org
Chiesan
Celtlands

Recent Entries:: Royal Wedding
Day before the Royal Wedding
Wednesday
Tuesday
Pimm's
Gas Lamps
Sandwich
Good Friday
On the Way Back
Wednesday in Zurich
Committee and Dinner at Hiltl
Off to Zurich
London Marathon and Al's Barbecue
Saturday
Pappy van Winkle's
Horse and Groom
Okonomiyaki
Lebanese Food
The Orange
Dim Sum with Iguchi Sensei
Cambridge
Cheese and Chips
Andy's Birthday
Lunch in St. James's Park
Mayfair with Al
Parcel
Afternoon Stroll
Silver
Friday
Good Old Holborn
Science Museum and the Lost Cider Houses of London
Chie back to work
Waitrose
Afternoon Stroll

Royal Wedding: [Friday 29th April 2011]
A few pictures from our only-moderately-successful attempt to go out and see some of the Royal Wedding on the streets of London.
[No comments]
Day before the Royal Wedding: [Thursday 28th April 2011]
A few pictures of the area around Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey the evening before the Royal Wedding.
[No comments]
Wednesday: [Wednesday 27th April]
[No comments]
Tuesday: [Tuesday 26th April]
[No comments]
Pimm's: [Monday 25th April 2011]
Again most of the day indoors working and studying, but again we got out for a bit of sunshine late afternoon, and decided to have a sort of picnic - with Pimm's - out in the garden, which was rather nice.
[No comments]
Gas Lamps: [Sunday 24th April 2011]
Another day spent mostly indoors, Chie studying and me working. We did however go out for a late afternoon / early evening stroll, initially through Westminster, as we wanted to see some gas lamps we'd recently seen featured on the telly, but then on from there towards the centre.

We stopped in at the Lamb and Flag for a drink, and it was rather lovely to see the alley way leading to it all decorated with bunting, both for St. George's Day and the upcoming Royal Wedding.

After this we were feeling peckish, and having noticed that all the supermarkets in London were closed today, we were left with no choice but to eat out. So we tried Lupita, the new Mexican restaurant near Embankment, and it was rather good. Not the usualy Mexican food you find in the UK, some really interesting and unusual flavours.
[No comments]
Sandwich: [Saturday 23rd April 2011]
As the weather was unseasonably warm over the Easter weekend we didn't want to be confined to the flat the whole time, so had decided some kind of afternoon out was called for today. After consulting Chie's Japanese guidebooks to England we decided to go and visit Sandwich in Kent for no particular reason other than it looked quite nice in the pictures, and we hadn't been before.

This worked out rather well though - en route we gave our friends Leon and Yukari a call, as they live in Canterbury, and we thought we could pop in on the way back or something. As it turned out though they were at a bit of a loose end, and seemed happy to take little Aiko-chan out for a ride in the car and join us on our foray to Sandwich.

We spent most of our time there at the tearoom (or more appropriately sitting outside the tearoom) at the Salutation Hotel, part of the "Secret Gardens of Sandwich". We went for the full afternoon tea, which came on particularly large three tier cake stands , and none of us could finish. One might think being in the eponymous town they'd make more of a big deal about their sandwiches (were this Japan there'd be a sandwich museum, sandwich souvenirs, somebody dressed up as a giant sandwich, and so on) but other than the usual (but very pleasant) little cucumber sandwiches that come as part of afternoon tea the bread based snack format was barely lauded at all here.

We also had two good strolls round the town (one before Leon and Yukari arrived, and one after tea) which is filled with some really lovely old buildings - some dating back as far as the 15th century. I also loved the fact that there were still lots of little local, independent shops here - it has its own ironmongers, for example.

We got a lift with Leon and Yukari back to Canterbury West which made our return trip home a lot faster - although the new High Speed line makes getting to Kent much faster, the outer reaches like Sandwich are still on funny old little branch lines.

Once back in London we went back by way of Rice Wine, where we bought all the usual Japanese provisions for a late and light Japanese dinner - what with all the cakes and clotted cream this afternoon it was very refreshing to have something to eat which wasn't in any way dairy based!
[1 comment]
Good Friday: [Friday 22nd April 2011]
First day of the long Easter weekend. We didn't really have any particular plans, but Chie wanted to spend a lot of it studying for her course, and I was keen to get some work done, particularly given the inevitable disruption of my trip to Zurich this week. So today we started on that in earnest, and didn't go out at all, except for a brief foray out into the gardens and to the parcel office to pick up a bottle of Laphroaig I'd ordered before heading off to Zurich. It was their new cask strength offering, batch 003, and was rather good - it reminded me of when I first started to get into whisky, almost a decade ago now, and that first bottle that sparked my interest was of course a Laphroaig too.
[No comments]
On the Way Back: [Thursday 21st April 2011]
Spent the morning at the Zurich office which was again very pleasant - even more so than the previous day in fact, as the office was almost deserted ahead of the long Easter weekend, and I had a room all to myself.

My train was at 1 o' clock, which worked out very well - it meant I had time for an early lunch at the office at midday, after which I headed back to my hotel to pick up my bag, and from there on to the station, giving me just enough time to stock up on things for the journey before getting on the TGV.

Again I was in first class, which was very spacious and comfortable, although the would be idyllic traveling experience was occasionally marred a little by an annoying noisy child. There are signs on the wall telling you not to use your mobile in these carriages, and it seems a bit ironic that in the past I have several times seen passengers ticking off other passengers when their phones go off, but seemingly no-one says anything about the noisy child.

To make up for my disappointment on the way here that there was no Champagne in the bar, I'd picked up a half bottle in the station in Zurich before boarding this time. However, logistically this was the wrong way round - I wanted to drink the Champagne in Champagne, which was near the end of the journey this time, by which point it wasn't particularly well chilled any more.

Arrived in Paris around 5:30, and again headed over to Le Train de Vie for a quick pastis - although I don't think the owner showed any signs of recognising me yet. From there I wandered over to Gare du Nord, and immediately regretted doing so, as there isn't really anything of much interest in or around the station. I did at least buy some croissants from a nearby boulangerie, but then eventually felt the tug to go and do as Eurostar was telling me, and check in 30 minutes before my train was scheduled to leave, and go through all the irksome passport controls and security checks. I really look forward to the day this is all done away with - and it isn't clear to me why it is even necessary today. Traveling between France and Switzerland is blissfully easy - just like going between two cities in the same country - and Switzerland isn't even in the EU! Yet again Britain drags its heels on modernisation whilst the rest of Europe carries on without us.

The Eurostar is always a bit of a come down after the "proper" TGVs in France. Partly it's all the security kerfuffle, but partly it's the fact that it usually costs significantly more and always seems cramped and uncomfortable by comparison. Pretty much every time I've done this trip now I've travelled first class on the TGV, and standard class in Eurostar, and the Eurostar is always the more expensive of the two. It's about 420 miles from Paris to Zurich, versus 300 miles from London to Paris. The return trip London to Paris on the Eurostar cost £174 versus £160 for the TGV Paris to Zurich. Plus the Eurostar trains themselves are starting to look really tired and shabby. I've taken when traveling alone to normally sitting on the little fold down seats in the space at the end of the carriages, to avoid having to jostle for the elbow rest in a cramped two seater with a stranger.

I arrived in London around 8:30, and Chie came to meet me at St. Pancras. We headed over to Drummond Street for dinner, where we ate at the Ravi Shanker.
[No comments]
Wednesday in Zurich: [Wednesday 20th April 2011]
My main reason for coming to Zurich was the committee, but it seemed a waste to come all this way and only stay one day. So as always I'd added another full day on to my itinerary, as there are a few people at the Zurich office who work on projects related to mine, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up. I had a meeting in the morning, one at the end of the day, and also had lunch with a friend who had moved from the London office last year. Plus also lots of those serendipitous hallway conversations which in my experience often ends up being where decisions are actually made at companies like this.

In the evening I went for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Cucina, which I'd chosen using some informed queries on Google Maps, and had the impression was generally considered to be one of the better places for pizza in Zurich. It was actually pretty good - I had a porcini pizza which actually had recognisable porcini on it. Although on the downside the walk there from my hotel took me through a somewhat less salubrious part of Zurich.

Didn't stay out particularly late this evening, it had been a bit of a late night the previous evening, and I hadn't really slept very well, so was keen to get a decent night's sleep tonight.
[No comments]
Committee and Dinner at Hiltl: [Tuesday 19th April 2011]
Spent all of the daytime in the committee at the office in Zurich, and finished up some time around 7.

My manager was also in Zurich this week, and along with a couple of other colleagues we arranged to go for dinner at Hiltl - the vegetarian restaurant par excellence in Zurich. It's about my third visit now, and I'm always delighted to see how popular this place is, with presumably a largely non-vegetarian crowd. I had my favourite dish again - the Zuri Geschnetzeltes - which is a little hard to describe other than it includes rosti. This was jolly nice as always.

After dinner, three of us headed on to the Widder Bar - another Zurich stalwart of mine - to sample some of their excellent selection of whiskies.
[No comments]
Off to Zurich: [Monday 18th April 2011]
Just like almost exactly this time least year I'd been asked to go and sit on a committee again in Zurich, and I also had a few people I wanted to talk to in the office there, so I'd planned to be away for three nights.

As always there wasn't even a question about flying there - my mind was made up I was going by train. However I was a bit mindful of how much time this takes up, and it didn't really seem acceptable to lose a whole working day either side for travel, given that the flight would only be about two hours. Previously I'd reconciled this by just using my own time and traveling at least one way at the weekend. This time though I'd been keen to be in London for the marathon given that Gav was running, and also wanted to be back in time for the long Easter weekend. So I'd tried to schedule my travel mostly in the evening, but working backwards from the latest Paris to Zurich train made it inevitable that I'd need to travel during the afternoon as well. Still, this wasn't so bad - I was able to go into the office in the morning, and got a few things done there, before getting on a 2 o' clock Eurostar out of St. Pancras, and managed to spend the time on the train usefully reviewing materials I needed to go over for the committee tomorrow.

I arrived in Paris around 5:30 French time, where I had a shorter than usual change, but still had time to fit in a very quick pastis at what has now become my favourite café in Paris - Le Train de Vie - conveniently situated between the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l'Est. Then on to Gare de l'Est for the somewhat long but very pleasant trip on the TGV to Zurich. Although I was very disappointed this time to discover they had no Champagne at the bar - the last time I'd done this trip I'd really enjoyed having a glass of Champagne as we passed through Champagne. Next time I'll remember to pick up a bottle before boarding! That disappointment aside though, it was still a very relaxing journey, the first class seats on the TGV are really spacious and comfortable, and the scenery - whilst it was still light - was lovely as always.

I arrived in Zurich around 11:30, and having not really eaten any proper dinner was delighted to find a late night kebab shop type place open between the station and my hotel. There I bought some expensive but nonetheless very much appreciated falafel, which I consumed ravenously after arriving at my hotel.

I'd stayed in the same hotel on my last trip, as it was extremely conveniently located between my company's office and the station. On arrival I was surprised to discover I'd actually been given exactly the same room as last time as well.
[No comments]
London Marathon and Al's Barbecue: [Sunday 17th April 2011]
Quite a busy day on the social calendar today - Gav had invited us for some post marathon celebratory drinks, and Al had also invited us to a barbecue at his house. So we attempted to fit in both.

Gav, rather impressively, was actually running the marathon, and we'd arrange to meet afterwards in the Red Lion and/or Golden Lion in St. James's, conveniently quite close to the finish line (but sufficiently off the beaten track that they weren't too horribly overcrowded, at least earlier on). So Chie and I headed over to that neck of the woods for around 1:30, and had time for a quick bite to eat at a new tapas chain that had recently opened up in London (which was somewhat mediocre actually). We met Gav in the Red Lion around 2:30 and was surprised to see he looked absolutely fine - nothing like the wreck you'd someone who'd just ran 26 miles to be. We stayed for a couple of drinks at the Red Lion, then one more at the Golden Lion round the corner, before heading off to our next social engagement of the afternoon.

We got to Clapham around 5:30, and then spent a couple of hours in Al's back garden, enjoying the first Pimm's of the season. Didn't stay particularly late though, as Chie was mindful about getting back to try and do some more studying for her course, and I had a few domestic chores to catch up on ahead of my trip to Zurich tomorrow.
[No comments]
Saturday: [Saturday 16th April]
Another typical weekend day spent indoors, Chie studying for her course, and me working. We just left the flat in the early evening to go to the supermarket and buy things for dinner. Made a lasagne, although it was slightly less successful than usual - for some reason the lasagne sheets hadn't all cooked thoroughly.
[No comments]
Pappy van Winkle's: [Friday 15th April 2011]
Walter, a favourite colleague of mine in the US, had very kindly sent the team in the London office a present to mark a milestone in our project - and he'd really pulled out the stops, getting us a bottle of Pappy van Winkle's 23 year old Family Reserve, which I happen to know is really very pricey indeed. So at the end of the day we downed tools, and, for the few of us on my team who were actually in the office this week, had a mini tasting session. I'd never really been a fan of Bourbon to date, I expect largely because I'd never tried a particularly good example. This however was quite a revelation - it was super smooth and extremely drinkable, with none of the harsh notes that usually make me react less-than-favourably toward the Kentucky spiritus frumenti. There were instead very pleasant notes of vanilla, brown sugar and creme-brulée. My colleagues, perhaps less accustomed to the vernacular typically used in such circumstances, offered "lime pickle" and "WD40", although I suspect the latter may not have been entirely serious.
[No comments]
Horse and Groom: [Thursday 14th April]
Went for a quick pint after work with Andrew and Raimundo at the Horse and Groom. Neither of them wanted to stay very long, so I afterwards went for a second quick pint at the Grenadier before then heading on to the Waitrose in Belgravia to buy fresh pasta for dinner.
[No comments]
Okonomiyaki: [Wednesday 13th April 2011]
Chie made okonomiyaki for dinner, which we had with some Sagres Zero, a non alcoholic version of Portugal's national beer that I'd found in the little Portugese deli near where we live. Unfortunately we had ran out of Japanese mayo (or perhaps more correctly our Japanese mayo had ran out of date), without which okonomiyaki - especially the rather spartan version we normally make at home - can be a bit plain. Chie compensated for this on the second batch with the addition of cheese which definitely helped.
[No comments]
Lebanese Food: [Tuesday 12th April]
Made Lebanese food for dinner - flat bread, grilled halloumi, foul moudamas (there's a shop near where we live which sells it in tins), houmous etc.
[No comments]
The Orange: [Monday 11th April 2011]
We had an intern start at work today, so as is customary we took him to the pub in the evening. However, it turned out he doesn't drink, and it was a bit of an odd crowd assembled in the pub which wasn't particularly conducive to a very convivial time, so I left after one polite pint.

I decided instead it would be much nicer to meet up with Chie and go for dinner somewhere. Chie said she fancied pizza, and, whilst instinctually being in Belgravia I first thought of Oliveto, I deemed it would be good to try and branch out and try somewhere else for a change. I'd heard good things about the pizza at The Orange on Pimlico Road, so we decided to give that a go. It turned out to be a little underwhelming. Oliveto need fear not - it still very much retains its' crown.
[No comments]
Dim Sum with Iguchi Sensei: [Sunday 10th April 2011]
For lunch we went for dim sum at Royal China with one of Chie's lecturers from her university days, who was visiting England. Chie had a good old natter with Iguchi-sensei about what various people from her college are doing now, whilst I tried to make headway into the vast quantity of food we'd over-ordered. After lunch we walked Iguchi-sensei to Baker Street tube station and said our goodbyes, then Chie and I went and got on the number 2 bus back home. Stayed in for the rest of the day, and attempted to catch up on our respective study / work that we'd not managed to do yesterday, having spent the day in Cambridge.
[No comments]
Cambridge: [Saturday 9th April 2011]
Our friend Junchan, and her boyfriend Arnaud (who we hadn't met before) were going to be in Cambridge over the weekend, as Arnaud had a conference to attend on Monday. So given that Cambridge is just a short trip on the train from London it seemed like a very good opportunity to meet up.

Chie and I left London just after midday, as Chie and Arnaud already had plans for the afternoon, and we were going to meet up at the end of the afternoon / in the early evening.

It was a glorious day though, and on arrival Chie and I thought we'd make the most of it and take a stroll down the river Cam to Grantchester, for a late lunch / early afternoon tea at the Orchard Tea Rooms, made famous by poet Robert Brooke, of "Forever England" fame, and his Neo-Pagan chums. We had a fairly respectable ploughman's there (the lunch part) and of course a couple of scones and tea (the afternoon tea part) beneath the apple blossoms in full bloom. It was rather idyllic.

So idyllic in fact, that we hadn't really been keeping an eye on the time, and realised at 3:30 that we only had an hour to get back to Cambridge before King's College closed. I was really keen to see inside the chapel, having been chastised by Robin following our last visit that we didn't go in. So we took a slightly less leisurely stroll along the Cam from Grantchester back to Cambridge, which is, even in haste, a rather lovely way to arrive in the centre of Cambridge.

We just made it to King's with a few minutes to spare, and whilst there bathed in this splended example of perpendicular Gothic architecture at its finest, with it's stunning fan vaulted ceiling. It is rather awe inspiring.

On exiting we had a quick stroll around the grounds, and rather frustratingly I noticed all of the outdoor pictures I'd taken had a strange upside down V shape mark on them - I tried wiping the lens but to no avail. I suspect that may spell the end of this camera, after a mere 18 months. Ho, hum.

After a quick bit of shopping to buy a jumper (I'd come out today wearing just a shirt, but was aware it would probably start to cool off significantly as it turned to evening) we went to meet up with Junchan and Arnaud, and the puntsman (?) who'd be taking us on our tour.

It was rather lively out on the river, given the glorious weather a lot of students (or just generally young people) were out larking about on punts - I wonder there aren't more accidents. Still, to the backdrop of that we were treated to the classic views from the water of the colleges, with commentary from our oarsman / gondolier / whatever you call him. I think this went down rather well with Junchan and Arnaud.

Next on the agenda, as the afternoon turned to evening, was eating and drinking. Thanks to Hotpot (now, incidentally, renamed to Google Places) I'd been able to find my friend Kyle's favourite pubs and eateries here in Cambridge, and so we proceeded to base our itinerary on that. First, we headed to the Free Press, a lovely little locals pub in the backstreets of Cambridge, where we also had dinner. It was a very English menu (things like Gammon and Lancashire Salad) but I think that was reasonably well received by our French dining companion. The beer also seemed to go down rather well. We spent a fair while here, but had time for one more pub before Chie and I got the train, so headed to one of Kyle's other favourites - Cambridge Blue. This was a lot livelier, and had a huge selection of beers (lots of real ales plus also a lot of bottled Belgian beers). We tried a couple of ciders here - Pickled Pig and St. Hellier's.

After that we headed to the station, said our goodbyes, and got on a train back to London.
[No comments]
Cheese and Chips: [Friday 8th April 2011]
Cheese and chips for lunch!
[No comments]
Andy's Birthday: [Thursday 7th April 2011]
I should probably have remembered it was Andy's birthday given that, just like two years ago today, he suggested we meet up for lunch at my office.

After lunch I'd taken the afternoon off, so we headed to Holborn for a bit of a jaunt around its' fine hostelries.
[No comments]
Lunch in St. James's Park: [Wednesday 6th April 2011]
The past couple of days had been a bit grey and not particularly memorable, but today spring erupted (again) quite significantly, and the weather was just glorious.

It seemed a shame to be couped up in the office all day, so at luncthime I headed out, picked up a burrito at Piccante (a place I've grown quite fond of) and went and ate it in St. James's Park. It was rather lovely.

In the evening I made a creamy dolcelatte and spinach sauce to go with pasta, which was rather nice too.
[No comments]
Mayfair with Al: [Tuesday 5th April]
Met up with Al in Mayfair in the evening, who had cause to celebrate, so purely out of politeness I accompanied him on another evening of Champagne etc. Started with a pint at the Goat Tavern, then went to Fortnum and Mason for their Champagne of the Month (Pol Roger) and then Al fancied pizza, so we headed over to Rocket, where we'd been once before, and therein had pizza with more Champagne (Perrier Jouet this time).
[No comments]
Parcel: [Monday 4th April 2011]
Chie's Mum had sent us a food parcel which arrived today, so we had fun opening that in the evening.

Chie made ma po tofu (with Quorn mince) for dinner which was rather delicious, ate it with some leftover kimchi.
[No comments]
Afternoon Stroll: [Sunday 3rd April 2011]
Mostly spent the day indoors today, with what is now becoming a typical pattern for the weekend - Chie studying for her course, and me getting some work done to try and get a bit ahead of things. With all the other cruft that seems to be part of my job now (interviewing, committees, meetings etc) it's hard to get as much "real" work done Monday to Friday as I used to.

Popped out for a bit in the late afternoon / early evening, for a short stroll along down the Thames, and back by way of a little convenience store where we bought a single courgette. It cost 22 pence.

In the evening I made a roast meal.
[No comments]
Silver: [Saturday 2nd April 2011]
I wanted to buy another pair of antique cufflinks today, so in the morning we caught the tube up to Angel, and went for a stroll around Camden Passage, one of London's antiques markets, taking in breakfast at The Breakfast Club (which I wasn't that impressed by) while we were there.

We had a pretty thorough examination of just about every stall and shop that was open, but I couldn't find a pair I liked at a reasonable price. I did however buy a very small silver spoon (a salt or mustard spoon) for a very reasonable £8. It had Birmingham hallmarks, a 1923 datestamp, and was made by Daniel and Arter.

Not wanting to give up just yet we decided to widen our search, and got on a bus towards the centre of London. We got off near Euston, to go and quickly pay a vist to the Evolving English exhibition at the British Library, but it was too busy to really see anything, so we didn't linger very long.

From there we had a pleasant stroll down through Fitzrovia and on to Bond Street, where we went into Gray's Antiques Market. They apparently have 200 dealers there, although I think only about a quarter or less open on a Saturday. Still there were a few interesting things to look at, and eventually I settled on a pair of 1935 silver cufflinks (Chester hallmarks), slightly Deco in style, made by Henry Griffith & Sons.

We also went to a charity sale in aid of the Japanese earthquake relief efforts, and Chie bought herself a rather nice Stella McCartney bag. I was very supportive of this (to the point of being pushy) as Stella McCartney is a vegetarian and, I believe, doesn't use any leather in her products. Plus of course all the money went to a very good cause.

After a quick bit of libation at a pub I hadn't been to before (the King's Head in Mayfair), we headed over to Rice Wine Shop to buy some supplies, and then headed back home.

In the evening had the usual Japanese food for dinner - tofu, rice, miso soup, kimchi etc.
[2 comments]
Friday: [Friday 1st April 2011]
At the usual end-of-the-week beer and pizza thing today there was Asahi in the beer fridges, which we hadn't seen for quite a while, and it seemed to be very well received by a number of my colleagues. Although there was still a bit of a chill in the air it was just about warm enough to sit out on the balcony - the first time this year I think.

Headed back home after that and Chie and I had a ready made frozen lasagne for dinner. It was unsurprisingly quite vile.
[No comments]
Good Old Holborn: [Thursday 31st March 2011]
Whilst Chie was at her evening class I decided to visit my favourites in Holborn - the Seven Stars, the Cittie of Yorke, and Ye Old Mitre. All three were as spellbinding and beautiful as always.

Met up with Chie when she finished her course and we went for dinner at Fabrizio's, another favourite of mine in Holborn, wherein they make excellent pasta.
[No comments]
Science Museum and the Lost Cider Houses of London: [Wednesday 30th March 2011]
Went along with some people from work to a late evening opening at the Science Museum. For some reason or other I'm not really a big fan of the Science Museum - maybe because I get enough "science" in my day job and really want something different in my spare time. So I didn't stay very long.

Headed back home by way of Belgravia, and called in at the Nag's Head, which was surprisingly deserted - I've never seen it so quiet. I had a rather blissful time there reading a 1960s London pub guide they had on the shelf. Pleasingly a lot of the celebrated pubs of that era are still going strong today, and it was interesting that the "best of the best" from almost half a century ago are pretty much the same as what contemporary pub guides would tend to list as London's finest.

Of course though there were a few pubs in the book which have since disappeared, most intriguingly was a Weston's Cider House which was at 4 Woodfield Place, in Paddington. Yes - a dedicated cider pub, in London! Even then (around 1965?) it was reported as being the last of its kind, Weston's apparently had several others in London which has closed over the preceding decade, and I assume from the lack of any information about it on the web the one in the book didn't survive past the sixties. However it is interesting, I had assumed the difficulty in finding cider in London today was just the way it always had been, it not really being a drink produced in this region of England - but it seems that London's conspicuous absence of cider is actually more of a modern thing.
[No comments]
Chie back to work: [Tuesday 29th March 2011]
Chie went back to work today, her face was still a little swollen after the dental surgery on Friday, but she seemed to be ready to leave the flat finally, which was a relief.

Still not wanting to rush too quickly into eating anything hard, for dinner this evening we had some asparagus ravioli I'd picked up in Waitrose yesterday.
[1 comment]
Waitrose: [Monday 28th March 2011]
Went to the Waitrose in Belgravia (and was pleased to discover it was unaffected by Saturday's protests) to buy things for dinner after work. Chie - who'd taken the day off to continue her recovery - thought she could probably attempt to eat something other than mashed potato, so I thought we'd give gnocchi a go. She just about managed OK.
[No comments]
Afternoon Stroll: [Sunday 27th March 2011]
Chie was very much still recovering from her dental surgery on Friday, and again spent the whole day indoors quietly recuperating.

As it was quite a pleasant spring day I was keen to get out of doors for at least a bit, and so a little after 5 I headed out for a late afternoon stroll. I wandered along the Thames to the Houses of Parliament, from there up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, and then along the Strand to the Royal Courts of Justice whereupon, almost on auto pilot, I headed up through Bell Yard to Carey Street, and the ever wonderful Seven Stars. Just stayed for one drink, mindful that I needed to get back to looking after Chie.

In the evening we had the remainder of yesterday's shepherd's pie with some extra mashed potato this time.
[No comments]