London Visit

On Saturday Eldest daughter arrived in London for an educational conference. Happy to have another chance of a grand day out Middle daughter and Eldest son, complete with his partner, were dragged into Paddington to meet up at the Hilton hotel. From this salubrious venue we made out way to a public house that had been researched for its good food and real ale content by Eldest son. It was a good choice apart from the fact that it has been some time since my body experienced a good British bitter and it chose to be upset by a pint of this substance. The meal that I had was amazingly good both for the money and the actual content. I chose a beef steak pie with seasonal vegetables and the pastry alone was a hymn to the powers of their cook.

Following this we caught a bus (this turned out to be a bad move) from the Paddington area along Oxford Street to the British Museum. It was an exceptionally hot day and two elderly passengers had to get off the bus and escape from the heat. I felt considerably faint and actually had to sit out the museum trip in the shade. The others visited the Syrian and the Egyptian exhibit and were thoroughly worn out by the time the museum closed. They are holding an exhibition of Aztec works later in the year and this is probably a good time for me to go back and visit again.

We intended to move on to Museum Street and visit Atlantis. This bookshop sells many different books and articles that relate to the esoteric. Some of their books being secondhand copies of works that are no longer available. We did arrive in time to see part of the stock and I unfortunately bought three books just prior to their closing which coincided with the first drops of storm rain. The need to seek shelter took us into another public house and there we sat and watched some tennis in between drinking a few glasses of white wine. By the time we emerged Forbidden Planet, which was also on our list to visit, had long since closed. There was nothing left to do but depart for China Town and visit the Malaysian restaurant that Eldest son’s partner had researched on the Internet.

Again we had a very good meal and making our way to Piccadilly and from their Paddington, everyone departed in their own directions. Middle daughter and myself made our way back to Southall Station and thence the bus stop where we encountered an old diving school friend who had been on the same train. It was such an eventful day and we were exhausted by the time we arrived home. The cats were not happy. Some were on the missing list. A dead rat had been left in the kitchen for our supper (this is a sure sign of their displeasure). During the night I was awoken by Demon who had caught yet another juvenile rat and was playing with it in the hallway. Middle daughter commented that they must have been sacrificing them at the alter of their particular cat gods to make sure we returned. The dead bodies were removed and all seemed to have settled when in the living room I came across a frog pretending to be a statue. It was very much alive and certainly not happy about being indoors. I transported it back to the garden now sodden with rain.
Later this afternoon we are off to a barbeque in celebration of a first communion. I dread to think what will await us on our return.