At the station, to get to the right platform I would have to go up and down a lot of steps. I asked a guard if there was a lift and he said there wasn't but insisted on carrying my bags for me. Good start to the day. I arrive at my lovely hotel but the room I'm given again is so small and a bit decrepit but I settle in, check on Corona updates and then lunch at the Theatre pub not far away and after a huge walk I dine later at a Steak House and had hot buttermilk chicken with slaw and sweet potato chips - I feel like I'm in Texas. Got back to my room and rang and asked if I could change and they told me I would be able to the next day. If you don't ask...
The next morning after a simple English breakfast of toast and jam, I'm moved to the third floor to a lovely big room and when I head out and get a taxi to the Tate Modern gallery, I get 40% off for the whole day! The drivers are such an interesting mix. This one is from South Africa but is Irish and is about to have a reunion of 120 in Ireland.
After the Tate, I get a taxi to Borough Markets and the driver is Ethiopian. When he arrived here he was so depressed that he was going to take his life but he found positive thinking and now he has a house here and three in Ethiopia!. He thinks this virus is man-made and that the Americans have used it to stop China taking over the world. There are so many conspiracy theories from the drivers! The other driver said the opposite. Also, they are all wearing masks. I start to think I should be wearing mine a bit more.
The market is fantastic! I wander far, I wander wide. Exhausted I get another taxi, this driver is Italian and he complains about Italians as they don't do what they're told.
That night, I meet up with a homeschool friend of the daughters and his partner. Lovely to see and catch up with them. So far, the pandemic is not concerning them, even though she's a paramedic.
I'm scared of the Underground so the next day I decide to get a cab to Notting Hill whatever the price and the 40% is still active! I go to Farm Girl for their famous rose latte and it is so good! Walked through different Mews and note that cars stop for you here even if you're not on a crossing, different from home. I walk to Portobello, it's definitely an interesting place.
Go to another famous shop, Biscuiteer for a coffee but the cafe is closed so I buy some beautifully decorated biscuits and lunch at 1962 Mike's cafe for a coffee and overhear the waitress saying that a friend's plane to Berlin has been cancelled because of Covid. Yikes. The daughter is coming to meet me in Scotland, will she get here, will we get back to Italy?
Seems a bit unreal still. My sister texts to tell me that toilet paper is disappearing off the shelves in Australia. ??? The first of many tweets and memes about the necessities of life coming down to toilet paper.
Then I head down to the river and lunch at another quirky Bill's and then to another market where they have the best cronut place called Bread Ahead. As I crunch into my Tiramisu cronut, I watch a guy across the way typing out poems for people on an old typewriter. Loving this place.
That night, I dress up and head off to the Royal Albert Hall to see my favourite singer, Bryan Ferry, in his home country. I eat at the bar, have a cocktail, doing it in style for the man of style. The concert is fantastic. I'm so lucky to have seen him as the next day they have cancelled a cancer concert that was to be held there. It is a warning of things to come but the next day I'm off to Wales to see a friend, still thinking that life will get back to normal soon.
Beautiful!