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Category: London

Wednesday : Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, the Stablehand Pub and Another Bloody Tableless Train

The standard JD Wetherspoon breakfast at Goodman’s Field in London, with the bacon seemingly heated under a candle, but everything else suitably hot and appropriately cooked. This is a handy pub given the number of power points that they have, with the venue being clean and organised. It’s not going to win a Michelin award, but breakfasts at JD Wetherspoons are reliable for being of a reasonable quality and usually having one or two obvious faults such as a hard egg or a cold hash brown.

I’ve never previously noticed this memorial located by All Hallows-by-the-Tower church, commemorating the decision to give the entire population of Malta the George Cross in April 1942. The monument was placed here in 2005 and the limestone memorial is made from stone which comes from the island of Gozo. There’s quite a lot of text on the memorial and the Maltese cross image is visible above the information panel. There were many cases of bravery amongst the islanders who stood firm against the attempted invasion by the Axis powers which became known as the Siege of Malta. As an aside, the stone probably needs cleaning, it’s much brighter in images taken a few years ago.

This is the One Millennium Bridge development, converting the former offices known as Millennium Bridge House, opened in 1988, which were used by the Old Mutual. The new development is meant to combine offices, residential and social space, which will also increase the length of the Thames Path.

This all feels a little odd, it’s the Hoop and Grapes pub at 80 Farringdon Street in London. Demolition of the buildings either side have meant that the pub is just a little exposed, and rather inevitably, it’s also just a little closed. It was nearly demolished in the 1990s, but fortunately it was saved. I visited in late 2020 as it was listed in the Good Beer Guide, and hopefully that will come to pass once again when it’s re-opened. The building is a brave survivor of demolitions on this street, adding charm and heritage to the area.

Bunhill Fields, a burial ground in Islington which was in use between 1665 and 1854, with around 125,000 burials having taken place.

Disappointingly, there’s no public access to much of the site as there’s a large fence separating the central walkway to the graves.

There’s plenty of character to the burial ground and likely numerous rats playing in all of that undergrowth which is inaccessible to humans (unless they happen to have a key).

The end of platform at Farringdon Station, where I got the underground service to Paddington. I’ll leave the history of this station to Wikipedia, but I do think of the heritage of the service at what is one of the longest operating underground services in the country, having started in 1863 as the terminus of the Metropolitan Railway.

For the second day in a row, I had a meal paid for by The Fork, this time at the Stablehand pub near Paddington, built in 1839 on the site of an old archery range. My table reservation was for 17:00 but I arrived at the pub, completely soaked due to a typhoon which was hitting the area, and the signage said drinks only until 18:00 which didn’t seem ideal. It’s a gastropub in its intentions, having recently opened at what was until 2021 the Angelus French restaurant. The welcome was immediate and authentic, with the staff member merrily giving me the table with a power supply (as in the power supply was located by the table, it wasn’t a table which electrocuted me) which also handily had a hook that I could hang my drenched coat on.

The beer was reasonable, this is the IPA from Rebellion Beer which was well-kept but not particularly exciting in terms of flavour.

The staff at the venue were friendly, pro-active and helpful, saying that they were happy to see if the kitchen could produce something easy before the food service formally opened. I asked if the cheese board was available, and after checking if cutting cheese would be OK in terms of being easy, the chefs were keen to oblige. There were though a handful of customers who came in and left when they discovered food wasn’t available, it seemed a slightly odd decision to not serve earlier.

Back to the pub though, which is food focused, but is also welcoming to those who just want drinks. They offer a British only menu, so there’s an attempt to source good quality products without the need for importing anything. The cheeses were decadent and delicious, a rich blue cheese and a creamy brie, which isn’t a cheese I usually go for, but was suitably full in flavour. The staff member was also knowledgeable, and I liked that she remembered to come over to take my main course order when the kitchen had opened fully.

The photography here doesn’t show how decent this meal was, but it’s steak and kidney pudding served with vegetables and with a side of mashed potato. I asked for extra gravy and I received an additional jug which was richer than it looks in the photo, where it gives the impression of being watery. Actually, I’m not sure I would have ordered this meal if I had seen this photo in advance, it all looks a bit insipid.

However, this is probably the best steak and kidney pie that I’ve had, with large chunks of steak which were tender and had no sections of fat on them (I’m quite fussy). There were a few small pieces of kidney, but this pie was all about the steak and the kidney was just a sideshow, which is just how I think it should be. The gravy inside the pie was rich, the steak packed with flavour and the pastry was light. I don’t usually order mashed potato as it annoys me (I get pre-annoyed far too easily), but here it was smooth and not over-packed with anything like butter or cheese. All in all, very impressive.

I had hoped for the Arctic roll for dessert, but this was unavailable, so I went for this fruit based explosion instead. My bill came in at under £50, meaning there was nothing for me to pay, so thanks to The Fork for such a suitably delightful meal. I’d recommend this pub, it was informal and comfortable, with the staff being keen to engage and also knowledgeable and attentive. The prices were moderate for the area, with the quality of all of the food and drink being high.

Certainly drier than when I went in, when the road was more like a river. After a short walk back to Paddington, I got the underground to London Liverpool Street, although unfortunately this was the week before the Crossrail service between the two stations was opening.

My initial intention has been to position to near Gatwick Airport ready for a flight to Montenegro the following day, but I had instead booked a cheap train home to Norwich. I did notice this hoarding at London Liverpool Street, at least meaning that passengers can be properly fed before their rail departures.

Liverpool Street was busy, but then again, it always seems to be busy.

I was yet again annoyed that Greater Anglia were using a train which had no tables, which caused a number of passengers some difficulty trying to position their laptops and devices. The train was busy and Greater Anglia’s obsession with using the Stansted Express carriages on this service remains a complete mystery to me. However, there seems little point in my repeating my general annoyance at this situation, with the train being on time and otherwise clean.

June 6, 2022
Monday and Tuesday : Lucy’s Chips in Norwich Before a Trip to London Including Goose Island, Craft Beer Co and Hard Rock

I’ll immediately admit to some deceit and have used a photo from a different day, but this is the delight of Lucy’s Chips at Norwich Market. For the first time, no scraps were available today, but I’ve now decided these are the best sausage and chips available in Norwich, because they use a proper butcher’s sausage and they’re competitively priced. It’s no surprise that there’s nearly always quite a long queue wrapping around their market unit.

I did have some cheap tickets to fly to Montenegro, but for various reasons, I decided not to go. However, I still had my £5 fare from Norwich to London, so I thought I’d head to the city for one night rather than not use the rail ticket.

I wasn’t at all surprised or delighted to see that Greater Anglia have shoved another Stansted Express service on the route. Well, actually, I wasn’t entirely surprised at this bloody train being put into service. With no first or catering, neither of which impact on me, this isn’t an ideal train for many customers, nor is the entire lack of tables. I don’t know why people on the Stansted Express aren’t allowed tables, but I’ve questioned that before and Greater Anglia don’t know. I’m unsure why the rail company who spent hundreds of millions on these trains isn’t sure why they don’t have tables, perhaps someone forgot. The guard on board made an announcement apologising for the train, saying that several of the usual mainline trains were currently being repaired. I have no idea why such new trains need such maintenance, but there we go. The train was clean and tidy, getting quite busy when we neared London. I did have another passenger keep talking to me during the journey, but I tried to look as busy as possible, although that didn’t much help.

The tableless train arrived into London Liverpool Street on time at least.

Instead of going to a salad bar, I got muddled up and went to Goose Island, what I consider to be the best bar in London, which I might have mentioned a few times before. This is the IWD2022, a dank and hazy DNEIPA which was fruity, refreshing and beautifully decadent. Brewed on the premises and it’s always a delight to visit this marvellous location.

This is Worship Street where a girder bridge is still in place with trains underneath the road sweeping into London Liverpool Street station. I mention this as I have managed to walk by this many times and not notice it was there. Behind me in the photo there was not that long ago a series of railway tracks going into Broad Street railway station, which was one of the countless casualties of the post-war under-funding and poor management of the network. Even Beeching didn’t want it demolished, but British Railways demolished the station and flogged the land off anyway. Today, they’ve have to build Crossrail underneath the new developments, so Broad Street has come back in some form at least.

Clicking on the image makes it larger, and I was standing where it says Worship Street Junction on the left-hand side map. Look at all the railway!

I had decided to walk to Oxford Street, which is about an hour’s walk from Goose Island, since it was a pleasant day and I’m always keen on urban walking. This is Farringdon’s new Crossrail station, although this central section of the Elizabeth Line hadn’t opened when I was in the city, I was one week to early for that. I’ve pinched Crossrail’s press release below for information about this station:

“Farringdon station will be one of the busiest in the UK, connecting with Thameslink and the London Underground to provide links with outer London, the home counties, the City, Canary Wharf and three of London’s five airports. The goldsmiths, watchmakers, ironmongers and blacksmiths of Farringdon, Clerkenwell and Smithfields and the Brutalist architecture of the nearby Barbican Centre provide the context for the design of the new Farringdon station. Two new ticket halls are connected by underground mined platforms. The western end located on the corner of Farringdon Road and Cowcross Street will provide access to and from the Thameslink ticket hall.

The eastern end is bound by Charterhouse Street, Lindsey Street and Long Lane. This major transport interchange site has had to fit within a complex infrastructure network up to 25 metres below ground. The engineering and design challenges here have driven tailored design solutions such as lifts that move on a slope rather than the standard vertical movement. In the eastern ticket hall, the design references the Barbican centre and the design of heavy metal sliding-screen gates has been derived from a barcode for ‘Farringdon’. In the western ticket hall influence is drawn from the nearby diamond and jewellery quarter. A material palette comprising champagne coloured stainless steel cladding and etched glass panels unify design at both ticket halls.”

I’m a big advocate for Crossrail, this will make connections across London much quicker. Even though I try and walk across London as much as I can, this does make things easier and the excellent accessibility for those with disabilities is a real positive as well.

The once bustling site of Smithfields market, which is still there in part, but most of the site is moving location. Much of this will be the Museum of London in a few years, they’re moving from their current location.

I thought I’d have a quick mid-walk rest and charge my devices up, this is the Sir John Oldcastle pub in Farringdon, operated by JD Wetherspoons. I didn’t have any issues here, friendly staff, well-kept and keenly priced beer with the pub being clean and organised. And there were plenty of power outlets as well.

I had a look at some of the pub’s reviews, and it’s towards the higher end of ratings for the chain, with this one being helpful to me.

“If you want to sit and read a paper or a book, this is the place for you. If however, you want to have a laugh and giggle with friends, go to the castle pub instead. They could do with a manger that will let a group of friends meet up and not kick them out before most of them have finished their first drink.”

I can imagine what “have a laugh and giggle” means in terms of the disruption to others, so this reassures me about the pub’s management.

Or a 1/5 review as:

“We bought a cake from outside to share as it was my friend birthday”

and they were annoyed the pub wouldn’t let them.

And a 1/5 review:

“I came with a coffe cup, ok, I agree it’s not permitted, just left it on the table”

They came with their own coffee cup for the unlimited refills?

Anyway, I digress.

I was fascinated by this missing building and I’m still none the wiser. It’s been like that for at least two decades and there was once a building there, so quite what happened to it, I have no idea. And I’ve never said that this blog actually answers questions and problems….

Tzatziki Sour from Orbit Beers, which my friend Nathan has mentioned more times than I’ve mentioned crisps in my life, but it’s a very good beer.

And the This is Not a Soft Drink from Pressure Drop Brewing from Tottenham, who have a taproom that I want to visit. They occasionally have some beers in Goose Island, I had the Escape Pod Cherry Edition last year from the brewery, one of the most decadent and rich imperial stouts that I’ve had. This was a juicy raspberry and yuzu sour, refreshing although lacking a little something. And, no, I don’t really know what an yuzu tastes like, I think it’s lemony.

Downstairs in Craft Beer Co in what I considered was a suitably artistic photo.

The Whippet Bench at Centre Point which was designed as a seat, although this is rather more style over substance. It was created for the London Festival of Architecture and its relevance here is the architects of the public space wanted people to think about how dogs live in the moment.

The flags at Oxford Street, and also on Regent Street, have been controversial because some people have compared them to Nuremberg and the Nazi Party. Having been in Nuremberg a couple of weeks ago, it’s hard not to note the similarities and I assume this was considered, but at some point perhaps countries have to move on from what happened 80 years ago with a entirely different flag. Given they’re only there to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee which absolutely has to be marked in many different ways, it is perhaps going too far to say that they’re offensive. But I won’t go down the rabbit-hole of politics beyond that.

Thanks to TheFork, who I still refuse to praise for their anti single diner policy, who funded this thanks to their numerous offers. I’d add I might not praise them, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to enthusiastically join in with their deals. Anyway, this is the Hard Rock cafe on Oxford Street, which I’ve written about numerous times, mainly because of previous generosity from TheFork. Service here is nearly always impeccable, and it was thus once again. Although I’d note that they have an odd way of sitting diners next to each other rather than putting spaces between them, which isn’t an ideal situation. I was left with the neighbouring table asking me to explain the British currency, or more specifically, what the coins meant. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen someone disappointed that the 2p isn’t £2 as they had a lot of them and were about to pay for their coffee with them.

The “One Night in Bangkok Spicy Shrimp” weren’t cheap at £14.75 (thank goodness this wasn’t my money) but this sort of dish is often exciting in the United States in terms of the flavours. It was satisfactory here, but the outside was more hard than crispy.

I had a little dilemma here of trying to unstick the sticky sauce from the camera whilst smoke was sizzling from the chicken fajitas, so the photography is bloody dreadful. I’ve got a new camera now though, perhaps the imagery will improve…. Anyway, this was suitably delicious as ever, although four wraps isn’t enough to fit that much food in. Despite now being aged over 14 years old, I still get excited seeing food sizzling as it’s brought to the table. I should probably get out more to be honest.

As part of the decor, clothing worn by Phil Collins in 1982. I can imagine a political restaurant, perhaps with a suit worn by Jacob Rees-Mogg in 1987 being on the wall. On second thoughts, maybe not.

I thought I’d walk through Hyde Park to get to Hyde Park Corner underground, walking past the remnants of the Marble Arch Mound or whatever it was called. This is a cycle and pedestrian lane, although it wasn’t entirely clear to me (or anyone else actually) which was which.

A simple, albeit long, journey on the Piccadilly Line to Hounslow West. It’s possible to do the journey to Heathrow by Crossrail now, but it’s much more expensive than using the Underground, something that they’re not making at all clear.

And safely at the Ibis Heathrow with the two drinks proffered to me. I was only at Heathrow as this is where the cheapest hotel in London was, it was nothing to do with the flight I had originally intended to get, which was at Gatwick. It was good to be back in London, this is becoming increasingly rare given how much the hotels are now costing in the city.

June 1, 2022
Sunday : Hike Norfolk Canal Walk and Pizza at Franco Manca

The day started with breakfast at the Heathrow T5 Holiday Inn Express in what is a busy airport hotel and I think I took this photo at the quietest possible moment. This is all high volume turnover food and drink, but it’s all brand standard and what I expected from the chain. I like airport hotels for numerous reasons, and not just because it often means that I’m going away, but because there are people of different nationalities talking either about their excitement for going on a trip or talking about the one that they’ve been on. There were plenty of Americans in this hotel, not perhaps surprising given it’s an IHG property.

The bacon was odd, one side was slightly burnt and the other side was only just cooked, but it was very moreish and I think I rather overdid them and promptly got a salt overdose. That banana isn’t mine, Ross went for that. I didn’t say anything though. Given that the breakfast was included in the room rate, I thought that it was all quite reasonable, I did enjoy the bacon and sausages.

I would have usually taken this photo the previous evening, but it was a bit dark then…. The hotel is unlikely to win any design awards for its exterior, but the staff were helpful and I had no complaints about the stay.

It was a bus to Hounslow West (fortunately there’s a bus stop a short distance away from the hotel), which took longer than I had anticipated, the Bath Road certainly has a lot of stops. Ross got off at Holborn to change to the Central Line to go back home, whereas I had the Hike Norfolk walking day which meant that I stayed on the Piccadilly Line until King’s Cross.

After getting a quick free coffee, I started to walk along the Regent’s Canal from the King’s Cross area to meet the others. I didn’t rush, as the further I walked then the further I had to walk back and I had a very heavy bag after a few weeks away. Indeed, I had quite of little sit downs whilst letting the others walk towards me.

These gas holders at King’s Cross were modernised to be used as housing, this shows real innovation and respect for the local environment and its heritage. The one in Norwich was just pulled down in what I considered to be an appalling decision, but there we go. Mind you, although the properties are properly really lovely to live in, the prices start at £725,000 and there are sizeable annual service charges, so I think I’ll stay living in Norwich.

I could hear them coming (this is a video, if it doesn’t auto-play, then click on the image) as it’s fair to say that there are some loud members of the group. As I am the sole of discretion, I won’t mention any names. The walk was led by the formidable Steve along the route of the Regent’s Canal, which is 8.6 miles long and goes from Paddington in the west to the Limehouse Basin in the east. For my loyal followers, I reccied some of this walk with Steve and Bev a few weeks ago.

Dancing on graves isn’t usually acceptable behaviour, but it is here in Joseph Grimaldi Park. We diverted here because I knew of its existence, and I’ve written about it before.

The canal walk in mid-flow.

There were lots of opportunities for photos whilst walking.

A lock and I do enjoy watching boats navigate through these, always slightly relieved it’s not me that has to be in charge of that process. It looks quite complex and I’m not sure that I’d find a holiday on a boat relaxing if I had to do this more than once. I don’t think that I’m a born mariner though.

The lovely Sarah posing for photos. She was bravely walking the Rodent Wriggle the following week and was just a little nervous, but I did my best to offer helpful advice (did I mention that I’ve walked the LDWA 100?) and I’m pleased that I’m sure that I was useful as she completed it.

I went to the pub as I had a heavy bag and couldn’t be bothered walking any further (we had finished the Regent’s Canal early so Steve thought of another short walk he could lead), well, and I love pubs. This is the Craft Beer Co outlet at Limehouse, which again, I’ve written about before. The music was setting up and I helped pass over a couple of wires, which I think nearly defines me as a roadie (although perhaps I’ve rather under-estimated what they actually do).

I decided to leave at 16:00 with no disrespect to the musicians, but I’m not big on live music in pubs.

After a quick ride on the DLR and then a 15 minute walk (which I rushed in case the others got food before I got there), I caught up with the rest of the group in central London as they were looking for food options and they had chosen Franco Manca, partly because nowhere else was serving food. I had heard of this chain, which has about 60 outlets in the UK, but never visited and so thought this was an interesting choice.

The pizza was reasonably priced and suitably decadent, I was surprised and delighted. Mine was served first, so I had additional reason to like this restaurant. I went for the lightly smoked beechwood spicy salami with organic tomatoes, caramelised red onions and homemade chilli oil. Indeed, I’m making myself hungry two weeks on just thinking about that. I’d come here again, with the pizzas costing under £10 which is very reasonable for central London.

A successful meal I’d say (I didn’t hear any complaints), which meant that we just had a short walk back to London Liverpool Street railway station. They also had numerous charging points, which was handy to reinvigorate my numerous devices.

Steve posing at Liverpool Street, where we had a suitable rest whilst waiting for the train. I had been away for some time, including trips to Nuremberg and Barcelona, as well as a hike up a Welsh mountain on a challenge event, so I was ready to return home.

Boarding the train home, which was suitably uneventful other than for Andy accidentally punching someone, but I’m pleased to say that as it was an accident he wasn’t arrested by British Transport Police. I didn’t mind too much arriving back on time, as usually I look forwards to claiming the Delay Repay, but there was no delay on this service. And, as I’ve moaned about before when they put the bloody Stansted Express service on, I’m pleased to report there were tables and we had an appropriate train.

With that, it was good to be home and thanks to Steve for a really rather lovely day in London.

May 24, 2022
Saturday : Leaving Bev, the Barcelona Airport Lounge, BA into Heathrow and Bus to Hotel

Saturday was the day that we were all returning back to the UK, Bev on Ryanair as she likes the jeopardy, with Ross and I departing with British Airways a little later on during the day. Without a huge desire to traipse heavy bags around for the day, we thought that we’d walk slowly around the city and then get onto the Metro to the airport. And that day started with a delicious goat’s cheese roll with doughnut and coffee at Cafe Bazar, with the advantage of people watching as the cafe windows overlooked the busy nearby market. I can’t recall a city with so many cafes, this was my sort of city….

It was a bit hot, but these narrow streets do a very decent job of shading walkers from the overheat sun pounding down on them.

Pub one and needs must… This was a sheltered terrace so that I wasn’t sitting in the sun itself, but it allowed Bev to feel free in the outdoors. We pondered whether we might have been better with the pub next door as their food looked quite exciting, but I got beer of sorts and that sufficed me. I know my loyal readers (or reader might be nearer the mark) might comment that this sounds very relaxed of me, but I had already accepted I wouldn’t be getting craft beer on this day.

Free olives, I was sold on this pub after that.

Bev, busy looking at the football scores, she was a nightmare doing that, always wanting to see how her favourite teams were getting on and getting the latest news on the transfer markets.

After the pub we had a little walk through the nearby park, which offered views over the city.

The second pub and more free olives. Bev ordered some dumplings as well, Ross gave up on beer and I just had to tolerate what they had. Such a trooper….

I’m glad I have a new phone now, as my old one didn’t produce the quality of the photos I’d like (obviously it can’t possibly be my fault that this photo is blurred). This was us waving goodbye to Bev as she was departing from a different terminal. I’m pleased to report that she got back safely with Ryanair and National Express, but that’s the end of Bev’s story on this blog. She was marvellous company as usual, glad that she’s out and about again.

That meant just one more stop on the Metro to get to Terminal 1, where we were departing from. As I mentioned earlier on in the week, I was impressed with the Metro system, it was clean, reliable and we rarely had to wait for more than a couple of minutes. Other than when Bev posted her ticket into the machine itself, we had no issues with the tickets either.

Safely at the airport with its grand sweeping spaces which felt rather under-used. Think of the number of craft beer bars that they could fit in there.

Ross wanted to go to Burger King, it says one minute but it took us about half an hour to find the bloody thing.

Not that I’ve ever tried smoking, and it’s not exactly likely I ever will, but this is a good idea for an airport, having an external outdoors area which is embedded within the airside section of the building. Smokers can then do what they want in this area, away from sensible non-smokers.

The lounge was easier to find than Burger King and we were welcomed in by a friendly member of staff and it’s fair to say that I was surprised at just how large it was. There were also plenty of power points which transpired to be useful.

More of the spacious lounge and I noticed that the staff were obsessively cleaning, always reassuring.

The food and drinks area, with a range of high and low seating. I prefer high seating and so we perched about three metres from the food for about three hours. What a time to be alive….

Cold meats and cheeses, some of my favourite food and quite a lot of this disappeared quite quickly as I needed to test its quality on numerous occasions.

Light bites. Ross had already gone to Burger King as the reviews of the lounge that we had already read didn’t make it sound very decadent, but I’m glad I didn’t get anything as I was surprised and delighted with the food options here. I took the risk that food would be available as I was hungry (again) and the lounge didn’t let me down.

There was a selection of pre-made rolls, or customers could make their own.

Pastries and biscuits.

It wasn’t busy at this time in the late afternoon, but it got much busier later on, but it was never going to be anywhere near capacity. This is the non-Schengen lounge, there’s another one for those boarding Schengen flights. I won’t mention that I’m quite jealous of them, as that might suggest how much I quite like the border-free arrangement of most of the EU.

They had three different beers which at least gave me some variety, although there was nothing that surprised and delighted me in that regard. There were plenty of different soft drinks though, so no shortage of choice and there were some spirit options as well.

The hot food only came out a little later on in the day, I’m not entirely sure why they couldn’t have been more generous with the hours that this was served. The portions were small, but the food had a depth of taste, and it was easy to just get another portion. This was the chicken curry, which wasn’t overly hot in terms of spice, but the chicken was tender and flavourful. The pasta was perhaps a little bland though.

Off we go, we were the 19:10 flight to London Heathrow.

This isn’t the plane we were getting, but I liked the view out of the window over the tarmac. The airport itself was spacious with plenty of seating and nowhere felt particularly busy, although it was clearly a well-used terminal.

The boarding gate and everything was neat and organised here, with plenty of seating. There was boarding by group number, which meant we could get on to board early on, giving me sufficient space to put my bag over my seat. I mention this as one group of three people put their bags in the overheads by the exit row seat before walking about twenty rows back, which gave the crew later on at the empty gaps for bags were at the back of the aircraft. I’m not sure why passengers do this, they’re in danger of the crew moving the bags into the hold if no-one in the vicinity identifies them as theirs.

Our aircraft, and again I’m writing this too far after the event to work out what the registration number was to see if I’d flown on this before. A pointless hobby of mine I accept, but it occupies me for a few minutes.

Boarding the aircraft, with the crew being friendly and personable. I wore my mask out of habit on the aircraft and only noticed mid-way through the flight that nearly no-one else was, namely because they weren’t required. It occurred to me that unless there’s another outbreak then this might have been the last time that I had to wear a face mask, so that’s the end of an era. Or, at least, I hope it’s the end of an era.

I had an exit row seat and there was no-one else in the row. Given that, during the flight I went to find Ross who was stuck at a middle seat somewhere near the back and suggested he moved forwards, which he did.

The usual snack on-board, so I can’t write anything different to what I usually do, which is it’s basic but I appreciate having something provided. Perhaps British Airways could though at some point rotate the snacks, as those customers who fly weekly deserve a little change. Maybe they could offer Hula Hoops, or something just that bit more decadent such as Roast Beef Monster Munch.

We sailed through security into T5 without any delays, always a relief when getting late at night. It was a quick walk to the bus stop at T5 to get the first of our two buses.

Waiting at the bus stop for the second bus to get us to the hotel and this is the Longford Pump, a Victorian water pump.

The accommodation situation wasn’t ideal, but the cheapest hotel in the area was the Holiday Inn Express and Ross and I can’t afford the luxury of the Sofitel that Richard always goes for. We got to the hotel just before midnight and I, as usual, had worried that they would have given our rooms away, but my concern was unnecessary. Although, that reminds me, they didn’t bother to reply to my email saying we’d be arriving late, so I’m now post-annoyed as I had forgotten I had sent that. Our hotel was the Holiday Inn Express T5, although it’s not hugely convenient for T5 if I’m being honest, as it requires two buses or taking the over-priced Hoppa Bus which I haven’t used for the best part of a decade.

I’ll take this opportunity to write a little about Barcelona, although I’ve alluded already to my thoughts about this rather really marvellous Spanish city. I was very much of the opinion that this was a city at ease with itself, as although Barcelona has problems with so much accommodation turned into holiday lets, the heart remains. The markets are vibrant, there are endless cafes, the food is of a decent quality, the people were friendly and the streets were clean. The beach area contrasted with the bustling city centre, the suburbs maintained their own identity and last, but definitely not least, there was decadent craft beer. I look forwards to going back, this was a city that felt on-trend, modern and well-run, I liked and enjoyed it very much. And thanks to Ross and Bev for keeping me company.

May 24, 2022
Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

As this is a journey that I often take, I wasn’t going to write about it, but Greater Anglia’s choice of train annoyed me. So, I have.

Norwich railway station on a Wednesday lunch-time in February, it’s getting busier, but I’m sure that passenger numbers aren’t there yet. Shame that West Cornwall Pasty, which was to the left of Starbucks, has closed, but that unit could perhaps be turned into a Greggs…. The M&S at the railway station is still closed, it’s been like that for two years now.

Here’s the train, all shiny on Platform 2.

And then I realised this. It’s the bloody Stansted Express train they’re using again. I thought to myself just how not ideal this was.

I have no idea why Greater Anglia keep using these Stansted Express trains, they were never designed for this route. They don’t have tables, they don’t have first class (not that that much matters to me) and they don’t have a buffet car (actually, that doesn’t much matter to me either). Other customers have asked Greater Anglia why they use these trains on social media, but it’s seemingly a mystery to customers and Greater Anglia alike. Two groups came walking by me on the train on a hunt for tables, but their search would have been forlorn. The conductor, who was friendly and helpful, made an announcement saying that a last minute train change was required, but this train continually goes up and down the Norwich to London mainline so it’s not a rare occurence.

A lack of table is annoying when using a laptop, although the power points worked. It’s quite hard to sit at these seats without wanting to put your feet on the chairs opposite, because that would make using a laptop much easier. However, I consider that to be a crime against humanity, although it’s possible to put one foot on the heating panel below the window. Greater Anglia have also decided they’d like their trains to be like rolling furnaces along the track in some sort of commemoration of the heat of steam engines, and there’s no way for a customer to cool the carriage themselves.

We arrived into London Liverpool Street at the unusual platform 4 (unusual as in this train doesn’t usually stop there, it’s otherwise a normal platform) which I guess is because they’ve decided that the Stansted Express train was going to be used to go to Stansted.

London Liverpool Street is definitely looking busier. All of the e-tickets were failing (again) so the gate guard was busy checking tickets manually, which I’m not sure is how the system is meant to work.

As an aside, I went to the rear of the station and this is all looking much tidier.

I don’t know when this was landscaped, but the whole area around London Liverpool Street appears to be being modernised, it’s all a clear improvement.

I suppose it’s hard to complain with a fare that’s only £10 from Norwich to London (although, as is evident here, I’ve had a good go), but this would be a nicer journey if the train was more comfortable. But, the staff on board were friendly and conversational, although the train was rather hot, but everything ran to time and was efficient.

February 17, 2022
Crossrail : London Paddington to Reading

One thing that I have realised is just how confusing the rail pricing is from London to Reading, with the rail fare being at least £20 if looking to use rail booking web-sites. I discovered, to my surprise and delight, that it’s a little over £11 if travelling off-peak on the new Crossrail service, which is much more realistic. It’s not ideal though that this train journey pricing isn’t on the rail matrix for those trying to book tickets, another failing of the whole Crossrail set-up. Anyway, complaining aside, the signage at London Paddington is clear and I caught the train with just a minute to spare.

Inside the Crossrail train carriages, this really could do with power points, but they decided early on that they weren’t going to bother with that burden. Nor does the train have toilets, despite the length of the journey and they had to bend the rules as a train service of this length would usually require toilets on board. I suspect they’ll retrofit power points at some random time in the future, it’s rare for services not to have them now. But, to be fair, these decisions were made by Boris Johnson when he was London Mayor, so it’d be unkind to expect them to be any good. Anyway, enough politics.

At the moment the train is departing from London Paddington to get to Reading, they still haven’t quite finished the testing of the middle section between London Liverpool Street and London Paddington. This whole line was meant to open in 2018, just as an indication of how messed up the entire project has become, billions over budget. However, it is a very useful line to cut across London and it increases capacity as well as speeding up many journeys. Unfortunately, the Crossrail 2 project which would have been equally useful was scrapped by Boris Johnson in his Prime Ministerial role in 2020. It will probably be reinstated in the future, although the earliest opening date would now be in the late 2040s at very best according to TFL.

It wasn’t a particularly packed service, but it was clean throughout.

There’s the journey section between London Paddington and Reading. Hopefully this signage will all be removed this year as the entire line should be formally opening in late 2022.

And getting off at Reading, on time and as expected.

I didn’t linger at Reading station as the weather was quite stormy, but the railway station feels quite modern with a new section added onto the older building.

This proved to be an easy way into Reading from London, with the journey taking under an hour. The facilities have actually been downgraded since GWR ran this line, as they offered more comfortable seating, power points and toilets. But, there has been an increase in capacity and for any passenger wanting to go through to east London, this is a much more efficient service than changing at Paddington and then switching to the underground and then another train.

February 17, 2022
London – Tower of London (Wild Flowers)

Last year I went to look at the poppies that they put in the moat of the Tower of London, this year they’ve dug the moat up to grow wildflowers. As an aside, I still think it’d look better with water in it, but it’s been a dry moat since it was drained during the nineteenth century.

The Tower authorities are making some big holes around the place as they’re planting 20 million seeds this spring so that they flower from June to September, to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. There will be chance to walk amongst the wildflowers, but I imagine that’ll be expensive, so I’ll just return in a few months to take photos from the same elevated position. I’m sure it’ll look impressive when the flowers grow (and probably play havoc with my hayfever), it certainly looks like they’re going to a lot of trouble to get it right.

And as an aside, here are a few more photos of the exterior of the Tower of London at night whilst I was meandering around it.

February 16, 2022
London – Westminster (Borough of) – Oxford Street – Hard Rock Cafe (3rd Visit)

This visit to the Hard Rock restaurant at Marble Arch is from a couple of weeks ago, another funded by a promotion from The Fork.

Like another customer, I tried to be seated away from the stage, but they’re not having any of that. This has happened before and I think the staff are privately slightly annoyed that the restaurant is paying for entertainment, this is a music venue and that customers are trying to sit away from it. Fortunately, the music wasn’t too loud and seemed to my highly untrained ear to be suitably professional.

I was aware of the restaurant’s limited beer choice before going, but this was a tolerable option. It’s expensive at £5.50 and although I wasn’t paying, that really is at the high end of the scale. There are other options, such as a pint of Heineken which costs £5.95 and a Birra Moretti which costs £6.75. This isn’t a venue that will much care what CAMRA think, but they charge significantly more proportionally for a half than for a pint.

The BBQ chicken with fries, coleslaw and ranch style beans. This is a photo of the second meal, as the chicken they brought over on their first attempt was cold in the middle. I think they’re brought in pre-cooked as the chicken was entirely cooked, it was just cold rather than raw. I always have a moment of wondering whether the meal is tolerable to avoid having to waste it and complain, but it was fridge cold in the middle and that was far from ideal.

The staff member was apologetic and took it away immediately, and the wait for a new meal wasn’t too long. The chicken was tender and moist, with the half a chicken portion being entirely sufficient. The chips were the usual fluffy on the interior and firm on the exterior arrangement, with the coleslaw being of a good quality but rather sparsely portioned. For those paying full price, the meal would be £16.75, which isn’t cheap, but isn’t entirely unreasonable given the location and prestige of the restaurant. Although hopefully usually they’ll cook it properly.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was comfortable and the staff were attentive and polite, so the experience was once again positive. The number of offers here seem to be reducing, so I imagine that they’ll be gone nearly entirely in the next few weeks as the number of customers starts to return to normal. Anyway, I’d merrily recommend the restaurant, but would still recommend going on a voucher offer…..

February 9, 2022
London – Trailer for Group Trip in February

For legal reasons (I don’t want to be sued) I usually have to be careful about blogging about group trips, but I’ve received permission to blog about a trip to London in late February that I think eight or so of us are going on. This is just a little trailer post and I like blogging weekends as they’re good for access numbers on this blog (mostly Gordon’s legal team) and so I need little convincing to do them.

We’ve been planning this for a while and this was initially meant to be a trip to Amsterdam, but Omicron and the like means it’s just a little too early for some of our party to want to go there. We’ll do a foreign overseas trip later in the year if this weekend doesn’t end in arguments and a punch-up.

It’s a cross between a walking weekend and a drinking weekend, but it’s mostly the latter, although this might not be clear to all of the group at this stage. Steve focuses on the walking arrangements and I focus on the drinking arrangements, because walking can lose its excitement without lots of beer. I’ll also put myself in charge of most of the food arrangements, although that will be less of a surprise to the group.

The itinerary is something like:

Fri 25 Feb: Bermondsey Beer Mile (1 mile / 17 breweries/pubs)
Sat 26 Feb: Tracing the line of Falcon Brook (8 miles, 6 pubs)
Sun 27 Feb: Walking the Monopoly Board (14 miles, 7 pubs)
Mon 28 Feb: Limehouse to Little Venice along the Regents Canal (9 miles, 7 pubs)

And Goose Island is booked for the Saturday evening, wooo!!! Now that is a delight and I can almost taste the decadent drinks already. Gordon is bringing cash to buy a barrel of the Bourbon County Stout as he’s kind like that.

Names to be confirmed, but we likely have the following:

Steve – supreme leader of one of Norfolk’s best walking groups, he’s cool, calm and very collected. Annoyingly photogenic, smooth and really lots of things that Gordon would want to be. Knowledgeable about cars, he’s going on a pilgrimage in a few months and I hope he’s quieter than when Gordon went shrieking along it.

Sarah – becoming one of the strongest walkers in Norfolk, she’s now entering LDWA events like a champion. A bit huggy, but I don’t say anything.

Andy – after strolling out bravely into the waters on the St. Cuthbert’s Way trip, nothing phases him. Steve nearly had us drowned doing that walk, but Gordon and I don’t mention that any more. Richard and Andy will be able to discuss sandals.

Gordon – he retired early in his 40s and now lives in Old Catton in a private gated community. Quite an exotic and challenging character, he is always good for telling gossip. He’s recovering from nearly being washed away a few months ago. As mentioned earlier, his legal team read this blog carefully ready to take action, so I’ll have to be careful.

Susanna – the model of the group, a Marilyn Monroe figure and another tough walker. Spiritually beautiful and has a great knowledge of history and culture.

Richard – a VIP guest and he’s getting better at this beer drinking thing. He might be bringing his Christmas jumper which will annoy at least four people (Andy will probably embrace the quirkiness though). Richard might not be doing much of the walking.

There are two more people I’m not sure if they’re coming or not, more on them when they’re confirmed 🙂

How exciting! I don’t get to go to London enough, so this is all rather lovely. As usual, I’ll be the calming influence on the group, as well as being the voice of sanity and reason.

January 24, 2022
London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Apprentice You’re Fired Recording

I got a ticket to see the third episode of the Apprentice – You’re Fired being filmed and this is the delight of the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. I managed to stand in the wrong queue last week when waiting to watch the Unbelievable Truth being recorded as I should have been in the priority queue, but here there was just one queue and that was something that confused a fair few people who tried to walk straight to the front of the queue. I didn’t walk to the front of the queue as I’m not that brave to check such things, but I was impressed at the nerve of those people who did. Although they then looked sheepish walking back again.

There were thorough checks here unlike in other things I’ve been to recently, they needed to see proof of vaccination and proof of a negative test, hence the delay in proceedings to get everyone in. It was all efficiently managed though and the staff were keen to be helpful to everyone, which boded well.

Before the recording started it was fine to take photos, but after the floor manager gave an introduction to the process then phones were entirely banned from proceedings. There were some dire warnings made if anyone tried to use their phone during the recording and I didn’t see anyone brave enough to try and break the rules. We then got to watch this week’s episode of the Apprentice before the You’re Fired show was recorded.

And the rest I can’t say anything about as the episode doesn’t broadcast until Thursday, but it was interesting to watch how the programme was made. I was at the end of a row and the crane camera was very near to me when it panned across, so my hope of hiding in the background probably won’t have been met, but there we go….. I was told that I could wear my usual face mask if I wanted (my LDWA branded one), but I opted for a medical mask so I looked slightly more in keeping with most other people in the audience. One man was told twice to put his mask over his nose, but he ignored that and there wasn’t much they could do when filming had started.

Incidentally, I noted a few people tried to take the Hired and Fired card, even though they asked everyone not to. I think they managed to reclaim a fair few of them from leaving the studio and I decided a photo of it was all that I needed. The filming was a bit laborious in places, but they met the time schedules we had been given, so everything remained professional. An interesting experience and I’d go again in the future if I got chance, although you can only be in the audience for one episode per series.

January 18, 2022