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| "No minute gone comes ever back again Take heed and see you nothing do in vain" |
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| Liberty of London clock with Father Time |
Saturday is a leisurely morning because we are meeting friends at their flat in Pimlico for lunch. We walk up to the Sainsburys to inspect the groceries. Interesting. The mortadella bologna is studded with pistachios. My husband lingers at the meat counter where hamburger is called beef mince and the pork chops are unskinned. There are no fillers in the taco seasoning. Cello wrapped packages of Scotch pancakes are sold like crumpets. I buy packets of Jamie Oliver's stuffing mix and Cadbury chocolates to take home.
After lunch we ride the tube up to Oxford Circus. It seems the whole of London is out shopping. They can't all be tourists, can they? We stroll along Regent Street and pop in to Liberty of London. It is a fine old building with wooden floors that creak at every step.
I am told I should buy my tea at Fortnum and Masons because the packaging is so lovely, and it is, but I find that I am content with my boxes of English Breakfast from Waitrose. I've heard the Queen gets her groceries from Waitrose. My husband isn't interested in shopping today, but he is interested in photography and Regent Street offers plenty of diversion for him.
He is patient with me when I step into Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road. I have forgotten to bring my list of books to look for, so I shop from memory. The selection of books by Terry Pratchett is large. I have only read one book and one short story by him, but I think he is a clever writer and he is hugely popular in the UK, so I break my rule of reading a book before I buy it and purchase Equal Rites. It gives me a tickle to be buying a book at Foyles. I hope I like it.
Oh how I constantly fail your first quote there to do nothing in vain. But Liberty of London would have had to be on my itinerary too, probably only to look. But grocery stores would have been a must too. I always slow down in the international isles of grocery stores at home. Is Jamie's healthy cooking mission popular there?
ReplyDeleteHow nice to have had the chance to eat in a home there, something few tourists get to do!
I love your travel diary!
I resisted the urge to buy a coffee mug at Liberty because I was on the prowl for a toast rack and tea cosy and one has only so much room in one's luggage to cart home mementos. Instead, I bought a greeting card for my daughter to frame. Even the greeting cards are fabulous at Liberty.
ReplyDeleteI would have gone for a greeting card too. If I couldn't have had some fabulous fabric just to run through my fingers, kind of like a child does the satin binding of his blankie!
Deleteto have friends living in london... oh how wonderful.
ReplyDeleteand charing cross road...
i remember loving that book...
and then not being disappointed in the movie starring bancroft and hopkins.
i'm loving these london posts. thank you.