Consider London done.
UPDATE: I can add some more detail now, I just wanted to get that posted on the day, though I had no time to write up any comments at the time. We headed up to London in the morning, as Clare got the day off work again with all the lieu time. I think I bought the train tickets in a bit of a hurry, and feeling too flush to worry about it because I didn't use my Network Card. I remember thinking "that's quite a good deal", with the "kids for a quid" thing, and I probably threw away twenty quid right there. Still a fairly relaxing treat to be getting a train to London, I won't be thinking this in a few months when I have to do it more often.
We dropped off our bags at the Premier Inn on York Way, though way too early to get in our rooms. We had a mooch around Coal Drops Yard and picked somewhere for dinner later. We were already booked into Granger and Co1 but weren't fully convinced by it, so decided on Caravan instead2. Something to look forward to later!
Nothing else in Coal Drops Yard for me, some fancy shops, nothing essential.
We got a bus to Camden and thought we'd have lunch in the Brewdog there, but it was shut! This makes it less annoying I suppose that I forgot our Brewdog membership cards, as if we'd had those and they'd been open we'd have got free birthday beers. As it was these two issues cancel each other out. We started to feel Camden was not such a great place for kids after this and couldn't think of anywhere nice to go but then had a look at the Good Mixer. We used to go there a lot in the 1990s, the rain had slowed right down, there were tables with umbrellas outside, could we sit there and regroup? Actually it was fine, we could go in, as they sell food so no problem to have kids in there. We played the new Horrible Histories card game anddid Duolingo and the boys even played pool. The beer is not up to much in there, but it was a lovely place to sit for a couple of hours. I had some vegan wings, they're made mostly of jackfruit though had an odd little wooden bone in them.
We looked round the market without buying anything and got a bus back to Kings Cross. Checked in, then to Caravan for dinner. It's a nice place and we had lovely meal, with cocktails and wine. Not cheap, but it was our birthday.
I went for a late drink at the Euston Tap, but it was only alright, not as much as I've enjoyed it before. They didn't seem to have as much real ale as before.
We had the Premier Inn breakfast in the morning, something the boys had been looking forward to a lot. We all agree now however, that it's not all that. We're over all you can eat.
A surprise trip to the Namco Arcade, a surprise for the boys anyway, not for us. They love it, it's a good way to burn through a load of pound coins really fast. The Mario Kart VR has gone now but there is some other Oculus based VR things and the Cruise N Blast that they have loved since our Mexico holiday. From here an extravagant Uber to our next stop, the Horrible Histories boat trip. Terrible decision to take an Uber, it was so slow, heavy traffic all the way. I think we could have / should have got a boat directly there.
Weather turned really had here. We got a coffee and then got very wet in the queue for the boat. It was a lot of fun when we got started though. As with the last Horrible Histories boat theatre thing we did it's nothing like the TV show, but was fast paced and entertaining. Lots of songs, and lots of London history facts..
Next to Puttshack, with a brief stop at the Brewdog at Tower Hill which was open. Puttshack was good, we got this for free too, because I'd complained about the food mix ups back in November. Cancelled out the freeness by having several cocktails to follow this.
Dinner at Pizza Express back in Kings Cross again. A cheaper dinner tonight, but not by much really.
Next morning we skipped the breakfast and I got the others bacon rolls in Costa. By the time you add on the coffee and juice and things it probably cost the same as the all you can eat that would have fed me too, hmm, it's a tricky one.
We had a bit more of a theme today. First the (now famous and now closed) Marble Arch Mound. It was every bit as underwhelming as they say. It is basically some turfed scaffolding, it might look better when it is fully landscaped. We were just about the only people on it, there were two or three other people I think. There were definitely more security than guests, and there might have been more people at the ground level looking curiously. I spoke to one man who'd turned up hoping to go up it but they have stopped selling tickets now because of all of the complaints. I kind of hope they don't reopen it and we're in a bit of an exclusive club in having been up.
The weather was better today. We found a lovely pop-up mediterranean style bar on the South Bank and sat there for a while watching people, and the Olympics on a big screen.
The real feature of the day though was The Shard3, a lovely view from seventy-two floors above London, the highest building in Western Europe. The boys love a tall building so this was fun for them, and for us too. It isn't cheap, but it is quite unique. We had cocktails and champagne up here too, absolutely living the high life.
Our mid-week weekender is comingt to a close now, just time for a dinner and then the train home. We opted for a Bill's, not been in one before, it was very good.
Train back home and just time to unpack before packing again, ready to get back on the same London train in the morning. I didn't really think that through did I.
| Country | cases | deaths |
|---|---|---|
| USA | 35292342 | 627012 |
| Brazil | 19707662 | 550586 |
| India | 31440483 | 421414 |
| Mexico | 2748518 | 238424 |
| Peru | 2105005 | 195973 |
| Russia | 6149780 | 154601 |
| UK | 5722015 | 129172 |
| Italy | 4320524 | 127971 |
| Colombia | 4736349 | 119182 |
| France | 5999244 | 111667 |
Coronavirus weekly death graph for USA + Brazil + India + Mexico + Peru + Russia
Paul Clarke's blog - I live in Hythe in the deep South. Wed + father to two, I am a full-stack web engineer, + I do mostly javascript / Node, some ruby, python, php ect ect. I like pubbing, running, eating, home automation and other diy jiggery-pokery, history, genealogy, Television, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.