Blog ≫ 2026 ≫ Far fuller day off
Tuesday was a proper day off, in a different way to Monday, which was also a proper day off. Where Monday was lazy, Tuesday was action packed.
Took T1 to work, his second day of work experience at the vet. He was a bit jealous of our day out, the novelty of having a job is starting to wear off after the first day. Then back to the station, with free parking on the steep hill near the station, like it's a work day. But later than a work day so having to park further down the hill, further from the station. I dropped wife and T2 at the top of the hill while I went back to find a space and then ran to catch them up. Train on time, but as expected super busy. Standing room only before we got on it because it's the first off peak service of the day and it's half term. We thought we'd jump out and into the extra carriages they'd add at Ashford and get a seat, but no, no extra carriages. Some people did get off so we got their table but a lot more people got on. Now I'm sat down and can't move I realise I need the toilet, and knowing it will be quite difficult to go makes me need to go even more. So I had to go for it and scramble over people to find a loo. Lost my seat in the process, there's no way back to it so no sense trying to keep it. There was a loo right at the end of the next carriage and it was free, but once I'd got in I couldn't get out again. I wasn't actually stuck, the door would open, but there was nowhere for the people outside the door to go to let me out and there'd be nowhere for me to go if I did squash past them. So I stayed in the loo for the rest of the journey. At least there was a seat in there.
So this far down the post and I've only talked about train toilets. We met up again at St Pancras and got a Greggs and waited another twenty minutes for wife to queue for the toilet here. Then tube to Leicester Square, hitting all the half term tourist hotspots. The tube was also very busy. From there to the National Gallery, which was brilliant, I forget how much stuff they've got there. I saw all the classics, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Cezanne, Turner, Stubbs, all the old art names you can think of. We were not there for long, quite a race around, but we should go back again soon. Whenever we say this we do not, but we should. I think the last time I went there was 2008.
After here, to Forbidden Planet looking for Pokemon cards, they had none. I nearly bought a 2000ad t-shirt and I think I will next time we go. Today wasn't about buying stuff for myself. Then to Orc's Nest to look for a game for T1, and they did have it. So then to a pub and we picked the blindingly obvious one in the middle of Covent Garden, is it called the Crown And Anchor 1? I can look up on my bank statement later. I always thought too obvious, too central, too busy, but it was brilliant. We got a drink and some chips and my XPA real ale was so good I got another one. This slowed us down a bit on the way to Puttshack...
We started walking again thinking we could stop for one more in a good one I've walked past but not been in on Fleet Street on the way. But the first one that sounded good was a Greene King and the next was a Sam Smiths and so not ideal. In the end we went in The Old Bell Tavern 2, nice, but just time for a half. And when we sat down we realised we'd got the times wrong and not even time for a half so we had to walk fast to Puttshack to limit how late we were.
We were half hour late for Puttshack in the end, but we had unlimited golf today so fine. We played two rounds, then stopped for a drink, then played the third course in there too, so all good, now we have all done all of them. I didn't do that well, but T2 did, and he got a hole in one (supertube generally leads to a hole in one). Wife did so well she won a prize, we could have a pizza or a hat, and we chose the hat. When we went to claim it they said "no, no-one of that name on the booking"... "Er, sorry,, yes, it's under the name Mrs Butt Head". She got her hat.
We went back to Stratford to eat as T2 wanted Wagamama. I had all new dishes there, their new Italian fusion options, but they were a bit lame. And the service was slow, bit short staffed I think so we'd finished eating before wife got hers. Timed it well though exactly an hour for the next train home. So to book shop, T2 got a book, and then to Tap East where I got one more beer. Wife had stopped drinking earlier so she could drive us back from the station. A very successful day out!
I see I wrote much more about the train toilet than the rest of the day, but my writeup was broken up, there was a day's gap between the two halves of this post. No time to add anything yesterday, as I actually got called while on call, shocking! Some overtime money to come there...
Heavy rain and a fresh breeze, 5 - 6℃.
- Yes it is, 22 Neal St, London WC2H 9PS, and no connection to any other pub called The Crown I might mention here either.
- And no connection to The Bell in Hythe I sometimes mention here of course.
⬅️ Health stats 18/2/26 :: Health stats 19/2/26 ➡️