Weekend in London

This weekend is a London weekend - summer in England is the best, and summer days in London are fantastic!

Friday night we were both back to the flat reasonably early and managed to get locked out! Someone (we won't mention anyone by name (the cleaner!)) locked all the locks and with us sharing out the keys to various visitors hadn't reattached all keys to the various key rings. So we now know how to find a locksmith and that we cannot access our flat via any scaffolding.

After the flat opening adventure, we headed off to La Bouchee to celebrate Claire's birthday. Very, very French and one of our favourites. It was a warm evening so we were glad to be seated downstairs (which is our preference anyhow). Mussels and oysters to start with a very nice Cahors followed by Jarret de Porc for Steve and I and Ribeye for Claire. We broke down and had dessert, Steve had creme brulee and we had Chocolate Mousse - it was a birthday after all!

Saturday began with a walk to the South Kensington Farmers Market via Starbucks and breakfast. The stroll then extended to Sloane Square to visit the farmers market there (which was better) where we found the necessary items for a carpet picnic. Jess came in from Windsor and we headed over to Battersea park for said carpet picnic with books and blankets (for naps!). It was lovely weather for a picnic in the park!

Once it clouded up we walked back to the flat for more napping and then a quick washup before heading out to the Leicester Square Odeon for the new Indiana Jones movie. The popcorn was terrible and the movie was fun.

Over to Mr. Kongs for a post-movie discussion and a Chinese. They have the best soft shelled crabs and have expanded their menu and the restaurant for that matter. We had all the usuals (ribs, dumplings, squid) along with Steve's Hot and Sweet, and I tried a new Steak with Pickled Cabbage and Black Bean Sauce. Sounds weird, but it was very good!

Jess stayed the night and everybody slept very late (8:00!). We headed off to Starbucks to do the Final Detailed Finish Off By October 28th Plan. Breakfast was well deserved after that and Matt had joined us so we headed over to Chelsea Bun for one of their teeny tiny breakfasts. Actually their breakfasts are enourmous and they have a very nice selection beyond the Full English.

Some of us had a post-breakfast recovery nap while others surfed the web looking for property in Devon. To ensure that we didn't spend the whole gorgeous day surfing the web, Steve found a Thai food fair in Battersea Park so there's another walk in our future and that's where dinner will be!