London - last days

My last few days in London have been relatively quiet. Wet weather has played a part and so has a general tiredness. On Thursday afternoon I met up with Annie, a friend from the cruise. She caught the train into London but had to deal with a misadventure on the line and was delayed by nearly an hour. We went to the local upmarket pub nearby called the Lock House for lunch. It was great to catch up with Annie as we had certainly enjoyed our time together on the cruise. It was a good afternoon. She left to join a friend at the American Bar at the Savoy which is an experience going onto my to do list for the next time I am in London.
Friday turned out to be a lovely sunny day so decided to do one more trip into the city and go to the Victoria and Albert museum. I had to catch 2 buses and didn’t start well by getting onto the 16 bus instead of bus 6. Fortunately this mistake was easily corrected and I eventually found myself in front of the V&A. I wanted to see 2 exhibitions but one (Cartier) was sold out and the second, Marie Antoinette opened Saturday. Bad timing! Anyway I viewed two areas I had not seen in 2023 - the Medieval period and the Cast Galleries. Both were quite impressive and worth the visit. A quick stop in the rather extensive shop finished my visit. I was sitting in the entrance area and had a group of school girls gather in front of me to speak to their teacher. It occurred to me that these students were so very lucky to have such a wonderful museum to visit on an excursion.
It was quite hot by the time I decided to come back to Paddington and I was in need of lunch (it was 4 pm). Hot, thirsty and hungry- what does one do? Go to the third pub in the Paddington Basin area called the Brewdog for beer and a burger. I sat outside and it was extremely pleasant so stayed for a second beer.
I repacked suitcases Saturday morning and went for one last walk around the Basin. Late lunch again at the Lock House before returning to the hotel.
I am now packed and ready for my homeward journey. I leave at 22.05pm tonight (Sunday) flying to Adelaide via Singapore. I am looking forward to being home, in my own house and back to normal life. See you all soon.Read more