Fitzrovia

Today we are going to have breakfast or similar at Fait Maison, a lovely tea room we walk past every morning and evening. On the way out of the hotel Basil says he will move us to another room as the wifi issues we are having must be because of our room location (at the back of the hotel with no views). First to the Post Office which is a km past Fait Maison, we post our letter then stumble across a different Fait Maison. Meant to be, so we enter and sit at a table for two. As there was nothing on the breakfast menu that appealed and it was morning tea time somewhere in the world we ordered a cream tea. Often we share a scone but being on holidays and sparing no expense we order one each. I ask if they has raspberry jam but the waiter (Manuel from Barcelona for you Fawlty Towers fans) grunts something then says raisin. Not understanding him and he not understanding us we just nod and wait. Well a plate with two of the smallest scones arrive. As they were coming MDW said you might want to order more, they wouldn’t be a mouthful for you. MDW was right and mine was a rock not a scone. If I dropped it it would have broken the floor tiles. Some time later a replacement arrived and it wasn’t much better. We thought it was £6 for a pot of good hot tea but when I paid the bill it was £6 each even though there was only one pot. So that’s the last time we go there. Two doors down was a tea shop with much more reasonable prices and the same scones which were called “baby scones”. We want adult scones, this is because we are seniors and want grown up food. Next we will be served baby chinos.
Off to the underground, circle line to Piccadilly then northern line to Camden Town. We love the the underground, lots of steps but it takes you everywhere. As I’m typing, MDW announces she has the Howe thumbs as her big toes. Now the Howe Thumbs are a hereditary feature that comes from MDWs mothers side of the family. It looks like you have big toes as your thumbs. When the boys and grandchildren were born it’s one of the things you look for hoping it’s not there. So far we have been fortunate but of course MDWs big toes look like Howe thumbs because that what Howe thumbs look like. Follow? 😅😅😅
Focus, focus, focus, ah yes Camden Markets. We walk from the underground station onto the Main Street and all we see is market stalls. It is never ending. There are clothes, bags, bric-a-brac, hot food, toys, shoes, everything. Not sure how many kilometres there are around the markets but we covered about 8. MDW needed to spend a penny, well make that 40p. We didn’t have any small change so had to ‘tap and go’. We also got the chance to see a couple of canal boats go through the Camden Locks. We also had a bad coffee and disappointing hot chocolate.
I thought we were finished with the shopping so suggested we get a coffee or frappe from the McDonalds cafe near the train station. We get there and no coffee and no chocolate frappes. So we turn around and MDW says she really liked that handbag. Which one, she had looked at so many. MDW Says she can find it so off we go through the various corridors, up and down stairs past the old stables until we found the right shop. Then after an hour of umming and arring she gets a bag she had not looked at before. Go figure! But she was happy and happy wife, happy life.
Back to the hotel via Sainsburys so we can get a teapot but we ended up with giant size tea cups plus a couple of punnets of raspberries which are delicious.
At the hotel we get a swipe card to our new room on the 5th floor. We have been moved to the penthouse. The room is a bit larger with a portable air conditioning unit which is very effective even if it does hum along like a jet engine. The wifi works like a charm, I must thank Basil in the morning. We think about going to Oxford Street for a bit but I’ve dozed off so our day has ended.Read more