Sat in the darkness of the hotel room at six thirty ey em. It’s the earliest I figured I could get up as the act would inevitably wake THG. At home I’d have got up ages ago and gone downstairs out of the way.
We are moving on this morning. Really I only stayed down last night because we happened to be back in London today, Saturday, and it didn’t make sense to head nowf on Friday only to get back on the train the next day. Quiet night in last night.
We stayed in the hotel exec lounge as one of the partnership likes to dig in to the freebie hors d’oeuvres. I didn’t want any food although I did ponder getting Deliveroo to bring me a lamb doner (with hot chilli sauce).
The one thing I did ask for was a gin and tonic. The attendant said she would pop to the bar as whilst they were free, they didn’t leave the bottles out because the greedy low life they have patronising this hotel would just swig the lot down. Well she didn’t actually say that but that was my interpretation 🙂Me being one of the low lifes an all.
So I asked for a double and the THG a single. She brought four doubles. Fair play. I complimented her saying the staff in this lounge were great, she being the only staff there. Before I knew it more gin arrived. We (I) managed to get through six or seven doubles – a single gin keeps THG going for the evening. A short time later a bowl of french fries and more snacks arrived. All because I was nice to her. It pays to be nice. The alternative is not nice 🙂
After that I abandoned the idea of a kebab and went to the room to watch England slaughter the Aussies. Enjoy it while you can.
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So now we are more or less packed and THG is setting off to study local emporia leaving me to study humanity in the hotel reception area.
Our next port of call is twenty one minutes away by horseless carriage, in a westerly direction. At least it was during breakfast. There may well be a build up of traffic between then and when we hail said carriage. Mostly tourists I’d imagine. Had an American family sat at the next table at breakfast. The father was teaching his very young, and I’m thinking five years old, daughter the names of the US Airborne Divisions that landed in Normandy on DDay. V strange I thought.
I note that if we decided to walk to the next hotel it would take an hour. Presumably this is without luggage. Plus they haven’t taken into consideration my dodgy hip. I used to do a lot of walking in central London, assuming that I had the time available. You get to see a lot more than when in a taxi or on a bus and certainly more than when on the tube. I try not to use the tube but sometimes it’s the only mode of transport that makes sense.
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The horseless carriage btw took an additional twenty minutes due to the horrendous traffic near Piccadilly. Bloody roadworks everywhere. Birrovatip though. Had pondered booking an Uber Exec but went for a comfort for ten quid less. The Merc that turned up normally did execs but it was a bit quiet on that front on a Saturday morning so he downgraded to pick up more fares. I knew what I was doing 🙂
Took a stroll through St James’ Park as the room was not ready. In all fairness it was only eleven thirty. I’m very fair. Sat outside the caff next to the lake. Only greenery to be seen. You wouldn’t have known we were slap bang in the middle of a large city. Once the centre of Empire. Well other than all the tourists. Yev never seen so many guided tours in your life.
I parked THG at a table on the outside deck and went in search of tea. There seemed to be a great mass of punters hanging around the drinks area. It was v difficult to see whether there was a queue or whether they were just waiting for their lahtays to arrive.
As I got to what might be the front of the queue, not having queued, a yoof shouted “next”. A quick scan determined that there was no response to his call to action so I strode up to him and ordered a pot of tea for two. A dialogue ensued:
“Do you want two pots of tea or one pot for two people?”
“I want one pot big enough for two people”
He held up a small one cup, ish, pot.
“I’ll have two of them please” Sigh. Perhaps I am getting less tolerant in my old age. I didn’t say anything.
Then he asked if I wanted English Breakfast Tea. This guy was a local but I guess did not drink tea. Reminds me of the time when I asked a barman what sort of red wines they had only to get the reply “which ones are red?”
Anyway we got there in the end and no sooner had I sat down and poured when Jose from the hotel front desk called to say our room was ready. Jose is good at his job.
We are now in our room at Dukes Hotel chillin, recharging, whatever one does in a hotel room in town. It is in a great spot.