London and Winchester

9-11 August 2009

Lovely London Town again. Yesterday, a good walk from Picadilly to Knightsbridge to vie for attention with the Saudi princesses at Harrods--yes, I did quite well, thank you. Then a tasty lunch of spicy lamb sausage at the Lebanese cafe where they clearly thought I was not plump enough: kept adding tiny tasty dishes to my table, with many desserts of phyllo dough, pistachios and honey dripping everywhere

What's a girl to do? It was delicious! Today Leicester Square and Covent Garden where I searched out the long overdue statue to the Oscar Wilde (always a hero of mine). He is rendered rising out of his grave for a cigarette and conversation with whomever sits on the bench next to him. Am proud to have contributed 5 pounds to the sculpture way back when.

Then a stroll up Shaftesbury Avenue--never get tired of the Wild West End. And now tea time. Sweet!

Now, I am hardly to blame if the London House of Caviar happens to be located a mere two blocks from where I'm staying! Perfect though the Arizona desert is, one doesn't often encounter sturgeon--or even other people who like them. So I can be forgiven I hope for stepping in and leaving with a tiny but costly jar of the stuff after a near three-year fast.

I slipped back to my lodgings, and thought how lovely it would be to share the delicacy with friends. Then I remembered I would not see them for another two whole days! Rather than slip into a decline--which might have proved fatal--I called for some lemon and an English muffin and, after a moment of silent acknowledgment of my lack of a mother-of-pearl spoon, I opened the precious jar and scoffed it right down!

It was delicious.

12 - 13 August 2009

Have left the city lights of London well behind me and am now ensconced in Philip and Diana's cozy 16th century thatched cottage in Hampshire (where hurricanes hardly happen!). Just back from a lovely walk through Jane Austen country and pleasantly awaiting the evening's first gin tonic...!

Just coming to after a much needed nap to round off that lovely lunch in ancient Winchester square, just a stone's throw away from where Jane Austen spent her final years. Perfect weather and now we gear up for the drive to Edinburgh tomorrow at the crack of dawn.