London # 2

Hello there! Half term seems to have whizzed by doesn't it? Ours has been a nice mix of stay at home days and days spent out and about. Twice this week (yes, count them), we have been into London. Once on Sunday to have lunch with L and then again on Wednesday to go to the theatre. On Wednesday R was at work, so it was just us girlies. To ring the changes, this time we took the train - not such an event for L who does it every day, but quite exciting for me and E. The girls read and dozed and I got my 'patchwork out and about' tins out and made another star. I did take a photo of this but it was a tad blurry! We set off quite late in the morning to take advantage of the cheaper parking at the station and the cheap day return, so it was nearing lunch time when we arrived. The play was at the Vaudeville Theatre near Covent Garden, so we decided to head there for lunch first. 

The Christmas decorations were out in force:

 I REALLY wanted to go into this shop:

 I'm a big Moomin fan but we kept putting off going in - after lunch or after the play when we're not rushed, you know the sort of thing - and then it was too late. I definitely want to go back though.

There were chestnut vendors adding to the festive vibe:

Tummies were rumbling by this point but the food places in Covent Garden were extremely crowded, so we made our way out and went here instead:

Here's my salad and veggie dumplings, E had a veggie sushi wrap and L, who was nursing a cold, had miso soup with noodles. One word: YUM!

 Then it was time for the play. The billboard made us laugh as David Suchet playing Lady Bracknell looked just like a friend of ours! 

 We enjoyed the play - it was very funny and a little cheesy in parts. David Suchet was excellent, with just a whiff of pantomime dame about him. His mannerisms were brilliant - he had a way with hand gestures and certain turns of his head that were spot on. The famous 'A handbag!' bit I found to be a little anticlimactic (Amy, that bit's for you!) but it was all good fun. We were discussing it later and found that we all had a mental image of Maggie Smith playing Lady B. I'm not sure if she ever has but I think her character the Countess in Downton Abbey would be perfect!

We met up with R after the play and went for a walk through London, looking for somewhere for dinner. When we go to London, it's nice to have something a little different to eat. Our little market town has Indian, Italian and Chinese restaurants aplenty but not much else. It was lovely to walk through London in the evening and, despite the impression you get if you stick to the underground, everywhere is actually much closer than you imagine. I went to uni here and stayed for 7 years. I'm not sure I could live here again though. It's incredibly crowded, making striding along the pavements difficult, and blowing your nose after a day there gives some indication of the pollution levels! (Too much information?!)

Anyway, we eventually decided to have dinner here:

Tohbang apparently means larder in Korean. We'd never had Korean food before and it was a revelation - fresh, zingy, full of flavour, more veggie choices than you could shake a stick at - it's my new favourite!

 Green tea ice cream for pud!

 Then it was back to Paddington for the train home. It was, apart from the lack of Moomins, a perfect day.

 This week, we also tried cobnuts for the first time - they were interesting but not something I would go out of my way for again:

A spray of carnations was bought - a bargain at £1.50:

 Hallowe'en cakes were made:

 ...... and a certain little devil bunny had his birthday on Hallowe'en. Yes, truly, that's when he was born! He was given a new mat to sleep on and a bag of his favourite banana chips. Here's the birthday boy investigating the pumpkin:

 

There was also another little trip to our local theatre to see 'The Ladykillers'. There are no photos of this visit but it was very good, even if no-one can possibly live up to the great Alec Guinness!

Anyway, that's all for this week. I hope you had a wonderful half term and here's to a fun November. 'White rabbit' as my Mum always used to say on the first of the month - I'm not sure Hamish would approve!
Toodle Pip for now. x