what a fine weekend

[ramtops]

we ventured up to London for a long weekend. the climax of which was the wedding of our very own sbisson and marypcb, It was glorious, but we did quite a lot of other stuff too, which I have detailed behind various cuts for your viewing pleasure.

we drove up on Friday morning arriving at our hotel at around 1 p.m. - this might have proved unfortunate, as I hadn't realised that check-in time was 3 p.m, but they had a room ready. That was the only good thing about it ...

when we're travelling, we use inexpensive hotels as a rule - they're just places to dump stuff and sleep. But the Travelodge at Kew Bridge was really pretty nasty. Virtually no wardrobe space, and *no* drawer space. No hairdryer. No iron or ironing board facilities (thank ghod I ironed our things before we left, and brought them in a suit carrier). Just two teabags. Just *one* toothmug (plastic, obviously). They offered "breakfast in a bag", but we didn't bother with it, as you might imagine. Still, £60 a night and £5 a day parking is not bad for London, and it gave us shelter, if not succour.

once we'd dumped the luggage, we sallied forth to town, walking what seemed like miles to Gunnarsby tube station. We milled around Oxford Street, taking a brief trip up TCR to look at the new G5 iMac (pretty, but not pretty enough for us to spend that sort of money to replace our Martian TFT model). Ended up in Selfridges (warning: crap Flash intro - why do people do that?). Very nearly bought a stock pot at £110, but managed to resist. Wandered round the Food Hall, which seems to have deteriorated somewhat since our last visit, and had no pomegranate molasses [stamp]. Although we did manage to get some not-ground turmeric, which was a bit of a result. So sad that I managed to drop it on the platform ...

the evening saw us heading to the Gaucho Grill on Sloane Avenue, to meet up with Simon, Bruce, Hugo, Julian, Alan and Steve. Oh, and Hannah. This is a bunch of people that perlmonger and I haven't seen for about seven years, but it was as though we'd seen them last week - we just picked up the thread and off we went. *Lovely* evening, ending with a bill for nearly £600 [scream], and we got back to the Hotel from Hell at about 1.15 a.m. On the trek back from Gunnarsby, I discovered that my Docs were not as worn in as I thought, too :(
Saturday started (not too early) with a breakfast at the greasy spoon at the end of Kew Bridge, after which we trekked into town again, this time using Kew Bridge station on the overground, which was much nearer to the HfH. Alan rang us to tell us a) where the rather fine hat shop was, and b) to say he wouldn't be meeting us later, as he wasn't feeling too hot, so we wandered up to St James, and paid a visit to Locks the Hatters, a glorious emporium selling everything from pith helmets to hand embroidered smoking caps. I bought a rather fine brown suede hat, which I wore to The Wedding, and Pete got a terrific leather hat made by in Australia by Cutana, complete with crocodile skin and teeth on the band. It makes him look a bit like a less hunky Indiana Jones.

the modiste in Locks enquired whether we would be "attending Ascot next season", which still makes me howl with laughter every time I think of it. Given our attire, she can only have imagined that we were eccentric millionaires; either that, or she was extremely well trained, cos she didn't bat an eyelid as she asked.

then we ambled up Jermyn Street, and discovered (expensively) that being in possession of a Locks hatbox seems to convey an air of "they can afford it" to various salespersons - and so we bought a red cashmere scarf for perlmonger and an alpaca cardigan (*baby* alpaca, at that) for me, both from Hilditch & Key, and a rather splendid compass from Fox (no, I don't know why a cigar shop was selling a compass, but it was in the window). Then to Fortnums, where sanity finally prevailed, and we remembered that we'd driven up in the MR2, so we only (only?) bought some first leaf Darjeeling tea at *how* much? But it's in a nice wooden box, so that's alright.

a cup of tea, and the accidental purchase of a velvet scarf followed then, to kill the couple of hours before dinner, we took a boat trip from the Embankment, which was very enjoyable (yes, yes - we're tourists in London!).

then off to Soho, for dinner at La Perla in Brewer Street, with Alan, spride and Robert - unfortunately a very smoky atmosphere, coupled with the party from hell at the table next to use (a load of squee-ing women, getting increasingly tanked) drove us out of there fairly early, and we adjourned to a local coffee house. Back to the HfH after that on the last train out of Waterloo - oh how I hate last trains - and another post 1 a.m. finish!
on Sunday, we were due to meet Alan at midday in Kew Village, to have brunch, and then go on to The Wedding. Unfortunately, he was beset by an unpleasant lurgy, and couldn't make it, so we ate, then took a bus to Kew Green; as the driver pointed out, it would have been quicker to walk, but a) it was raining, and b) we were early. So early that we popped into the pub for a drink, and by the time we came out, the weather was persisting down - did we have umbrellas? Of course we had. They were in the car. At the hotel [sigh]. So we trudged across the green and got damp. Lots of people at the wedding, and lovely to see/meet all we did see and meet.

the bride and groom looked splendid, the venue was lovely, the weather held off *just* long enough for champagne and canapes outside, the food was excellent, the cake and flowers were beautiful, the wine flowed like ... wine, and as far as I can see, and speaking for myself, a good time was had by all. Love and congratulations to the happy couple!

Simon and Mary have a virtual wedding book at www.sandmwedding.co.uk - don't forget to pop in and leave your congratulations, photos, etc!