We're BACK from our London weekender in the week, a little half term and pay day treat. Back just in time for an extreme coronavirus lockdown too, lovely, pubs etc closing for a month... We did lots of stuff, will I remember it all by the time I come to write it down?
Got a fast train up in the rain on Thursday morning, it really was quite drizzly. We got wet feet walking to our Premier Inn, luckily it was just round the corner. The Premier Inn on York Way has a nice open atrium-like reception area, it reminds me of a hotel we stayed in in Monterey.
Just seen the news that we're probably going into a month long lockdown, that your Boris Johnson is going to announce in fifteen minutes but has been leaked by journalists already. So won't waste too much time now adding details about our break, I'll have plenty of time to come back to this it seems. We're off out tonight to Luben, not for some last hurrah before lockdown it was planned anyway as thing one has a friend over. Also Clare is at the supermarket buying tinned goods too, but not for hoarding reasons, just because we've got to cook up some dinners tomorrow for the week and they were not available on tomorrow's shopping delivery. So instad of the big write up here are some bullet points that I'll probably forget to come back to:
Got a new coat for thing one at North Face in the huge Westfield mall at Shepherds Bush, and new boots for me.
Fun mini golf at Puttshack, but then a very poor dining experience at the same.
Clare went for a pint while I took the boys back to the hotel. I think she actually went in an O'Neills, because she panicked. When she came back they were not yet asleep but she tagged me and I went out, to the Euston Tap and had a lovely pint. Last orders at about ten past nine though...
Checked my bank balance just after midnight, assuming I would be paid on the dot, but was not. The redundancy money was in by the next morning though, phew.
The next morning instead of breakfast at the Premier Inn we spent more than what that would have cost on slightly worse food at the Pret in St Pancras station. We thought it would be better and save us some time, not sure it did.
Tried to shop in Covent Garden, looking for a bag for me and browsing all the general outdoorsishness that I normally love. I was not inspired, and so bought myself nothing, even though I had money burning a hole.
Thing two got interviewed by ITN news! We were in Covent Garden, they were looking for vox pop type things about Halloween, and he jumped at it. He froze a bit when they started asking questions, so don't suppose they can use any of it.
Spontaneous champagne cocktails at Brasserie Zedel 1 when we were really just looking for a cafe to sit down for a bit.
A last stop at Hamley's, we gave the boys a budget and said we would not judge what they bought. At least not out loud. One of them bought some Gravitrax addons and the other another Nerf gun...
Dinner at Wagamama, or was this before Hamley's? Very nice anyway.
Train back and a short trip to the Inn Doors, then back here for a sandwich, Last Leg and Great British Bake Off - Extra Slice too.
Sort of bullet points, some of those were wordier than I expected.
Happy eighteenth birthday to this big proper Darkness gig.
Sean Connery has died. He was almost exactly the same age as my Nan, I did not know that.
| Country | cases | deaths |
|---|---|---|
| USA | 9214836 | 234171 |
| Brazil | 5496402 | 159033 |
| India | 8088046 | 121131 |
| Mexico | 906863 | 90309 |
| UK | 965340 | 45955 |
| Italy | 616590 | 38122 |
| France | 1282769 | 36020 |
| Spain | 1238922 | 35639 |
| Peru | 897594 | 34362 |
| Iran | 596941 | 34113 |
Coronavirus weekly death graph for USA + Brazil + India + Mexico + UK + Italy
Paul Clarkeʼs weblog - I live in Hythe in Kent. Married + father to two, I am a full-stack web engineer, + I do javascript / Node, some ruby, other languages ect ect. I like pubbing, parkrun, eating, home-automation + other diy jiggery-pokery, history, family tree stuff, TV, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.