Blog ≫ 2025 ≫ Good day in London, no snow
The plan to go to London yesterday worked nicely. It was cold and icy out, so I was fairly wrapped up. On the top half at least. Trainers socks and shorts on the lower level, but running top, then my running vest bag thing with trousers and another top in it, then padded shirt over that, then my waterproof layer on top. I looked fat and stupid, but I would be ready for the day. I got the bus to Folkestone parkrun, and got an espresso in Caffe La Delizia and walked up to The Leas. Very busy, first runs of the year are, people start out with good intentions. It was icy underfoot so they changed the route slightly to avoid the slipperiest bit, we ran further up the West end of The Leas, but not right down to the arch. Looks to be my best pace of the week though it didn't feel fast.
After the run I walked to the station, changed into the trousers and other top, and got on a very busy train, standing room only. Clare and the boys met me at the next stop, and of course I had failed to save them a seat. It sorted itself out after a few stops.
We walked from St Pancras to the big old Waterstones where Clare used to work, as it was next to Clare's old uni and she wanted to show T1 and then wanted to show him a more academic bookshop. He is starting to think about university, though we still have a couple of years. He's working really hard on his GCSEs so we bought some more study guides to help with Physics and Chemistry and he found some helpful "memorise these quotations from these books for great results" books to help with writing essays. He then bought the 1% Club quiz book for some light relief, and we bimbled onwards.
We went in a great coffee place called Ovis where I had a Turkish coffee, then on to Forbidden Planet for T2, looking for trading cards. They were all sold out but I took a chance on some books, possibly self published, called 1632 1, time travel sort of:
In the year 1632 in northern Germany a reasonable person might conclude that things couldn't get much worse. There was no food. Disease was rampant. For over a decade religious war had ravaged the land and the people. Catholic and Protestant armies marched and countermarched across the northern plains, laying waste the cities and slaughtering everywhere. In many rural areas population plummeted toward zero. Only the aristocrats remained relatively unscathed; for the peasants, death was a mercy.
2000 Things are going OK in Grantville, West Virginia. The mines are working, the buck are plentiful (it's deer season) and everybody attending the wedding of Mike Stearn's sister (including the entire membership of the local chapter of the United Mine Workers of America, which Mike leads) is having a good time.
THEN, EVERYTHING CHANGED....
When the dust settles, Mike leads a small group of armed miners to find out what's going on. Out past the edge of town Grantville's asphalt road is cut, as with a sword. On the other side, a scene out of Hell; a man nailed to a farmhouse door, his wife and daughter Iying screaming in muck at the center of a ring of attentive men in steel vests. Faced with this, Mike and his friends don't have to ask who to shoot.
At that moment Freedom and Justice, American style, are introduced to the middle of The Thirty Years War.
Pleased that you can't get actual paper books of this on the amazon, and one of them I picked up was signed by the auther. So if I like it, that's nice, and if I don't, pretend you haven't seen this dad you might get it as a birthday present.
From here to Covent Garden looking for a coat for Clare 2. She had her mind on a specific one, from a brand I had not heard of, but they look good and are in the sort of shops I like, Snow And Rock and Nordic Outdoor and so on. She didn't find exactly what she wanted, something like 80% puffer 20% parka, and even the closest she did find they didn't have in the size and colour. But we had a good look round and will be back again on my next pay day or hers anyway. We've ordered one online and will see if it's right, else a bit tricky returning something as bulky as a coat, but it can be done.
I did have a quick look at Yeti Rambler insulated cups in Nordic Outdoor too. I have one, and it's fine, and another one wouldn't be any better except that it is smaller. I am just confident that the top is waterproof. Look at this though they do a wine tumbler too.
After this we even stopped in a pub. I wasn't going to, it being dryanuary, but we went past The Roundhouse in Covent Garden where I used to go when I first came to London, and saw an empty table, and other families inside. So we got alcohol free beers and fizzy pop and did the puzzle book, before heading off for dinner.
Dinner was Rudy's Pizza, I'd heard it was good and it really was. The cheese was a bit unusual for the boys, fancy mozarella, but my Agnella Vegana was good.
Slightly disjointed tube journey back to Kings Cross, but then not too long to wait for our train home. Still cold but no sign of snow.
A good day, and then we talked the boys into watching the Vera when we got in. Result.
Estimated 2220 cups of coffee from my espresso machine 1 probably comes to £0.96 a cup (including the coffee and servicing 1 but not the 'leccy).
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- Actually just rememembered we went in Uniqlo before this and bought T1 some jeans. I did see some trousers I quite like but they're similar to the thermal ones I have been wearing a lot this winter. I still might go back for them.
dryanuary: Not drinking for all of January.
⬅️ Run stats 5/1/25 - 5'05/K :: Fierce weather again but no leak ➡️