Adventures in London

 I've written on my other blog about my problems with the buses from Hay at the beginning of my holiday.  I missed my train by a whisker so I went to the ticket office to ask what I should do.

"Do you still want to travel?" he asked.

Here I am, standing with my suitcase: "Well, yeah!  I've got someone meeting me at Euston!"

"So, do you want the quickest route or the cheapest?"

I went for the quickest, which got me into Euston an hour later than I was expected.  It's at times like these that I think it might possibly be useful to have a mobile phone - I had no way to tell my Young Man that I was running late.

It didn't help that the station cafe is closed for the duration, and I took one look at the vending machine and decided I did not have the mental energy to work out how to make it give me a bottle of water.

I had enough time between trains at Birmingham New Street to grab a coffee and find a quiet corner where I could take off my mask to drink it and eat the sandwich I'd brought with me.

I saw the Young Man almost as soon as I stepped off the platform at Euston - he'd had a station announcement put out, thinking he'd missed me and I'd gone wandering off into London and he'd never find me again!

He was going to take me to Cafe Rouge for lunch, which would probably have been nice if they were open.  By this time I was really quite hungry, and thirsty - the only way to access the buffet service on the train was by an app, which in my case I had not got.

Next door to Cafe Rouge is Nando's.  "Chicken?" he asked.

By this time I would have eaten greasy cardboard.  Chicken sounded fine.

To get into Nando's the Young Man had to point his phone at the track and trace symbol, and order by app.  He couldn't work out how to do that, so eventually we managed to get a paper menu, and a girl came to the table to take our order.  "The pitta's got coleslaw in it," she said.

I hate coleslaw.  I didn't care.  I'd eat it.

"What is there to drink?" we asked.

They had no tea, or coffee.  Juice was only for babies.

"Look, I just need something liquid!  What have you got?"

"Coke?"

"That'll do!"

I hate coke.  The last time I bought coke I used it as a drain cleaner, which in my opinion is all it is fit for.  I didn't care.  I drank it.

So, that meal was simultaneously the worst I've ever had, and exactly what I needed at that precise moment.  I will never willingly set foot in a Nando's again.

When we left, I was at least feeling a bit more human, so we went round to the Euston Tap for a half of Oyster Stout to take the taste away before we headed back to the Young Man's flat.  The beer was delicious.