It Was Diana's Day Off,

and we were up early,

to catch the 08.15 tram to Croydon, so glad rags on and we were off, as there are so many photographs I am only making this one post today, back to normal tomorrow!

it seems strange, we were only here just under 6 hours ago at 01.50 AM!

and this is where the tram took us,

no not to a building site,

but the building opposite it, Diana had to take a English test as a part of her visa to stay in the UK,

so whilst she was inside I took a few photographs of the near by building,

I made my way back to the tram/train station to grab a coffee whilst I waited for Diana,

it seems that Croydon is awash with building work and cranes, I am guessing someone did not see the post, and hit it with their car,

back at the station,

and into Nero,

Diana joined me for a coffee, what a good little earner the English test is, there were 5 other people being questioned by the examiner, taking 5 minuets to sign in, the test by all was completed in under 15 minuets, and the cost? £150.00 each, as I mentioned a nice little earner £900 in 20 minuets! results due tomorrow,

we were soon hurtling towards London,

and arrived at Charing Cross,

a quick pose by a quintessentially British red telephone box, 

we were going to walk on the pedestrian foot bridge over the River Thames, on the left of the bridge,

one of these, a green cabbies shelter, one of only 13 left in the city,

on to the bridge,

for a few poses,

well I had to have one as well!

we almost had the whole bridge to ourselves,

people still continuing to work from home I guess,

a last look at the London Eye,

before we were back down to street level,

the business end of the café,

we started our walk towards Covent Garden,

the roads nearly deserted,

in both directions,

Diana just loves these little cars,

especially in pink! it is a Nissan Figaro, if you want to buy one, have a look here,

we could see the market in the distance,

as we passed the restaurants along the way,

so many had real plants or colourful displays,

outside them,

and here we were, 

at a fairly deserted Covent Garden,

we decided on a coffee, I am so out of touch with prices, is £9.00 for 2 coffees reasonable? 

I was tempted with the bubbly, but it was not quite midday,

we relaxed whilst the coffees were prepared,

'Cheers!',

from both of us,

coffees over we had a look around some of the stalls,

some were still setting up,

as were some of the cafés, I am guessing this is more of an afternoon place,

chocolate!

as I mentioned,

we had the place pretty much to ourselves,

we crossed the road,

to another section of stalls,

and made our way to the entrance,

a souvenir stall,

there were all manner of stalls here,

this one looked interesting,

but do not be fooled, all of the goods here are genuine, reproductions!

from candles,

to clothes, everything was here,

outside this memorial,

the legend underneath it,

we made our way back past the dinning areas,

to the front of the garden,

first a pose,

or two,

well I just had to,

we were on a quest, 

to the Michael Kors hand bag shop, but alas it was closed, what a relief!

we started walking towards China Town,

passing so many landmark pubs,

I stopped to watch these people struggling with a planted container, but what I was really looking at was the walkway between the two buildings,

it looked really different,

the station still with its tiled original front,

in the distance I felt sure I could see a Christmas decoration,

but as we got closer,

it was a street decoration that is here all year,

as was the bunting,

chocolate break!

we were still passing,

some of the old lovely styled pubs in the area,

Harry Potter was still advertised, but I am not sure if it has opened yet, it would be magic if it has,

and here we are in, China Town,

Diana made a bee-line for the Filipino shop,

 but it was closed,

the good news was that it would be opening soon,

so we sat in the square nearby,

it was glorious sitting in the sun,

we just had to have a selfie,

back to the shop,

which was now open, but, they were only selling ice creams, not the cakes that Diana wanted, evidently the bakery is only available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,

so after our lunch it will be a visit here,

we walked along the main thoroughfare, 

there were a few more people here,

looking at the number of people eating outside,

we decided on this one, the Golden Phoenix, 

a coke for Diana, it was so warm walking around I decided on a bubbly,

'Cheers!',

we ordered a selection of starters,

and some pork and sesame seed rolls,

Diana also ordered some dim sum,

I am not sure what they were,

but Diana enjoyed them,

for our main course, Cantonese duck, with king prawn rice, a chicken dish I have forgotten the name of and beansprouts, the bill came to £125.00 including a £14.00 service charge, I have to say the meal was delicious, 

we were both so full as we waddled along,

to the Chinese bakery,

Diana was buying a few things to take home,

on the way back,

there were so few people travelling,

we almost had the whole place to ourselves,

coming and going,

even when we arrived at Victoria,

there was hardly anyone about,

well we just had to stop for a couple in O'Neil's,

we passed the Pearl, now open,

the flowers in Foxgrove Lodge looking nice,

nearly home,

as we passed these roses although there were just a few of them we could not miss the aroma they gave out,

it had been such a lovely day,

it must have been nice as one of the neighbours was having a bar-b-q! we arrived home where it was feet up for a snack after a Midsomer Murder, 

next our film for the evening was Godzilla, great fun, we rounded the evening off with a New Tricks, then for us we were off to bed.