It Was Diana's Day Off,

so glad rags on,

and we were out early, and you guessed it, I took so many photographs I am only making one post today,

it was a glorious day,

we only had a short time at the station,

before we arrived at Victoria, next a number 52 bus to Ladbroke Grove, unfortunately the front upstirs seats were taken, so no photographs,

until we reach the bridge,

at Ladbroke Grove tube station,

we passed the graffiti,

and some of the selling booths,

as we made our way towards the Portobello Road market,

on the left we could not believe it, bananas!

just in front of them a huge thistle,

we were soon amongst the stalls,

clothes featured heavily in this section,

but we were soon in the general section,

I had a look at a few of the book stalls, but nothing of interest for myself,

no mistaking where we were now,

street food at its finest,

a quick look around,

as we made our way back through the clothes section,

and then entered another area,

selling general items, there must be a bargain in there!

it was starting to get crowded,

although being Friday we avoided the crush of Saturday and Sunday, the only down side is that there are not as many stalls as there would have been at the weekend, 

but there were more than enough for us,

a quick pose by the entrance to a restaurant,

we had seen these pop-up cards before when we went to Greenwich market,

the amount of work that goes into them is just amazing,

this stall was a riot of colour,

"Just going to pop in for a minute", well I have that one before!

like the weekend many of the roads had been closed to traffic,

Sunday is going to be very busy!

this shop had everything you could think of, like this bar-b-q,

ideal for motorheads!

as it happens they had a huge stock of candles, so we bought a few for our dining table for the winter,

and off we went,

a nice piece of street art above the pub,

some of the stalls were just so colourful,

yellow ducks anyone?

we continued walking,

thankfully the crowds thinning out,

we continued walking uphill,

stopping every now and then,

great signs for a man cave,

or attic!

up the hill,

and looking back to where we had just walked from,

we had seen coloured heathers before, but this is the first time we have seen coloured cactus,

along the streets there are a few delightful mews,

some gated,

we were in the haberdashery section,

these handbags glittering in the sun,

candles in hand,

some more street art above a shop,

over the road,

there was a stall selling CDs, I like looking for groups I have never heard of, but alas, we waited for some time for the stall holder to appear, but we gave up in the end,

we entered the 'junk' area of the market,

all manner of items laid out in the road,

nothing is priced of course, so it is all down to your haggling skills,

as well as second hand goods,

some stalls have brand new goods,

but not this one!

I spotted this beauty parked up, a Chevrolet Camaro SS,

as we passed some shops selling furniture,

we started back towards the bus stop, as it happens we passed the stall with the CDs, the stall holder was still not there, good job we did not wait!

nearly opposite the station, we were both hungry, on the way here we has seen a lovely public house festooned with flowers, so we thought we would have a late lunch there,

and here it is,

the Churchill Arms,

it looked just so British, we both fancied something like pie and chips or bangers and mash,

so in we went, the restaurant section is at the back of the pub,

where they sell one type of food only, Thai!

we had not had a Thai meal for some time, so Thai it was then, a J2O orange for Diana,

naturally a wine for myself,

easy does it, 

'Cheers!',

we had a mixed platter for our starters,

a 'Cheers!' from Diana,

for our main course Diana choose Pad Kee-Mao, which it has to be said was very spicy,

for myself, a Panang curry, which was just right for myself in the spicy department, if you fancy eating here, this is the menu,

back to the bar to pay, including a Thai tea for Diana the bill came to just over £60, 

the inside of the pub has to be seen to be believed, it has so many bits and pieces on the walls and hanging from the ceiling, well worth a visit if you are in town,

the main entrance on the corner,

it was a lovely meal,

and talk about convenient for the bus stop!

regarding the flowers the display earned the pub a reputation as one of very select few pubs that can claim to be a Chelsea Flower Show winner, amazing,

on the way back we were lucky to have a front upstairs seat,

we passed one of the few cabbies huts left in London,

as it happens we mentioned them before on one of our pervious trips to London,

we soon passed the Albert Hall,

as dog walkers walked in the opposite direction,

in the distance a hanging rhinoceros, 

a what? as a 52 bus went in the opposite direction,

 if you want to see it look about 100m west of the main tube entrance, next to the Bulgari hotel and above the Samer Halimeh jewellers, there is a fascinating story about it here,

any one that watches AbFab will know this building, 

it is of course Harvey Nicks as it is known in the TV series,

making a 'U 'turn here was never going to be easy,

the traffic was building up,

as we went round Marble Arch,

in no time we were back to Victoria,

and into the station,

a relax on the journey home,

we walked past Foxgrove Lodge,

what a wonderful day, arriving home it was feet up for a coffee and a wash and brush up as I was out to meet Steve and Mike at the club, Crystal Palace were playing tonight, as they both support the team we will watch it there,

so out again, the shadows getting longer,

the weather still nice,

as I made my way past the tennis courts,

towards the green,

where in the distance some cricket practice was taking place,

the grass looking very sorry for itself,

into the club house, it did not go well, Crystal Palace lost 2 - 0 to Arsenal, we drowned our sorrows, after saying farewell it was home for me, we watched one from a late New Tricks before were were off to bed.