Thursday 16 May 2024

Oh Dear! Another Day Of Only One Post,

it was Diana's day off, 


so out we went to London, 

and as usual I took way too many photographs, 

I started as we arrived at London Bridge station, this entrance to a home looking so imposing, 

all around this area there are quant pubs, we might even pop into this one later,

and here we are, at Borough Market, we were last here just before Christmas

looking to the right as we crossed the road, the railway travels over the market, 

in we go, 

so many stalls here mostly selling food and drink, but this one has a exclusive line in tableware,

cakes! that's more like it, 

we decided to cross the road, to where most of the take away, but eat here foods are, 

the salted beef sandwich store, my favorite, 

but first a look at some of the fruit, 

that is on offer, 

when we saw these we were tempted, especially as they are Duncan's favourites, but at £35.80 a kilo, at today's rate $45.32 we decided to wait a month or so until the price comes down when the UK cherries are cropping,

this stall with slightly more unusual fair,

and plenty of mushrooms,

fresh seafood, 

yummy!

Diana's favorite food here, 

seafood paella, Diana was all set, but the queue was huge,

so we looked around at some more stalls for breakfast, 

the seafood stall,

I was all set for a few whelks here, but the tubes instead of being full to bursting as they normally were, had such meagre portions I decided against it, 

opposite, 

one of the staff on the fresh oyster stall giving it his best, 

we continued walking, 

past one of the many cheese stalls, 

what a selection, 

Diana weakened, it was seafood paella, so she joined the long queue, 

for myself back to the salted beef sandwich stall,

which was made before my eyes, 

by these two wonderful guys,

and there it was £10.00, 

many thanks, and we will see you both again on our next trip to the market!

and here it is, you could not get more meat inside of it!

no prizes for guessing what flavour drinks they sell here!

I went back to where Diana was queueing, 

I had a look at a few stalls nearby, 

still a long way to go, 

a few minutes later all ready to cross the gap, 

and then across, 

not long now,

mussels on the go ready for the next pan,

any second now, 

and there it is, 

Diana's plate of seafood paella,

£10.00 a plate and we were ready to go,

we made our way back over the road and under the arch,

where we could sit down,

and enjoy our meal, 

delicious!

then back again after our breakfast to continue our walk around, it was by now getting really crowded,

Diana's favorite, doughnuts, but here for the first time that we had seen them, 

rainbow coloured!

more cakes,

and cheese stalls,

Diana wanted to look in the Thai shop for some Thai tea,
 
so here we were, 

a familiar sight in the distance, 

jackfruit, when we lived in Thailand we both enjoyed this so much,

Diana looked for the tea, but alas they had sold out, 

another reminder of Thailand, a sugar cane press, 

hard sweets that we like so much when we are driving in the car, 

and look, insects to eat!, whilst I have eaten fresh moot dang on more than a few occasions, (Asian Weaver Ants), none of the other insects really appeal to me, but Diana loves them,

and here some of the insects are on sticks!

Diana bought a bottle of juice, 

and was tempted with the lollypops!

all of these fruits so familiar to us, 

the good news in 6 months or so we will be out to Thailand again for a holiday, so we can again enjoy so many of them,

this stall just selling vinegars and oils, 

the size of some of the cheeses here were huge,

and lots of blue cheeses too,

I admit the salted beef made me thirsty, 

so the bubbly stall it was, 

any second now, 

and £6.00 later, 

'Cheers!',

a look in the Tea 2 You stall,

and past the florists, we started to make our way out of the market, 

and started towards the Shard,

 and the station, 

but first the call of larger and lime was heard, so in we went to the pub we saw on the way to the market, named, The Bunch of Grapes,

we sat at the rear in a open area,
 
 a larger and lime and small coke £12.30, 'Cheers!',

what a grand entrance to Keats House, (not to be confused with his home in Hampstead),

next to it is this imposing building, the Science Gallery London, it is a free to visit gallery which connects art, science and health, so in we went, 

there are 2 public galleries to visit both upstairs, so up we went, 

here is gallery one, 

the sign says it all, not to worry off to gallery two,

just round the corner, 

and here it is, and what does the sign say?

both galleries closed to the public, what a waste of time, 

we were nearly tempted with a ice cream but refrained,
 
behind the van, the towering Shard,

as we neared the station more building work going on, then into the station,

we passed the Chocolate Hotel,

but Diana did have a look in Boots, 

but of course,

Oliver Bonas was visited, 

in no time we were on the train,

and hurtling past the football ground of, 


towards Beckenham, 

I was waiting to pass the apiary, 

where the local bee keeping association keeps their hives, 

the train took about 45 minutes to arrive at Beckenham Junction, and then a quick walk to the park entrance, 

in the front garden of Foxgrove Lodge, 

the roses in flower, 

in the side garden the white peonies, 

and rhododendrons putting on a good show,

it had been a glorious day as we passed the snail mail box on our way home, before our evening meal we watched a couple of quiz shows,

then time for a read and a sherry, 

for our starters a prawn avocado salad,

with a drizzle of lemon, 

on to our main course, a 30 day aged steak with vegetables, after which we were full, so no dessert today, next feet up for BattleBots before a Antiques Road Trip, we followed that with a Midsomer Murder we had watched a long time ago but still enjoyed, rounding off the evening with a Have I Got More News For You, before we were off to bed.


2 comments:

jpo5626 said...

Dear Stanley and Diana
Great shoots of London and a great day out? Stan-did you stay up all night to process the blog….seems like many pictures for one outing!
But, they were all great!
Best
John and Alley

PattayaStan said...

John and Alley, I made a start when we returned home, then continued first thing in the morning, it was indeed a great day out, but the prices have risen considerably, just a couple of years ago Diana's paella was just £5.00 the same for my salt beef sandwich, now both £10.00 each, I guess that is called inflation! but still nice to wander around the market, best regards, Stan and Diana.