First Thing We Were Out,

it was Diana's day off,

but first I should say that I am only making one post today, as usual I took way too many photographs, so dressed in this years colour, Mocha Mousse,

we made our way out of the park, 

well I just had to!

clears skies, not a cloud in sight,

 

on to the train to London Bridge, 

getting comfortable, 

and settling in for the journey, 

and here we are at London Bridge station, 

outside, 

time for a quick pose,

then a walk here, 

to Brough Market, 

over the road, 

and inside, 

no mistaking where we are!

a quick one of myself, 

before we started looking at the goodies on sale, 

and there was lots to see, 

like these cakes, 

one each of these three to go, £13.50 later and we were on our way, 

the market was quite crowded, 

we were both hungry, and soon spotted this, 

a mushroom dish,

which Diana tried, 

twice! but decided to hold the order until we looked around some more,

salt beef, yummy!

Diana liked the look of the one in the middle, 

beef and chips, and another one to remember, 

the produce here looking so tempting, 

thinking back to the mushrooms, 

there were plenty here to take home, 

seafood!, 

my breakfast sorted, 

it was the usual stall that we stopped at, 

but a no sale, the price of a pot of cockles or whelks were the same as our last visit, as indeed was the container, but this time the tubs were less than half full, effectively the price had double, so a no sale from me, 

we looked at more fruit and vegetable stalls, 

but now no chestnuts, so late in October or early November it will be then, 

I was tempted, 

I noticed a few unusual tomatoes on this stall,

they looked a tad different, 

and were labelled Japanese, 

at £6.50 a kilo they did not seem that expensive as they were fresh and I guess had to be air freighted here, 

we arrived at one end of the market, so a 'U' turn and slightly to the left, 

where we found these,

 

dried meats hanging, 

there were for sale here, at Brindisa, as their website says, "The home of Spanish food", 

inside this lady, 

was expertly carving a ham, 

we continued looking for our breakfast,

 

for Diana decision made, 

a few of these, 

coconut treats I think they are, 

and a bowl of a noodle dish, £12.00 all in, 

for myself, salted beef on rye, 

looking around, not many seats for dinners,

that's the one for me, The Original £9.00, 

the stall was busy, 

and who was here?

Diana with her breakfast, 

I was still waiting with my order ticket, 

and here it is, stuffed with delicious meat, 

breakfast served, 

now tuck in, 

we ate by the side of the salt beef stall, 

then continued looking around, 

even more food stalls, 

we then saw this, 

the sandwiches were huge,

 

Diana immediately commented, "Next time we are here this is it!",

the meals were prepared as usual before your eyes, 

the seafood bar remarkably empty, 

then Diana saw a favorite of hers, 

empanadas, 3 to go, 

next the stall that specialises in Thai foods, like this jackfruit, 

and freshly squeezed sugar cane, 

Diana bought a few bits and pieces, 

but gave the bug lollypops a miss, 

I had a closer look at the sugarcane press, 

a novelty over here, but when we lived for so many years in Thailand they were in every market in every town or village, 

we were both a tad thirsty as we exited the market and looked for a coffee shop, 

deciding on this Costa, 

'Cheers!', it was not that cold, until the wind blew, then it had a nasty edge to it, 

back outside, 

a couple of poses, 

from both of us, next, 

on to a couple of tubes, 

to Leicester Square, 

Diana was looking at the famous hand prints outside of one of the theatres, 

decorations still up from yesterdays Chinese New Year, it must have been packed here yesterday, 

past the M & M's store, 

no queues today, 

some of the street artists showing their wares, 

we exited the square, 

and made our way here, 

to the entrance of Chinatown, 

the streets festooned with lanterns,

one of the many restaurants we had been to before, 

we started walking along the streets, 

above us advertisements between the lanterns, 

we were thinking of eating here again, but decided on a change, 

we had already tried his one, 

and this one,

a quick look in the shop, 

looking back to where we had just walked from,

 

nothing took Diana's fancy, 

into the pastry shop, 

the pandas in the window looking cute, 

we made our way back along the street, 

and decided to eat here, 

Gerrard's Corner Restaurant, 

in and upstirs, well 4 or so steps, 

it was nicely turned out, with plenty of room,

'Cheers!',

our food started to arrive,

we started with salt and peppered spare ribs, 

which I was soon tucking into, 

for our main course prawn fried rice, 

chicken and vegetables, 

three types of duck and pork, it did not look it, but by the end of the meal we were stuffed, including Diana's coke the bill came to £118.45,

back out,

to the streets of lanterns, 

Diana called into the cake shop, 

before making our way here, 

Mamasons, 

on our way back home, 

we are going to call into see Steve and Kai, 

I had a look in the shops opposite as I waited, 

the selection, 

any minute now, 

Diana was buying some ice cream for Kai and herself, 

shopping finished, we were on our way, 

with a rather nice carrier bag,

two ice creams to go, 

past the very colourful shop in the same street,

we walked to Trafalgar Square and turned left, 

and made our way here, 

to Kings Cross station, 

we were in a race to arrive at Steve and Kai's before the ice cream melted!, 

and here we are at Steve and Kai's home,

in the kitchen, 

Kai with the ice creams, we also had with many thanks, a huge cheese board with grapes to snack on, Steve is now back to his usual self, but although he can start driving next week after his heart attack, running is out for the next few months which is a shame as he loves running, we chatted away about our next door neighbours car being stolen last night, no one heard a thing, or from the house next door that also had a car stolen, thankfully it appears ours was not on the wanted list! after thanking Steve and Kai we made a move for our home, where it was feet up for a coffee and relax, after which Diana was off to bed, another early start tomorrow, for myself one from Have I Got More News For You followed by a It Ain't Half Hot Mum before I too was off to bed.