I leave in the morning. Went for lunch to Rok, a Scandinavian restaurant, where the soused mackerel and aebleskiver were exemplary but the rest ranged from decent to peculiar. The latter was a curiously tough beef sirloin and we couldn’t work out whether it was deliberately so or just a poor joint. Then another look […]
Shopping
Had my first excursion yesterday, going to Soho and Covent Garden to buy a few things. The most important was a birthday present for my nephew, which I bought though slightly unsatisfactory. The second was a pair of walking sandals, which I didn’t find. I have had the same type of Teva sandals for over […]
Day after
There is general exhaustion and relief that that, at least, is all over. Today work began again, for both the Gentleman Friend and myself. I took to it more easily: redoing someone else’s work on an annual report (I’d written it in earlier years, but couldn’t this year), and completing a deprivation analysis. Tonight we […]
Funeral
The funeral is over. There was no hot water, so my shower was icy cold on a grey rainy day. I went to the church where I helped to greet those who came, monitored and paid off the trumpeter. Then followed the coffin. Then sat through the service. Then accompanied the family to the crematorium. […]
East
East End for lunch yesterday, to Som Saa, a Thai restaurant that used to be a pop up under some arches and is now a proper restaurant on Commercial Street. It remains one of my favourite Thai restaurants anywhere, getting the vigour and freshness of real Thai food. Then to Whitechapel Gallery for the last […]
House to myself
The GF has gone for a very lengthy interview – talk about bad timing. I dreamt last night that he was wearing a silk navy blue suit covered in watercolour flowers but didn’t want to suggest he wear something else. While others in the house have gone to the so-called Chapel of Rest. I stay […]
Yesterday
Got through yesterday, a week after the long-awaited news arrived. Left a little ragged by it, but still walking. It is notable to me how very different the approach is to death between Pakistan and the UK. Perhaps it’s a sign of increasing age and conservatism, but I strongly prefer the Pakistani way. A person […]
Two lunches
Dinings, yesterday, was disappointing. The food was as good as ever, but the staff made me genuinely uncomfortable. It used to be a quiet, elegant place where the staff were helpful but discreet and retiring – very important in that cramped space. Over the past two years they’ve changed to all-hipster staff, most of them […]
Heath walk
A stroll through Hampstead heath yesterday, visiting the pergola, Golder’s Hill park and other familiar sites, though taking routes used less often. At the pergola there was the usual photography taking place but instead of a wedding shoot it was, I think, a fashion student’s shoot as the model was dressed in exquisite black feathers, […]
Here
I arrived in London last night, after a couple of days scrambling to arrange travel plans and set things in motion for the business. It was a longish flight, the first time in several years I’d flown between Pakistan and the UK indirectly. The direct flights are PIA which are typically like travelling in a […]