London visit

I was in London for work. I had a late lunch at Mrs Marengo’s which is in a handy spot in W1 near Oxford Circus, Liberty, Mac store, Carnaby St etc. It’s a vegetarian place that is mainly geared towards take out (it is the take out branch of Mildreds) but can seat about 12 on bar stools. I had the chargrilled aubergine, goats cheese, harissa, and spinach burger and got a cupcake to take away to share with Simon at home later. Satisfying and a good price for that location.

Earlier that day I had needed to be at Olympia and to get there from Paddington Station (the station for Oxford) meant a walk through Holland Park. The park itself was rather gloomy and deserted, I was not sorry when I was safely out the far side, but these trees in the streets looked interesting.

There was time to pop into the Holland Park Road branch of Daunt Books. I like Daunt because the main arrangement of the shelves is by country. I am planning a few trips so I wanted to see what fiction and history books might be good background reading. They also have nice fabric bags that they give you for your shopping.

Simon’s sisters and their families had given me some Liberty gift coins for my birthday – so kind! So before I headed back to Oxford I spent an absolute AGE looking at everything in and trying to decide what to get. I wanted to get something that would last and was special to Liberty. I was this {} close to getting a Rob Ryan mug but finally I went for some of this Liberty fabric that I really love. It’s so happy! I will make cushion covers as we are in need of some new ones. With the change left over I also bought a few bars of fancy chocolate, Charbonnel and Walker Pink Marc de Champagne, and Sir Hans Sloane of London milk and dark. I will store those away for a treat some time :)