After spending the last several months either holed up in the study at home, or occasionally venturing to a nearby cafe, I boarded a train this morning and headed off in the direction of London to meet-up with co-workers. A social gathering to thank the small team that had worked on a recent project together.
We had originally planned to meet at the “Serpentine Bar & Kitchen” - a lovely cafe that sprawls across the end of the river in Hyde Park. After meeting one of my colleagues at Paddington station, we set off on foot across the park - a couple of miles on foot - and remarked about the unexpectedly good weather.
The weather had other ideas.
By the time we reached our destination a howling gale had blown up, sheets of rain were lashing the outside tables, and the several hundred people that had been enjoying the sunshine were now crammed into the covered areas. It was like a riot in an outlet village food-hall.
We made some hasty calls, and set off across the city in search of a better location. Our first idea was Hard Rock Cafe on Park Lane - surely it would be huge, spacious, and perhaps provide a wonderful place to meet up?
Wrong.
Hard Rock Cafe was rammed with people, untidy, chaotic, and incredibly noisy. We walked away.
After walking for another couple of miles we arrived in the centre of the city - and my colleague confidently set off towards Chinatown - proclaiming that he had eaten there several times with his other half. I knew he was lost as soon as I saw the Raymond Revue Bar swing into view - and volunteered that perhaps we had taken a wrong turn (if you don’t know, it’s a famous strip bar).
After redirecting us through a couple of turns, I delivered us to Chinatown, and his culinary expertise came to the fore - picking out a lovely dim sum restaurant. After ordering a couple of drinks and relaxing into the afternoon, the rest of our party arrived and the hours flew by - filled with stories, laughter, and endless little round plates filled with carefully constructed wonders.
After spending the last year only knowing one of the girls in the team via video calls, it was great to finally meet her. When we stood up to leave she looked up at me and remarked “JESUS YOU’RE TALL!”. I grinned - I had been sitting down when she arrived.
In time we said our goodbyes, and set back off across the city once more. I could have crammed myself onto the underground, but instead chose to wander back across the city on foot - via Piccadilly and Regent Street.
I love walking through cities. You see so much more on foot. People. People going about their lives. Living, laughing, crying and shouting. Everybody going somewhere, doing something. You only really appreciate the scale of London after walking for several miles and realising you’ve only explored a small corner of it.
Paddington railway station finally emerged from the maze of streets, and I boarded the train home. Everything went smoothly until I arrived at the final railway station - where we sat for half an hour before a lovely blonde lady came through the carriages talking to the passengers. Her conversation took the form “are you going to X?”, followed by “Unfortunately this train isn’t any more”. I gathered something rather fundamental had gone wrong with the train tracks - meaning we could only return in the direction we had arrived from.
I disembarked and called my other half - bracing myself for a stream of foaming invective.
“Can you come and pick me up?”