Here Comes the Son

I said goodbye to the club and the hundreds of elephants and lugged my bags through London this morning, transferring to a hotel in Covent Garden for the next four days. After a few weeks on my own, I’m ready for the family to arrive. Campbell is the first, arriving  after lunch from his San Francisco/World Cup excursion. 

On the way to the new hotel  I passed an IKEA in a very non-IKEA building. 

My room was ready when I reached the hotel, however it was right on the street, and the (open) blinds are sealed between two panels of glass and don’t move. Despite being in the theatre district, I’m not keen to star in my own solo play for passing pedestrians, so I’ve requested a room change. That leaves me a bit aimless, as my original plan had been to have some chill time in the room. Instead I wandered about, checking out the new location, paying a hefty 7 pounds for a coffee. Photos of items of interest below: collagen protein ice blocks (!), Chinatown lanterns, and a floral display for the ballet. 

It’s funny how,  now that someone else is arriving, my focus has completely shifted into organising mode. With hours, I had sorted dinner bookings, worked out Tube routes and looked at transport costs to Oxford. Clearly this is a role everyone else assumes I will be taking care of too, as Cam collected his bags at Heathrow and the following text conversation occurred: 

We had pre-booked an early dinner at BRAT, a Michelin starred restaurant in Shoreditch recommended by Cam’s chef friends. Side note: I draw no parallels between the name of the restaurant and my favourite middle son. Brat is the traditional Northumbrian word for turbot which is the restaurant's flagship dish. It’s one of the places where cooking over fire is the main game, and the restaurant has a faint smoky smell that made me hungry. We shared a flatbread with wild garlic and spenwood (I had to google it), followed by Jersey beef fillet, smoked potatoes, and wood roasted greens. The service was friendly, the food was excellent, Cam’s a great conversationalist and I must say, my heart was full. 

Outside of the restaurant was an architecture practice, with very cool metal signage on the front, listing the projects of the firm and the relevant years, dating back to the 1100’s! I struggled to photograph it properly due to the sun and the angle, but Cam came to my aid with a few taps so hopefully you can read it. We hustled back to the hotel to change into our Aussie soccer supporter gear (supplied by Cam) and went to the local pub to watch the Australia v Egypt game. We had imagined at least a small pocket of noisy Aussies at the pub but it was a fairly quiet crowd, with only a scattering of people watching the game. Despite the result it was fun to watch the game with Campbell, who provided a running commentary of gameplay and player history for both teams with an astonishing level of detail. It’s been a long day, but a lovely one, shifting focus from my solo adventure into the family chapter.