Week 86 in London

Week 86: 21 – 27 November 2016

In the dying days of autumn, the trees on our street were becoming increasingly bare. Across London as the trees shed their colourful foliage, the carpet of wet leaves that end up on the streets and footpaths pose a slip hazard for shoes without grippy soles.

Although we are staying in our flat through to the end, we had our “check out” inspection on Tuesday making the looming move all the more real.

The Pennings had sent a funky message in a bottle postcard from their recent holiday in Hawaii, which arrived on Wednesday.

Roslyn and some of her work colleagues were invited to the exclusive Rosewood Hotel on Thursday evening. Here she tried her first scotch egg, a dish that we have seen plenty of times but never been game enough to try until now. The scotch egg seems to be a traditional British food, though not one that looks especially appetising. The basic premise is a hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in bread crumbs and either baked or fried although in this modern world there are a range of gourmet flavour variations.

The special Christmas party included an intimate performance by Ellie Goulding in the central courtyard! Roslyn scored an authentic piece of Ellie Goulding memorabilia, a water bottle that Ellie had drank from.

We headed across to Southbank on Friday night, where the Southbank Centre Winter Festival was taking place once again. Similar to winter 2015, twinkling lights, market stalls and street food, a roller disco and the Rekorderlig Cider Lodge all made a return.

Roslyn had brunch with Gayle, Ella and Amber on Saturday morning. In the afternoon we headed over to the Rosewood Hotel again so Brendan could see its grandeur, and then across to Covent Garden and the Seven Dials area, wandering the streets that were busy with festive cheer.

We also checked out the ice skating rink at Somerset House, and wandered across Waterloo Bridge for a great view of the river after dark.

Roslyn headed out on Sunday morning, due to be working at IBTM World in Barcelona through to Thursday for the second year. Brendan headed across to the London Docklands area to explore The Crystal, a visually striking and sustainably constructed building that houses event space as well as an exhibition on sustainability and the future of cities. The pricing to get into the exhibition is a bit strange; if you’re a student or resident of the local borough entry is free but for anyone else its £8. For that £8 you’re also given a quality hard cover book that they sell in the gift shop… for £8.

Afterwards, he headed back across the river for the second (and most likely final time) on-board the Emirates Air Line.

Heading back to the Maltby Street Markets he discovered fairly recently, Brendan also tried his first British scotch egg. He also collected some more doughnuts from St John Bakery.

Next he headed across to the grand British Museum. When leaving home earlier in the day he had failed to bring a bag and so had to continue to carry around, in his hands, the book from The Crystal and a small paper bag of doughnuts, whilst browsing the ancient and impressive artefacts.

Meanwhile in Barcelona, Roslyn was experiencing Spain’s warm autumn conditions and enjoying tapas and sangria.

Highlights for the week:

- Last full week of autumn

- “Check out” inspection of our flat

- Message in a bottle arrived from Hawaii

- Both ate our first scotch eggs

- Roslyn at Rosewood Hotel Christmas party

- Intimate Ellie Goulding gig

- Roslyn nabbed an Ellie Goulding water bottle

- Southbank Centre Winter Festival

- Brunch with Gayle, Ella and Amber

- Covent Garden and the Seven Dials

- Somerset House

- Roslyn went to Barcelona for IBTM World

- The Crystal

- Emirates Air Line

- Maltby Street Markets

- British Museum