Walk: The Magic of Covent Garden - Secrets and Surprises

Today, back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners - this time for The Magic of Covent Garden: Secrets & Surprises. And Helen came to this one, good stuff! There had been a lot of talk about the pro-Palestinian protests that took place today - I saw one central London Meetup cancelled as a result. But as Laurence said, since when do people protest in Covent Garden..? Sure enough, the route went nowhere near there, and they were going to arrest anyone who strayed off it.

It wasn't the best day to travel, all told - although the rain decided to hold off till tomorrow, and it was lovely and sunny. In fact, I wasted five minutes looking for sunglasses that were already in the bag I was taking! Didn't matter though - the bus was severely delayed. And when it did come, it was like a Tokyo subway, people crammed right up to the doors. I was surprised the driver let us on - but I guess he realised that anyone he didn't take would be left quite a while. Turns out a number of Tube lines were out of action. And happily, I got a seat after a couple of stops - in fact, lots got off at Elephant & Castle, and we could all breathe again.

I still managed to get to Notes, where we were meeting, before Helen - or, indeed, most of the group! Got myself a hot chocolate (to go, 20p cheaper) and was just headed out the door when Helen arrived. We managed to grab seats on the bench outside, and were comfortably ensconced by the time Laurence arrived. Some cancelled - some really had no way of getting in, with their local Tube down and some bus routes cancelled for the protest! I did, however, run into someone from last night's dinner, whom I hadn't realised was signed up for this as well. Small world.. Anyway, the hot chocolate warmed me up, on this cold day.. and we actually started early, I think, after everyone he expected to show had arrived. Decent crowd, in the end.

D' you know, when the Coliseum was first built - with its revolving globe on top - people avoided St. Martin's Lane, where it's situated: in case the globe fell on them!

He pointed out to us that the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is similar in style to many American churches:

Unsurprisingly, Dickens featured - we saw where he worked as a boy:

And around the back of the Vaudeville Theatre, we saw the plaque describing where Voltaire stayed when exiled to London, briefly. This was as political as the tour got, as Laurence described his defence of the right to free speech - something which is sorely threatened in our society, indeed. And that was as close as we got to the protest - apart from the odd helicopter, buzzing overhead.

We found ourselves in the rather picturesque alley of Bull Inn Court, where the pub isn't called that at all, any more:

A bit early in the day for lights, but we did see some Christmas decorations:

This pub is actually across from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - rumour has it that a tunnel under the road linked the two, and provided a handy route for trysts between Charles II and his mistress, Nell Gwynne:

We stopped at the Opera House, where there was once a riot over a ticket price increase, to pay for restoration! Fancy that..

En route, we saw a procession returning from the Remembrance Day commemoration:

Oh, and we stopped by Oscar:

Heading for lunch, as usual, in the Lamb and Flag, we were shocked to discover they had no booking for us! They also complained that Laurence hadn't shown up on another occasion when he had booked - doesn't sound like him. I think they might well have put him down for the wrong day.. anyway, the boss got us a table in their sister pub, The Admiralty, and a free round of drinks while we waited for confirmation. Oh, and a 20% discount there. We lost a couple who couldn't wait - but that did mean that we fitted neatly into an alcove in their cavernous basement. Where, when we ordered, most of us had fish of one sort or another - there were three varieties on the menu! I had the herb-crusted cod, myself, which was melt in the mouth.. most people had the fish pie, which did look good. Helen had the venison pie - and Marmite (!) potatoes.. ice cream for dessert for the two of us, and then we repaired - with Laurence - to The Harp for another round. A most convivial day, all round!

Afterwards, Helen and I headed to the Trafalgar Square Christmas market, for the obligatory retail therapy before she took herself home. Great to see her, and a most enjoyable day. As I say, starting to feel Christmassy around here..

Tomorrow, an Indian friend of mine is celebrating Diwali by booking a meal in an Indian restaurant - she finally decided on Flora Indica. With 16 of us coming at last count, we had to pre-order.. so I did.. generously, the manager offered to provide anything in particular we want that isn't on the menu - so I'm being awkward and having lamb samosas! which they never normally do. Heh.

On Monday, back on a walk with the 45+s - this time, though, it's Paul's Monday Historic Pub Crawl from Rotherhithe to Tower Gateway. Which has the advantage of being around my current area! not to mention headed home, roughly, for me..

On Tuesday, still with the 45+s, but now back with Laurence - delighted to be able to make his walk on The Bombing of London! Unemployment does have its advantages.. Jeez, that'll have been six days in a row where I get fed as part of the outing..! Better enjoy unemployment while I have it - I got a job this week.. ;-) Starting on the 6th.

On Wednesday, back at last with Buddies on Budget (BoB) in London, who are headed to the Belgravia Lights Switch On! V Christmassy..

On Thursday, I'm with a new group - London Smaller Theatre are headed to Soho Theatre to see the comedian Leila Navabi. So I'm giving her - and them - a shot!

And on Friday, I'm back to Ireland again, for the weekend..