7101/19621
Catie and me went out for a daytime date. It’s actually a pretty good way to do things if you’re a parent and your kids are at school (even better if you have someone else to pick them up and look after them for a couple of hours). We went straight from drop off to the train station and we were in London by 10am.
We walked from Kings Cross to the British Museum and looked round the Stonehenge exhibition, and learned a bit about our mysterious prehistoric ancestors and wondered how long it took them to cut down trees with their shitty stone axes. Quicker than I could cut one down with a chain saw, I reckon. There were some beautiful and amazing artefacts and if they’d let me take one home with me (they didn’t as it happens) I’d probably have plumped for the turquoise disc detailing parts of the Heavens that serves as the image for this collection. It’s beautiful and magical and shows the artistry and wisdom of our forefathers (and mothers and also people who didn’t have kids).
Then we went out for a nice posh lunch at Louie, a Cajun and creole seafood restaurant off Charing Cross Road which I’d never been to before. Superb food and a nice relaxed unstuffy atmosphere and attentive but not intrusive staff.
The lunchtime date is a very refined one and it feels much more special to be taking a day off in order to have some fun, whilst still being able to get home by the kids’ tea-time. We did a bit of shopping and then sat outside and had a coffee and read. Actually I’d left my reading glasses at home so I listened to a book, but that’s how I read now. It’s surprisingly hobbling to be without your glasses on a day out and I had thought about buying a cheap pair to get me through, but I muddled onwards. The text on the Museum exhibits was nice and bit, but Catie had to read me the menu at the restaurant.
I think we made the right choice to move out of London, though I don’t think Catie whole-heartedly agrees, but on this return it didn’t seem dirty and noisy at it has sometimes in the last five years since we left. It was pleasant being a tourist and though it can sometimes be more difficult to get home, I like to be able to escape to our village. But I am an old, old man who can not see without his eyeglasses, so the thrills of the capital have less interest for me these days.
