20 - 21 February: Business As Usual

I got some hours of paid work today, under my zero-hours contract as Fractional Finance Director for a Calgary business. It’s been quite a few weeks since they asked for any help, so it was a nice surprise to earn a few coins. So, my day was spent at the table in our apartment. I have no adventures to relate. Carey went out for a walk in the afternoon, between rain showers.

Luckily, we had a splendid evening with Gareth and Fabi, who invited us over for Argentinian red (a tribute to their honeymoon in Buenos Aires) and tasty pizza, from Hackney. We sat around their kitchen table and chatted all evening. It was super-sociable and comfortable, in contrast to the trip over, which was crazy.

We each have one small suitcase for the camino, but we came with wedding clothes, smart shoes and so forth that we are storing at Gareth’s until we get back in April. Carey steered the “wedding bag” through rush hour traffic: a huge challenge – even before we discovered both the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines were suspended. Everyone at Aldgate East piled onto the District Line. We started at the back of the platform and inched forward as 3 completely jammed tube trains came and went, ever-so-slightly reducing the number of people on the platform… Carey’s innate Canadian niceness (which I love so much) is a definite liability in London rush hour!

I did another half day of work to lunchtime, finishing off the requested review. Then, early afternoon, we walked up to Soho for coffee with Gareth. We went via Bank, St Paul’s, Covent Garden and just reveled in the hodge-podge of architecture that makes London iconic. We took ages, because we were constantly stopping to take photos as the sun came out and the light changed. By the time we arrived, Gareth was having his lunch in the park, the pigeons were getting frisky on the pavement and the sky was blue. We popped into his office for a cuppa (deliciously accompanied by custard creams) and to meet the team and then pottered home again. For the non-British reader, the custard cream is a delectable sandwich biscuit, filled with custard paste and embossed with the legend “custard cream” stamped into the cookie on both sides, just in case you were confused by its deliciousness and forgot what you are eating, for only 65p for a packet).

The weather, like us, also went in the opposite direction after tea. By the time we were home, it was raining: the kind of dispiriting, grey, damp rain that epitomizes February in London. Nevertheless, we braved the soggy evening later for pie and mash and a pint at the Hoop & Grapes in Aldgate. Built in 1593, it is one of the very few timber houses that survived the Great Fire of London in 1666. It’s a bit of a London legend and just down the road. And, they serve very good pies.