Tuesday, September 01, 2026

Southbound 2026 - London

London, England. Thursday/Wednesday 28 August/02-September-2026.

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Introduction.

About a year ago we booked ourselves on a week long yoga and pilates retreat in Tuscany for mid-September 2026. Having got into the swing of this interrailing malarkey we decided to make a proper train trip of it. The outline plan was to spend the bank holiday weekend in London catching up with old friends, a couple of days in Milan to meet up with my nephew Lorenzo and his family then onto the retreat and onwards to Cisternino with various stops along the way, unsurprisingly, taking in parkruns en route.

In London we organised a HomeExchange in Bermondsey for the weekend very close to the Jubilee line station which made it really handy to get into central London and back out again..

Thursday 27-August-2026.

Thursday’s meet up was with ex-colleagues from CSC where I worked from 1983 to 1999 when I took voluntary redundancy and went freelance. Several times a year we meet up for a curry in the Royal Masala in Woking, travel plans permitting

We got the train down from Penrith into Euston, across to Bermondsey to drop our bags for a quick turnaround, back to Waterloo for a fast train to Woking. Great to catch up, eat some curry, drink several Kingfisher and Cobra and then wend our way swiftly back home.

Friday 28-August-2026.

Friday’s meet up was with another ex-colleague from CSC, an American now living in the UK in Cambridge. While Mary was having lunch with her girlfriends from one of her previous employments, I caught the train up to Cambridge. We went for a very tasty Jordanian lunch at Little Petra for a good old natter and my first taste of a Jordanian wine followed coffee, ice cream and a bit of a wander around Cambridge admiring the architecture.

Mary’s gathering was catch up and lunch at Gaucho at Tower Bridge with all five of the UBK "girls" - ex-colleagues from way back. 

Early evening Mary and I rendezvoused in Cork and Bottle followed by a play: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard at The Duke of York’s theatre. With Stoppard you have to pay attention as the plots flip-flops between past and present. We last saw the play in 2015 at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking and neither of use can remember any thing of that production. We first saw the play back in 1994 when it first opened in the West End as a National Theatre production from year before with new cast.

Saturday 29-August-2026.

Peckham Rye 29-08-26 32:22 [207/327]

Nearest parkrun and a P contributing towards our third alphabet.

Back to the apartment for a shower. Mary relaxed at the apartment whilst I went out for my next meet-up. 

Lunch was with friends, Catherine and John, that I met at the age of five on the first day of infant school 68 years ago! I had kept in touch with Catherine during my college years but kind of lost contact with John. Through the miracle of social media we reconnected and managed to meet up this time last year. This time we met in the Civil Service Club, an oasis of calm just off Whitehall and the throngs of tourists for a lovely chat.

The evening’s entertainment was the Buena Vista Social Club Live Revue at Toulouse Lautrec a jazz bar in Kennington. To quote the advertising they are "a dazzling celebration of Cuba’s most iconic musical heritage. This unforgettable tribute brings the timeless sounds of son, bolero, danzón, and cha-cha-cha to life, performed by some of the UK’s finest Cuban musicians." To quote the band leader and drummer "we play Cuban music with heavy metal attitude" With: 

  • Adriana Lord – lead vocals 
  • Nestor Rojas – lead vocals 
  • Luis Alberto Musiquito – trumpet 
  • Doranze Lorza – bass 
  • Alejandro Tellez – tres, guitar 
  • Vanchito Compay – musical director/band leader, drums.

Followed by supper in the restaurant downstairs.

Sunday 30-August-2026.

Sunday’s gathering near Tumbridge Wells with a group of friends I call "The Birmingham Crowd". These were a bunch of friends many of whom first met at Birmingham University and I fell in with around 1980 when we were all late-20-somethings living in London. Starting during Covid we hold fortnightly Zoom calls which continue to this day. We try to meet up in person once or twice a year. This was a fantastic gathering and lunch hosted by Marilyn and Jeremy.

As we were returning to London we were treated to a wonderful double rainbow over Tunbridge Wells station.

Back to London for a quiet evening, we were heading for a Thameside pub when we passed Glue wine bar. It was supposed to be closing at 8pm but had decided to stay open later because of the Bank Holiday. We did a swerve into a couple of comfy chairs and two glasses of wine. We had a very pleasant chat with the owners, Belinda and James, and two more glasses of wine including a Welsh rosé.

Monday 31-August-2026.

In the morning we first went to Hamleys toy shop in Regent Street to by a present for my great nephew. The went south of the river to have a nose round the Battersea Power Station development. 

The afternoon’s entertainment was an open air concert in Battersea Park with Annie, an ex-colleague of Mary’s, her partner Simon and a couple of their friends.

The headline act was Ronnie Scott's Jazz Orchestra with preceded by the Amy Winehouse band.

Full writeup of the event at Battersea Park in Concert 2026.

Tuesday 01-September-2026.

We met with David and Mary Fee at The Archduke at Waterloo for lunch. I met David back circa 1968 whilst working on an archaeological dig, the Lunt Roam fort. We subsequently went to the 1970 Isle of Wight festival together. In discussion it turned out that David’s Mary had worked at the dig at the same time so I must have met her then as well! Talk about nostalgia.

That evening we had a booked a Portuguese wine bar in Bermondsey. but a change of location meant a switch to Bar Roija, very close to King’s Cross, offering tastings with tapas. We went for the mid-priced range.

Our host Denise was everything you could want from a host: fun, friendly, knowledgeable and generous.

Full write up of the tasting at: Rioja Tasting at Bar Rioja.

Next stop: Frankfurt.

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