DRAFT - SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
London, England. Thursday/Wednesday 28 August/02-September-2026.
- London, England. Thursday/Wednesday 28 August/02-September-2026.
- Frankfurt, Germany. Wednesday 02-September-2026.
- Nuremberg, Germany. Thursday/Sunday 04/07-September-2026.
- More to follow…
Intro.
Last year we booked ourselves on a week long yoga and pilates retreat in Tuscany. Having got into the swing of this interrailing malarkey we decided to make a proper road trip of it. The plan is to spend the bank holiday weekend in London catching up with old friends and a couple of days in Milan to meet up with my nephew Lorenzo and his family then on to Cisternino also, unsurprisingly, taking in a couple of parkruns en route.
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 Kings Cross, 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.
Following our respective meet-ups Mary and I rendezvoused in Cork and bottle followed by a play: Arcadia by Tome 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. I 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 and a P contributing towards our third alphabet.
Back to the apartment for a shower then out for our separate meet-ups.
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.
My meet up was with friends I met at the age of five, on the first day of infant school 68 years ago! Had kept in touch with Catherine during my college yes but kind of left contact with John a miracle of social media reconnected and managed to meet up this time last year when he was back in the UK. 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.
Old friends from 1981. Near Tunbridge Wellls.
A wonderful double rainbow over Tunbridge Wells station.
Back to London for ??.
Monday 31-August-2026.
An open air concert in Battersea Park with Annie, an ex-colleague of Mary’s, her partner Simon and a couple of her friends, Sue and Lydia.
Simon, Sue, Lydia, Annie and Mary. I’m not sure what Lydia was doing here.
The headline act was Ronnie Scott's Jazz Orchestra with support for the Amy Winehouse band.
Full writeup of the event at Battersea Park in Concert 2026.
Tuesday 01-September-2026.
We met with David Fee 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 for a Portuguese wine bar in Bermondsey. but the change of location meant a switch to Bar Roija 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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