Claire had needed to be in London for work on Thursday 24th and, as luck would have it, so did Clare. This meant I could tag along and work from Claire’s office and sit with her daughter who was also tagging along in the hope of a shopping trip afterwards.
I worked in the morning and then we took the train in to London, walking past a couple of places of interest. We met Clare at a nice spot for lunch where we braved sitting outside. The restaurant already had prepared for all weather with sunglasses and blankets, and we ordered quickly so that people could get back to work. Both Clare and I ordered a duck salad, Claire had a rainbow salad and her daughter ordered a burger with some duck bao buns to share. The food was fantastic and the waiter very good, we even got an extra portion of bao buns due to a mix up which we hadn’t even noticed. Typically, my dishes had tons of chillies in so I picked them all out, Clare who had the same, and likes chillies, had far fewer in her food. Here’s what we paid, in pounds, keeping in mind it was in London;
D&Ms
1 pint of tap water (free)
1 Elderflower cordial 0.60
1 tonic 2.95
1 diet coke 4.10
1 Homemade lemonade 4.95
Duck Bao Buns 10.95
1 Rainbow salad with Halloumi 18.45
1 Cheeseburger 18.95
2 Duck salads 33.90
12.5% tip 11.86
Total spent £106.71
Given that I was staying with Claire and had not paid for anything, I paid for the 3 of us at £81.71 and Clare paid for her share. I found it hard to get my UK phone to work in the centre of London and when I mentioned it, my 2 friends said they had the same issue. I missed the Resort Experts weekly meeting and ironically I’d also missed a zoom session on ‘Manifesting for Sceptics’.
Next, we said bye to Clare and went to the other Claire’s work. We had to get a pass, go through security to go in and up to a very high floor. The canteen was fantastic and I had a hot chocolate which was better than most cafes. Claire’s daughter shared her dried mango with me while her mom was in a meeting and was really well behaved while I did a bit of work. As we were leaving the office, I got a bit of a shock when I bumped in to an ex-Aviva colleague – the one and only Dan Holmes who now works in International insurance. What a small world it is.
We walked back to London Bridge station, via buying a new jacket for Claire’s daughter, and then did a bit of food and drink shopping, here’s what we got with prices in pounds;
Holland & Barrett
Diablo Dark chocolate 2.99
2 packs Gin Gins 7.78
Total spent £10.77
Gin Gins are great for seasickness, which I suffer badly from, so I was stocking up.
M&S
Sour cream snacks 1.25
Apple & peanut butter snack 2.65
Sparkling water 3.10
Super nutty salad 3.20
Edamame beans 4.25
Tuna and sweetcorn salad 4.50
Prawn layered salad 5.25
Sushi selection 5.75
Cray fish salad 6.50
3 ‘Train Tins’ 8.50
Total spent £44.95
On the journey back to Otford, we got a bit excited as we had Train Tins – let me explain for the uninitiated; these are tins (or cans) of premixed drinks sold by supermarkets in train stations so that you can have a takeaway alcoholic beverage on your train ride! Genius idea and Marks & Spencers do a really good range at only £8.50 for 3. We chose a Pornstar Martini each and then shared a limoncello with sparkling wine. What we didn’t really account for was a pretty full train with commuters on and the fact that, while the child in our care dined on sushi, sliced apple and peanut butter washed down with a juice, we were downing train tins before 5pm like a couple of soaks!
It was my last night with Claire and we had a nice relaxing evening with our salads and nibbles for dinner. I’d been well and truly spoiled at Claire’s and was going to miss them all, even Dave the cat and Reg the dog!
Gratitude List
1. London lunch with some of the girls
2. Going in to Claire’s office
3. Discovering Train Tins
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