When a man (or woman!) is tired of London Town…..

I have been down in London for a week . We say "down" after coming "down" from the Great White North , or, in this case, the Midlands.  Ostensibly to give some TLC to this foot belonging to my big sis:

but also to have some fun! After all, all work and no play……..

My sister lives in Catford, SE London which is in the London Borough of Lewisham. So, after dispensing the necessary amount of TLC I went for a walk around Catford. Catford's claim to fame is this big cat, apparently so named after the river here and the presence of wild cats all no doubt dating back to medieval times.

Catford is VERY multicultural with a large proportion of Afro-Caribbean, African and Eastern European residents which is also evidenced by the number of ethnic food stores and restaurants.

I found my favourite Vietnamese soup and chatted up a cute stall owner:

I loved the Black Beauty Salon and love the short red wig. I can see myself going places in that:-)

And of course I HAD to take a photo of a red double-decker bus! No trip to London without a ride in one!

Later on that day………… I caught the train to Charing Cross……….

wandered out into Trafalgar Square and the Strand, passed the National Gallery, St.Martin's in the Fields Church, passed by the Savoy Hotel:

Walked to Covent Garden which is beautifully decorated for Christmas:

I was a woman on a mission - to find the Cross Keys pub on Endell Street in Covent Garden.

The brother of one of the housekeeping staff at  North Bay Hospital is the landlord of the pub and I had told her I would go and visit him. Thanks Sandy, have you ever walked into a pub and asked for a John!!! Unfortunately, John was not working that night but did that deter me from a drink???? No way!! If you're ever in London, the pub is a must see:

I even got a thumbs up from the barman!

And because we all know:

I went to see:

Which,  to be honest, was a bit disappointing after seeing the original movie zillions of times over the years and it would be a hard act to follow the likes of Bing Crosby,Danny Kaye etc. But it was still worth going to see. On the way back I nearly walked into a group of Hare Krishna's who were doing their thing along Charing Cross Road. That brought back memories of the 70's!! I didn't know they were still around and, after the musical, I felt like joining in - shoot I didn't bring my tambourine with me!

I DO love London. So much to see and so much to do:

Talk soon

Zoe