Back to our Starbucks "office" - all working well now and wifi connectivity "excellent". The seating downstairs is comfortable and the music mostly a pleasure - though it's a little unsettling to hear a sprinkling of Christmas carols in the mix when it's not quite mid-November. J brings the last of his coffee back to the room and Murphy's law strikes. He takes a sip and the lid falls off, causing curses and enough widespread coffee that my first thought is that he's spit it out. Hard to cover as much territory - shirt, quilted vest, carpet, bedspread - if trying. But several paper napkins and one wet bathtowel later, not bad.
Down to Bayswater for 5 o'clock in the hopes that the fireworks in honour of the new Lord Mayor will be visible. They're not (should ideally havebeen viewed from the Victoria Embankment) and they close the park at 5, as it's getting quite dark and presumably they're not keen on preventing drug dealers and campers from doing their thing.
We meet Alexander and Flora at Bel Canto (the Corus) at Lancaster Gate. It's next door to the Swan, a pub that is over 300 years old and, located as it is near the Tyburn gallows, gave many last drinks to those about to be executed. We're there for a dinner that includes arias presented by opera singers who double as waiters and waitresses. they're very good and the basement restaurant not really quite large enough to hold their powerful voices. The food is good as well. Champagne and starters and then A,F, and I have the duck's breast and J the seafood dish of the day with prawn, scallops and salmon in lobster sauce. So we have a visit to the opera as well as a first class meal. Popular arias from Carmen, etc. - and acted as well as sung. Excellent. It's fun and very nice. And so it should be too - for a total bill of £270 ($437 CAD, €313). We expect to follow the opera singers whose careers we've been underwriting as their careers blossom. Alexander tunes the piano here and the pianist is a pleasure in between the operatic offerings as well as when accompanying them.
Would have been good to have chatted a little more, but Flora is suffering from a miserable cold and the quality of the music makes talk difficult - as well as indecent.
Back to the hotel to find that the drama is not quite over. J has left a packet of Snickers on the bed and something has nibbled into the end bar. No other signs of infestation, but....
Down to Bayswater for 5 o'clock in the hopes that the fireworks in honour of the new Lord Mayor will be visible. They're not (should ideally havebeen viewed from the Victoria Embankment) and they close the park at 5, as it's getting quite dark and presumably they're not keen on preventing drug dealers and campers from doing their thing.
We meet Alexander and Flora at Bel Canto (the Corus) at Lancaster Gate. It's next door to the Swan, a pub that is over 300 years old and, located as it is near the Tyburn gallows, gave many last drinks to those about to be executed. We're there for a dinner that includes arias presented by opera singers who double as waiters and waitresses. they're very good and the basement restaurant not really quite large enough to hold their powerful voices. The food is good as well. Champagne and starters and then A,F, and I have the duck's breast and J the seafood dish of the day with prawn, scallops and salmon in lobster sauce. So we have a visit to the opera as well as a first class meal. Popular arias from Carmen, etc. - and acted as well as sung. Excellent. It's fun and very nice. And so it should be too - for a total bill of £270 ($437 CAD, €313). We expect to follow the opera singers whose careers we've been underwriting as their careers blossom. Alexander tunes the piano here and the pianist is a pleasure in between the operatic offerings as well as when accompanying them.
Would have been good to have chatted a little more, but Flora is suffering from a miserable cold and the quality of the music makes talk difficult - as well as indecent.
Back to the hotel to find that the drama is not quite over. J has left a packet of Snickers on the bed and something has nibbled into the end bar. No other signs of infestation, but....
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