We have some shopping of our own to do. Nairn oatcakes (surprisingly) from the Pound Store, grapes from one of the street vendor stalls, and peanut butter and wine from Aldi's. I'm impressed by the customers at Aldi's. The place is a zoo, with mothers pushing babies and trailing toddlers, shelf stockers pulling huge metal carts of tins and boxes, and long queues at the checkouts. Really far too many people for the space. Most of the prices are good, so people are philosophical about the inconveniences, making room for the next customer at the counter, giving tired smiles, and sharing the odd joke.
We're near Roses, our favourite eating spot, but decide to try Tim's Café, just off Kilburn High Road. We've often passed it and could see it had a steady local clientele. The downside was that it closes around five - basically an all day breakfast and lunch place. Today we're early, so we stop. Handwritten menu outside featuring roast beef or lamb with potatoes and veg, chili and rice, chicken curry and rice. Everything under £6. Sandwiches and burgers and chips also possible. Three small tables outside and several more inside. The chilli is finished so we settle for the chicken curry. Not as good as Friday's, to be honest, but hard to complain about at £4.50. And in Cyprus water is always bottled, whereas London has some of the best tasting water in the world and restaurants are legally obliged to provide free tap water, an environmental as well as financial advantage.
London also the only place we get really good telly - not high on our list of priorities, but nice when it happens. A fascinating program tonight on the history and "secrets" of the underground. And, to our surprise, a program on Canadian Railway's CN line, following a train heading east from BC to Toronto, our regular train, on its full scenic trip, with plenty of laudatory commentary. One comment does attract our attention, though. Laughing, a CN employee debunks the notion that the toilets still empty onto the tracks. But didn't we already pursue that question? Search the blog, and sure enough, calling into question all their happy claims, the following, from October 28:
*️⃣ Notice the sign on the toilet wall requesting that passengers refrain from flushing while the train is in the station. But surely raw sewage is no longer spewed on the tracks? No? Well, googling reveals that this is indeed still the case. Not only here but in The UK as well - and quite probably most of the rest of the world, to which my computer set up is less sensitive. VIA claims it would take government millions to acquire holding tanks, the British papers are full of complaints, railway workers are subjected to disgusting effluent, and the Atlanta centre for disease control insists there is no health hazard. There you have it.*️⃣
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