The serendipitous nature of London. We decide to go down to St James's Park and also take a look at the Canadian memorial near Buckingham Palace Gate. But somewhere between High Street Kensington and Gloucester Road the underground train comes to a complete stop. A couple of widely spaced announcements that there is a difficulty that should be solved soon, apologies proffered. Forty-five minutes later the train returns to High Street Kensington. Major signalling failure at Earl's Court, affecting both Circle and District lines.
So we explore around High Street Kensington station, not having been there for years. Most interesting store is an enormous whole food market, covering two huge floors, with organic and natural foods and drink, at astronomical prices. There's a buffet where you can fill a container with hot foods for £1.95 a hundred grams - so £19.50 ($33 CAD) a kilo, though they wisely don't advertise it that way. And we note that this is regardless of the dishes chosen. It's one thing to pay that price for rosemary lamb and another to shell it out for mashed potatoes, even granted they're buttery. Fascinating place, though, with spices, cheeses, a wine bar, almost anything you might want.
By now it's a bit late to look for a bus to St James's Park. We're on the south side of Kensington Park, though, and it's sunny, if a little cool, so we walk back past Kensington Palace and stop for a while on a park bench to watch the ducks and swans on the pond. Plenty of retirees, mums with little children and young lovers. Walk home from there. Pass Bayswater tube station about 5 - Circle and District lines still not running.
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