London by night

Tomorrow promises to be stormy and wet.  Will we be moving on?  Are you mad?  No, we're staying put. Here in Paddington basin, one of the great canal mooring sites.  Not that it is especially lovely, although it is clean and smart and safe, but the real benefit is to be moored up in central London with the whole city available from the bus stops.  Not only that, I notice there is a rack of Boris's bikes nearby.  If only I could be bothered to work out how to pay for one, I could go out and risk my life with all the other maniacs who seem to be using them.

I like London at night.  Everything looks better.  Take the Grapes at Limehouse where we had a drinky a few days ago.  Here is the front door.

Here is the inside, unchanged for generations.

 How cosy it looks at night with that funny little door to the tiny staircase leading up to the loos and the fish restaurant.

And then in a sudden leap from Dickensian London to the 21st century, you step out of the back door onto the little back door platform overhanging the Thames and you see this.  


Last night we took Grace for a bus ride to see the Christmas lights in Oxford Street.

 She had never been upstairs on a bus before and was already really excited before we even reached the lights.  Always take a small child when you do these things, you get swept up in it yourself .  Even the lady sitting next to us on the bus was soon joining in with the "Oohs" and "Aahs"!

Coming back we jumped on a bendy bus and Grace's day was complete.  She was in paroxysms of  delight everytime we rounded a corner.  It's good being a kid.

Now the answer to the picture quiz in my last post.  It's the Wetherspoons bar at Liverpool Street Station.  Posh innit?