Old London Town. I ran away to London ( sort of) on 1st February 1982 with the intention of maybe staying a year or two. I hated it. I’d taken a promotion and moved to the big smoke knowing very few people. At first I stayed in Brixton with an actor friend who I’d met in Cardiff who was in the London stage production of The Sound of Music. Now you know why I can sing ‘High on a hill’ ‘climb every mountain’ ‘I am sixteen going on seventeen.’ Though the latter now has to be ‘ I am sixty going on seventy.’

London was expensive. Money was tight so I ended up walking a lot. By walking everywhere in central London I found my bearings. I knew how to get from A to B and trust me the underground isn’t always the fastest. The number of people who get on the tube at Covent Garden to go to Leicester Square is bonkers. By the time you walk down the stairs at Covent Garden you are in Leicester Square. But I walked. And walked and over time I grew to love it. London. Not walking.

Over the years I grew lazy and walked less but one of the things to come out of the pandemic is that we are walking more. Yes. I get the train into town. It’s either 12 mins to Victoria or 16 to London Bridge. From either of these two stations you can get almost anywhere by foot. Maybe a short bus ride too. These last few days I’ve walked over 20 miles. That’s not my usual but it’s more frequent than say in 2019.

So back in London for dental appointments this week meant I could wander from Victoria to Oxford Street and back to Charing Cross via Soho taking in some familiar and favourite places on the way. Some I have left out. Why? Because. There’s always another day.

We are fortunate to live near to two stations. Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill. Both are within easy walking distance. You just have to make the decision as you get to the top of the road whether you turn left. Or turn tight. This week it was a left turn and I was happy to see that they had the flags out at Victoria for my arrival. Whilst it should I have been the Welsh Dragon I’ll accept what I get. After all I have now lived in London longer than in my birth place.

I love central London as the evening light changes especially when it’s not busy and especially after the rain with wet roads and pavements as it gives you better photo opportunities. Some of the buildings are lit. The lights of the cars and traffic lights sparkle. And I look better at dusk. Some say even better in the dark.

I’m not a huge fan of Christmas. But I love the run up and the decorations. These days house decorations are few. We have spent two out of four in Spain where I do add a bit of glitter and decoration but as we are only there for a short while it’s minimal. Gone are the days of real trees and dropping pine needles.

The stores do a great job of their windows especially at Christmas. The window dressers ~ that’s a phrase I haven’t used in decades not since a friend of mine was a window dresser for Jaeger. Too old for me then ~ the clothes not The window dresser ~ too expensive now. Though I note that Marks & Spencer are now stocking Jaeger. I think it’s the lights and the sparkle that attract me. To the shops not the clothes. Selfridges who do not sell fridges by the way do a great job. John Lewis do too.

I love the run up to Christmas But it slightly scares me at the beginning of November ~ I suspect Santa’s grotto has been opened for weeks. This is Selfridges but I didn’t go inside at this stage. I didn’t have my list for Santa. I once dressed up as Santa for our team xmas lunch to hand out the secret Santa presents. Maybe a job for the season. Let me think about it. No. Never. Have I told you I’m retired. I suspect a lot.

I’m not a huge fan of Christmas. These days house decorations are few. We have spent two out of four in Spain where I do add a bit of glitter and decoration but as we are only there for a short while it’s minimal. I still like Christmas cards and I’d say I’m like my mother which terrifies me. Each Christmas as she got older I’d help her with the cards. I use to say just give me the cards. I’ll write them. No no she’d reply. I need to see which card goes to who. You can’t send that one to X. It doesn’t have a nice verse in it. Mum. All it needs is Happy Christmas. No no. That’s the wrong card for your uncle and Aunt. Ok. Whose this one for. Oh. That’s for Andrew and Ian whilst then laughing as she realised what she’d said. To be fair. I’m the same. I spend ages looking for the right cards. Or having some printed.

After the dentist it was John Lewis. Actually the 4th floor and their Christmas shop. Christmas trees. Lights of all shape colour and size. Talk about tinsel. Enough for everyone. Except me. I hated tinsel in the 1970’s and I still do though it’s not the thin old stuff we used to have. The choice of trees was mesmerising. The wall of lights dazzling. Remember getting the lights out of the loft and having to check every bulb because if one didn’t work the whole lot didn’t. Days when you could replace a bulb instead of having to replace a whole string. Growing up there were only 3 modes. On. Off and flashing. The battery ones we use on the standard bays in London have numerous. We use two. On and off.

I thought the Regent Street lights would have been on by now but no. It looks like the same lights as in 2019 & 2020 but hey. We have been in a rather strange place. The pavements have been widened. Lockdown surely hasn’t meant we have all been eating more. No. It’s for social distancing which I suspect many of us will continue to do for the foreseeable future. The Council in their wisdom has made it harder for vehicles in central London. To make the air cleaner. I’m not sure it works as Park Lane and often Regent Street is chocka bloc with stationary traffic and queues. With engines running.

Liberty London. Such a beauty both outside and in. It took me decades to have the confidence to venture in but once done you realise even if you aren’t buying it’s a joy to see inside. The Christmas shop is always amazing with an incredible selection of baubles glitter and glitz. Things you never know you needed. Least of all wanted. Most you can’t afford.

Hello Carnaby Street ~ a street made famous in the 1960,s for its fashion and which still has a fair number of individual ‘boutiques’ dotted along. Always well decorated. Always busy with shoppers and sight seekers. Always a cut through for me heading from Oxford street via Regent street down to the Strand. The little streets off it are interesting too. I often take a little detour through to Berwick Street. Just because I can. We used to go to Berwick Street market on a Saturday to buy our fruit and veg but the market is now much reduced. We also used to meet our friend Katherine who shared a flat with Ian, when she was shopping for material in Berwick street for her sewing adventures.

One of the shops that caught my eye ~ yes I admit it was Dorothy’s red slippers. We all know friends of Dorothy don’t we? But look at them all. This was a fashion shop and these were the tame ones. I once went to a 70’s fancy dress and needed platform shoes to go with the flares. A colleague and I went to a shop in Poplar market and I picked up a pair of platforms and asked for them in my size. Um. ‘Excuse me you do know they are ladies shoes ‘ ‘Oh yes’ I replied. ‘I need them for Friday’. ‘How are you going to walk in those’ my colleague asked. It’s easy I said. I had worse in the 70’s. Just ask my Dad. He was less than impressed. I never fell off them then either. I think I may be wearing platforms here. Thankfully you can’t see. I still love a polo neck though. These days they are a boon in hiding multiple chins. The fashion today is to wear your mask under your chin. It has the same effect.

Onwards through one of my favourite areas. SOHO. Back in the 80’s when I first moved to London it was a very different place. But it’s always been fabulous. Full of amazing places. Some now gone others stood the test of time. Places like Stockpot ~ the great cheap and cheerful go to cafe. There was another at Leicester Square and one on the Kings Road. My favourite dessert was jelly and cream. Melati restaurant where I first went with Ian after a works leaving party and called a friend from the phone box close by to ask if I was doing the right thing. Both have gone now ~ the restaurant and the phone box. Not Ian and the friend. That was 30 years ago. That’s scary. You could sit in the restaurant and watch a series of visitors to the apartments opposite. It was like traffic lights. Tho the lights were stuck on red with a lot of models living in the area. Things changed through the late 80’s and 90’s with the pink pound becoming more and more evident in the area.

Walking through Soho it’s always great to see old favourites. Lina Stores a great deli. My other favourite deli is on Old Compton Street. Il Camissia where we would buy fresh pasta on a Saturday. Still there but the shutters were down ~ not as good a photo opportunity as Lina Stores. But it’s a fabulous place. Small but full of delights.

The Algerian Coffee stores a wonderful shop full of a huge variety of coffee beans and all paraphernalia for coffee making along with an amazing array of loose teas. I remember buying Jamaica Blue mountain coffee there for the first time. I love how these independents have continued in spite of the high rents and rates they have to endure and where shop fronts haven’t changed in decades.

I have been going to Maison Bertaux since 1982. Nor regularly but whenever we are in town and passing by. Thankfully it has survived lockdown. Opened in 1871 (no. I wasn’t at the opening) it is the oldest patisserie in London. It’s cakes are amazing and I love sitting on the pavement tables eating a big fat cream eclair drinking tea whilst watching the world and the Soho characters go by. Next to Maison Bertaux is the Coach and Houses a grade 2 listed pub which had an interesting history. I admit I’ve walked past for 40 years. https://www.coachandhorsessoho.pub/history

When I first moved to London it was much cheaper to go to the theatre. Especially if you were friends with a couple of box office managers who would phone you to say that a particular theatre was ‘papering” the house and did I want some tickets. Papering the house meant that the show hadn’t sold out so there were seats to fill. Or I regularly used the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square. I was a regular theatre goer and there is a box full of old programmes in the attic along with theatre flyers. The Palace Theatre where I first saw Les Miserables in about 1987 which now houses the long running Harry Potter play. Just one of the many theatres on the walk to Charing Cross.

Into Covent Garden past Seven dials where back in the 80’s Neals yard was a favourite. Not today though as it’s become a bit more commercialised. The Tea House in Covent Garden was a favourite place for me to buy Ceylon orange pekoe loose leaf tea. I can’t remember how or why but it was probably a phase. I went through a few of those apparently. But the range of teas was amazing as were the array of teapots and associated bits and pieces for tea making. Today I make do with a teabag or two.

Here stands my brothers favourite pub in London. When he visited it was where we would meet him and his friends to make the way home.

Covent Garden market once the major fruit and veg market lit up for Christmas. Not as busy as usual but still pretty lovely. Lights. Christmas tree. Fire eating entertainer it has it all as well as the traders in the old apple market.

Final pic is The Punch & Judy. Amother Covent Garden pub in the 80’s to meet friends up in town for the day. Easy to find. Downstairs outside space and close enough to Sal to get the No 12 bus home.