A GREAT DINNER

Tuesday May 25th

Last night Fritha and Anthony, Paul and Katy and Barbara and I went out together for dinner. We met at a restaurant called Rhodes 24. This place is on the 24th floor of the tallest building in London, Building 42, in the heart of London's financial area. It's owned by a well known chef, Gary Rhodes, who specialises in British cuisine. Yes there is such a thing. It was the first place I've ever had to pass through airport style security in order to have a meal.

We had a table by the window, looking out across London as the sun went down. Quite spectacular!

And so was the food. I won't go into the whole menu, suffice to say that every dish was beautifully prepared and wonderfully presented. There was fillet of beef with creamy mashed potatoes served in a separate copper dish with butter melted in the middle. There was monkfish, and pate de foie gras, and even bread and butter pudding and a wonderful array of other dishes. Each course was broken by some sort of palate cleanser, and of course the wine flowed. The waiters just hovered around, not constantly trying to fill us with wine, but there when your glass needed attention. So nobody got drunk and the conversation was bright and cheery.

All in all a memorable evening...and home by midnight.

Then today, after a good night's sleep Fritha and Barbara and I took a wander around Petticoat Lane Market and Spitalfields Market. Petticoat Lane was nothing like I remember it back in the seventies. Then it was very lively with stall holders selling all sorts of tat. Today it is mostly clothing stalls and coffee shops.

The name Spitalfields has its origins in the fact that once this was open fields in the vicinity of one of the hoSPITALS of London...hence ..SPITAL FIELDS. Now it's in the middle of a busy retail area, a bit run down but with lots of colour. Here too are lots of cafes and lunch places and rows and rows of stalls selling clothes and cd's and bric a brac. Our walk by the way, took us through parts of Whitechapel, famous as the haunt of Jack the Ripper in Victorian times. We stopped there for lunch and then caught a bus back to the more salubrious Limehouse. We have some packing to do tonight as we have to catch an early train to Edinburgh in the morning. Tell you about that when we get back!