Temporary Nomad

A week wasn’t really enough to do London justice, especially as we squeezed in visits to Coventry and Oxford as well. It was mainly a chance to say goodbye to a lot of old friends in the UK – that we did manage.

Thanks everyone for your hospitality, especially Toby who like a trooper kept us fed, watered and housed, showed us parts of London we’d never seen and introduced us to the delights of Valrhona 64% and Brick Kiln Shiraz.

We did a bit of low-key sightseeing, Tate Modern, Dulwich Picture Gallery and a quick look at the British Museum (where we saw the Lewis Chessmen), but mainly London was good food, sunshine and friends. We ate tapas at Brindisa near Borough Markets, slow-roast lamb “for five-ish” at gastropub Anchor and Hope in Southwark, and burgers at Gourmet Burger Kitchen in West Hampstead.

Up in Cov we were treated to some more good food and hospitality (great chowder Dave), plus an impromptu IKEA furniture-building session in Solihull and a visit to a currently hip Kashmiri restaurant on Balti Mile followed by a bit of gate-crashing at a friend of a friend’s party in Warwick.

The next morning was a chance to chill out at Coventry’s best (some would say only) trendy café, Brown’s.

In Oxford we breezed by college (Univ), paying a visit to the Shelley Memorial.

Then, after a last night in London, seeing an interesting production of Lorca’s Yerma we bid farewell to Europe to seek our fortunes in the New World.