Day 5 - Last Day in London

Beer drunk: 1 pint, Distance walked: not as far as planned

They almost managed a summer's day today.  There was no wind or rain and even a fair bit of sunshine.  It never got very hot but was pleasant all the same - in the morning at least.

I took yet another London Walk this morning.  I'd had my fill of famous historical this and important historical that, so I took the P. G. Wodehouse themed walk around Mayfair.  A topping wheeze.

I had lunch at a randomly chosen Italian place in Soho called the Amalfi.  I had a pizza with capers, artichokes and sausage and very good it was too.  I washed it down with a large glass of a nicely boofy Tuscan cab sav.  At the table next to me was an academic who was a statistician.  He was bemoaning his latest project where he'd been called in by some social scientists to analyse some data they'd collected.  They had done this huge, expensive study and had all sorts of questions they wanted answered but had only consulted him after the fact.   They were very put out when he kept trying to explain to them they'd done their study all wrong and it simply wasn't possible to answer their questions.  His date was not adequately sympathetic so I had to resist the urge to lean over and pat his hand and say "There, there.  I know how you feel."

Afterward lunch I tottered off and did a bit of shopping.  After that the plan was to spend the rest of the afternoon going for a saunter around Hampstead Heath but the weather gods had decided they'd had enough of this summer lark and settled in a for a good long drizzle (it is raining still).  I ended up settling in at a coffee shop (not a Starbucks) with a book and a newspaper.

As the hiking part of the trip starts tomorrow I felt I ought to start drinking some real ale so dinner tonight was at Mabel's Tavern.  I had the steak and ale pie with mash and two halves of some of the local brew by a crowd called Shepherd Neame.  The first was the Spitfire which was pleasant but dangerously easy to drink.  The second was Bishop's Finger, which was more full bodied and obviously alcoholic.

I didn't stay long at the pub as there is some soccer tournament going on.  You can tell how interested I am in it by the fact that I don't know what it is called but it is some European championship thingy.  Ireland is playing Croatia tonight and I'd managed to score a table with a clear view of the big TV, which was tuned to the game of course.  Several keen soccer fans were watching me eat intently (mouthful by mouthful), waiting for me to go so I moved on as soon as I'd finished.

Thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow in Cornwall.  Lucky me.