Last week our collectively muddled travel plans required me to take the younger child to Paddington Station at an extremely early hour to meet his father, who had been in Oxford lecturing and supping at high table and similar fancy things that keep him in that other academic town.
Luckily, Iain offered to meet me and be my guide to bits of London I would never have found on my own. He is efficient, so the day included stops at Best Shop Ever, Magma, Alfie’s Antiques, Skandium, Daunt’s bookshop and Marylebone High Street, and Selfridges. Then we proceeded to Get Stuffed, a taxidermy store that is fascinating and scary.
We tried to visit Curious Science but it was closed, then ended the day chatting over tea and coffee at the S&M cafe.
Such a glorious trip would not go unnoticed by my elder child, who clamored to be taken to the city immediately to buy Moomin paraphernalia and comics.
I only fended her off for a day before succumbing to the pressure. We decided to stay overnight to maximize the experience and ended up with discount tickets that put us in the front row at the Theatre Royal to see The Producers.
Iain and Xtina generously joined us on the second day for a tour of the area around Brick Lane. We popped in and out of a series of excellent shops, ate, hung out at a real coffee shop (oh, how I miss Portland sometimes), and checked out the Geffrye Museum.
It is always better to see a city from the perspective of people who live in it every day. I’m pleased to have such interesting friends.