retiredmartin

I spent ages trying to think of a title before this one popped up from nowhere.  Always go with the easy option, kids.

Singalong with Ray now…

From the bustle of Borough we took the quiet back streets south of the river to the South Bank.  I hope Mrs RM doesn’t dig too deep and see we walked past the Menier Chocolate Factory.

What a wondrous sight you are, South London.

And what an ugly but enduring thing the Southbank Centre is.

I’d only picked Bedouine from the gig lists because Spotify said that folk who like Julia Jacklin also like her, which is a really lazy way of finding new music. And I love London visits in September with their promise of new ticks.

With her exciting back story, she had the Syrian/Saudi/Armenian/hipster fan base to nearly fill out the Queen Elizabeth Hall with her lovely folk/funk.  Mrs RM took the obligatory photo on her new phone, she’d like you to know.

At the interval I popped out to buy her ice cream and brownies.  The beer selection at the QEH was a bit underwhelming though.

At the end we walked hand in hand*, like Terry and Julie, across Hungerford Bridge, Mrs RM’s favourite.

We stopped at Euston because;

a) Mrs RM needed the loo

b) I needed the loo

c) I had a pub to tick at Euston

“It’s only two minutes from the station” I said.

In theory.  In practice we had to crawl (metaphorically) over the ruins of the Bree Louise and a maze of HS2 to find the Exmouth Arms.

A third street corner gem of the day.

Clearly the Exmouth has picked up some Bree crowd, and it was great to see it thriving.

Best of all,

I had about 96 seconds to neck it, enough to proclaim a third London NBSS 3.5 of the day, but much too short to do the Exmouth justice.

But long enough to claim a tick that meant I could go to bed that night having completed a second chapter of the new Guide.

A perfect day.

 

*This is a lie.  I always walk ten feet ahead and make Mrs RM race to catch up with her little legs.