retiredmartin

September 2024. London.

It’s arrived ! (2 days after BRAPA’s copy, but York always gets treated better than Sheffield).

Two years after The Great Completion, two years of abject failure to attempt to do a Britney,

and repeat the feat. But family comes before ticking, and of course, as Sade sang about finishing the Guide, it could never be as good as the first time.

Still, in London last Monday I had great plans for a few late GBG24 pubs in London, a chapter I’d finished every year for 20 years.

But not this year;

Just that outlier in Edmonton, then back into Central London, spurning the advances of Uxbridge, Isleworth and Ham.

Problem is, approaching middle age brings wisdom, but also a weak bladder that didn’t fancy a seated gig at the Lyric after 4 pints of Pride in West London suburbs.

So, no trip to the new Spoons at Waterloo, no return to the Harp or Star, no being sidetracked by an overpriced McMullen AK,

just a bit of tourism along with half of Japan and America.

Nice loos at Covent Garden, 50p to admire the ceramics,

and then an aimless wander down tiny alleys just off the Strand,

A point for identifying the pub;

The pub had to wait, but I did make a return to our favourite Chinese restaurant, a place a worldly-wise Mrs RM first brought me 33 years ago because a) it cost about a fiver and b) it was famously rude.

Well, Wong Kei isn’t as rude as we like to remember, perhaps I’m just more decisive in ordering, but you are still obliged to sit six inches from a stranger who might be abused for your entertainment.

Sweet and Sour pork and egg fried rice really isn’t your best bet, either, and Wong Kei isn’t the ideal place when it’s 2 hours till your show and you want to linger, but you live and (sometimes) learn.