October 2025. London.
I should have said in that last post that I almost caught up with the blog in October; just a couple of Big Days Out in the capital and Leicester to bring you.
Irritatingly, trains from Waterbeach were cancelled the last two weekends, which is when Fen Edge folk actually want to visit the big city. And “replacement buses” are the worst words in the English language after “taster”.
So a Monday afternoon off-peaker (£22.75 for oldies), but there’s no way I’m paying the extra £7.40 add-on for a travelcard when my legs work, and a wobble through Bloomsbury takes you past the sights.
That cluster of (too) cheap guest houses opposite Kings Cross always make you wonder “Can they be that bad ?“. Here’s the key words for the Apollo;
A walk for the purist, past the sadly closed McGlynn’s.
and the flats of Clare Court,
the brutalism of the Brunswick Centre (top) and through Russell Square towards the British Museum.
What really stands out is how easy it is to walk London now the cars have all but gone.
On a dry day the capital is a joy to wander aimlessly these days, cleaner than I’ve ever seen it, with the tourist hordes spread out evenly from the centre to the South Bank and the City.
So by the time you reach theatreland and the galleries at Trafalgar Square it no longer feels as manic as it once did.
But how are the pubs doing in tourist central ?
retiredmartin 
The brutalist building reminds me of the cover of Sunnyvista by Richard and Linda Thompson but Wiki tells me it’s not the same place.
I see the Apollo gets seven mentions for Mold, a small market town in Flintshire without even a Bass mirror factory or a decent football club to distinguish it. Weird.
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Yes, Kings Cross and Mold are easily confused.
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And “replacement buses” are the worst words in the English language after “taster”.
And “guest house” ?
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Abstinence. Reminiscent of Welsh Methodist spinsters in woolly hats. (Shudder)
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Bill, absolutely, but for me there are five unnecessary words in that, although three missing: “ex in-laws”
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Yes, Paul. They’re on a par with “Have you dined with us before?”
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Incidentally, I’m a fair way from London but the Pride is drinking rather well. It should be – mine is the first pint from the just-changed barrel and it was properly pulled through.
It definitely does have a fresh sherbety hint to it too. (Not the S. Herbert-y de ces pages)
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Well Etu, I’m a fair way from you but Reverend James has drinking rather well here lately.
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Let us hope that the new owners of McGlynns will have retained its charm when they reopen it.
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