Angus goes down for breakfast. Despite being early all the tables are taken and a disorderly queue is snaking back towards the lobby. Usually, London fills up as soon as the East Coast school holidays start. This year the weak Pound has attracted American visitors and ( according to the young lady at check-in ) extended the 'high' season. The hotel running at 100% occupancy until mid-October.
The hotel restaurant wants to charge the equivalent of $48 for breakfast. Add on tax and a tip and its $65. Around the corner there's a pub serving breakfast. It's empty apart from a group of Singaporean businessmen in identical dark suits and ties. Coffee with sausage , bacon and a 'tatty scone' comes to a more reasonable $10.
After breakfast a stroll along empty streets. Angus pops into a little church to look at the architecture. Why are churches always open at such an early hour ? Who unlocks the doors ? This morning it's deserted.
No self respecting French church is complete without a Joan of Arc. In England it's a St.George. This church has one in a real suit of armour, The metal beaten and formed as if for the real thing. Chain mail, sword and belt all scaled down to a third life size. The saint is stern faced and looks as if he's ready to mix it up. Handy attributes if you're going dragon slaying. St.George's eyes are fixed on an indeterminate spot somewhere in the rafters. This is ever so slightly disconcerting.
On the flight back to Toulouse a blind gentleman with a seeing dog. The dog arrives at the boarding gate weaving a path through the crowds and the baggage as if he does it every day. He leads his owner straight through the throng to the check-in desk. How could he possibly know where to go ? I for one am amazed at the dogs self assurance. Although the flight is busy the gate staff hastily rearrange seats so that the man and dog have a row to themselves. On the aircraft the man sits on the aisle while his companion lies on the floor. The dog is given a reassuring tickle on the top of his head and falls asleep.
Bob is simply happy to have found the errant part of his flock.
Sophie charges across a field and arrives, covered in seeds and burrs, to greet me.
Things too small for a diary but too important to go completely unrecorded. Normal service has been resumed at The Rickety Old Farmhouse.
24 comments:
No better way to be welcomed home
Poor Bob, he does have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, whereas Miss Sophie lives from delight to delight! What a wonderful photo of her! I agree with you about the cost of some hotel's breakfasts - it's not so bad if you eat the way my husband does, stoking himself for an approaching famine, but I eat very little at breakfast and certainly don't do justice to $10, let alone $50, worth!
Oh My giddy aunt, Sophie you do look a fright but totally happy. Her attitude is simply delightful and Monsieur Bob is clearly the responsible one. Glad to see that normality has returned to ROFH.
Oh yes we are all too familiar with the burrs and seeds in beard look.
And it never ceases to amaze me that Lodon hotels get away with charging so much for breakfast when there is almost always friendly cafe round the corner happy to satisfy your needs for a quarter the price.
Maybe my favorite Sophie photo ever!
Surely one of the best ever pictures of Sophie; delightful to imagine her racing across the field to meet you.
I'm glad to learn that London is busy and filled with tourists! don't tell Bob where you've been though. He'd worry.
Now that's what I call a great welcome home !
I love eating breakfast out, but not at those prices - Did it make you miss the Denny's you'd gone to in California?
Fun photo of Sophie, another best day ever and your safely arriving home, makes it more so.
Less laid back at the London pub than at the Pacific Beach Dennys.
And half an hour with a brush to remove the burrs. A walking advert for short haired breeds.
That's what a 20% devaluation will do.
If only you could have heard the accompanying welcome home screams ! Everyone within a 10 mile radius did.
Spoken like a PON owner !
We're getting into the sharp grass seed and long droopy ears danger stage.
Sophie is not a dog to hide her emotions.
Nothing beats that welcome home!
The PON welcome !
Bob exists in a near permanent state of happiness. This can be turned down a little when part of the flock wanders and turned up again when they return.
They were both in bed and asleep by ten.
Miss Sophie doesn't seem to be a true diva, no one could ever accuse her of being vain about personal appearance.
That's a nice story about the airline staff accommodating a passenger with a special requirement. It's good to know that not all air travel these days is totally dreadful.
Corporate kindness or human kindness ? Or a combination of the two ? On the way off the aircraft in Toulouse I made the same comment you made to the pilot.
Angus, you are such a dear heart to showcase these lovely occurrences. Always such a joy to read your blog. Bless!
Probably good the hotel restaurant was full. You got a sufficient breakfast cheaper. I remember having a $24 tuna sandwich in Tokyo years ago....and $37 bowl of French onion soup.
One of my former students....with guide dog...now works in London for the BBC. She travels frequently with her current dog.
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