Hold on to your hat

The colder weather is helping the leaves
 change and fall 

Would you like to buy some
flowers, guv?

Simpsons,  very nice,
they don't have a menu (french word)
has to be called a bill of fare

Petersham Nursery, bit fancier than
 the nurseries back home

Traditional fish and chips

Neal's Yard

The Lego shop was amazing,
this is a full sized tube carriage
made of lego

Love those red buses

Liberty Christmas, elegant

Crossrail place rooftop garden, installed above the water

Walking to the station and we are having an important discussion on what we will do on Friday after we win the euro millions. Its all planned. Stay tuned. Today kicks off with a Covent Garden interiors walk, the area started out as a garden for the nearby nuns, for years this is was where all the fruit, flowers and vegetables were sold in London and today it is a tourist mecca that is always buzzing. One of the highlights of the tour is Simpsons, an old traditional English restaurant, that started as a smoking room for men, with divans and chess boards. Recently it was used in Downton Abbey, we all swoon at that. For having spent so much time in Covent Garden the tour turns up a lot of interesting bits, even a dedication to Vivian Leigh in the actor's church.

On our journey to lunch we pass the statue of Edith Cavell, the World War I British nurse who is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers in Brussels. Today is 102 years since her death. She was killed by a German firing squad after being found guilty of ‘assisting men to the enemy’. There are many wreaths and a news crew as well. Nice to learn about who she was and see her remembered well.

We have been debating where to have lunch, the final decision is made and we are at a traditional fish and chip shop. The meals are huge and the batter on the fish is divine. Now onwards we go covering all our favourite shops and a few new ones on the way to the mecca of shoppers, Liberty. 

We are here to explore Liberty’s Christmas shop, everything is nicely themed by colour. The sales assistants are trying to give me a shopping basket but I am not falling for that trick. Its a bit confusing with the different options but decisions are made and paid for. How am I going to pack these fragile decorations? Moving on I find the most perfect Schnauzer salt and pepper shakers but resist as we never use pepper or salt. 

Final stop for today is Crossrail Place roof garden, from here it's an easy trip home on the DLR to Ladywell Lodge.