British Food And Drinks, II

Some years ago, we fell under the influence of Marks and Spencer's "dine in" meal deals--those take- home semi-prepared meals...appetizer, main, side, dessert, maybe even a bottle of wine, for two, any cuisine you can think of--and it has seriously affected our dining-out proclivities in London. The M&S idea has spread to the main grocery chains, and thus you can find meal deals at Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, and our favorite, Sainsbury's, and more. We'll go out to a restaurant for a special occasion, or to accommodate a museum or show or great house visit. But, generally, the Peking duck meal, the pork ribs (three different sauce options), the Indian sampler, etc., that you can fix in 30 minutes in your own kitchen, enjoy quietly, and affordably, and healthily, kept us from the restaurant scene. (Never mind that restaurants are nearly always a crap shoot, noise often above 90dB precluding conversation, obnoxious and repugnant fellow diners, never the best choice for healthy food, ridiculously over-priced...). So our restaurant visits in London were quite limited. The one good thing about Brexit is that it forced Marks and Spencer to close their stores in Paris! No meal deals there.

Global warming

Bought several boxes for Penelope, then ate them ourselves...

Strawberries and cream

A little harder to replicate at home

There was a Sainsbury's near our Churchill Gardens flat...but we
never missed an M&S on our outings

But of course

Alas, we missed it

The Hundred Years' War continues

Part of a "free from" aisle (free from sugar, gluten, etc.)

Not locally sourced?!

Goes right well with the chicken tikka wrap at McDo's

At the Seven Dials Tower Street food hall (West End, sort of);
self serve

British food used to be the butt of jokes...but now there's no more
diverse and interesting food city in the world than London...well,
maybe DC...

The conveyor belt restaurant craze continues to grow...starting with
sushi, I conjecture, now expanding to cheese...the Pick and Cheese 
marque is opening soon in NYC, I've read

Nothing but spritzes...talk about a niche...

The Seven Dials Tower

A Walk In The Park...

After seeing Hadestown, we decided to walk back to our flat, West End through Trafalgar, Waterloo Place, St. James Park, and west to Pimlico. It was our last walk of the campaign.

West End sights

In Waterloo Place, the latest Banksy...placed amid scores
of monuments and statues from the days of Imperialism

Installed on April 29th; we were surely among the first 20
million people to see it; I interpret it as more a statement
about nationalism than imperialism...walking off a cliff,
blinded by the flag...

Monument to Chief Air Marshal Sir Keith Park, leader of
11th Fighter Group, defending London during the Battle of
Britain; much more on him in Auckland...he was a Kiwi

Speaking of imperialism...statue of Sir Colin Campbell,
Lord Clyde, hero in putting down the Indian Mutiny of 1857

Duke of York column; army chief during the Napoleonic
Wars; the monument was paid for by his troops, who each
committed a day's wage to its construction 

Speaking of flags...the Mall, with Buckingham Palace at the end; 
the Trooping of the Colour had occurred just a few days before

Helpful map of St. James' Park

Horse Guards Parade Ground 

One of the more beautifully landscaped of the royal parks

A bit close to the rodeo grounds, perhaps

Still pretty nice

Homage to New Zealand; seemingly

On patrol

The Drinking Boy fountain

55 Broadway, London's original skyscraper, home of St. James tube
station; for years the administrative offices of the Underground

Prom at one of the high schools in Pimlico

Churchill Gardens, site of our flat, is (was) unique when it
was built in the late 1940s, in that it utilized hot water effluent
from the Battersea Power Station (just across the river) for
heating; this is the old hot water reservoir, just a block or so
from our unit in the Keats Building (OK, of interest to Mark
and perhaps a few historians of civil engineering)

 

V&A East

After our visit to the V&A Storehouse, we walked to the V&A East Museum, perhaps best thought of as the Museum's east London outpost, serving that 63% of greater London that is neither white nor of British descent. 

Pedestrian signage along the way

Scenery

Wider view; the V&A East is the tan angular thing, middle right

Among the Olympic stadia; note landscaping

Environs

Statue outside the museum

The collection is quite small and favors the contemporary and
immigrant

Ever wonder what happened to Boris Johnson?

Contemporary ballet costumes

Thus

Cabinet organ, cabinet 1600s, organ 1700s...seemed completely out of place

Having examined the very modest collection, we proceeded on, checking

off yet another once-in-a-lifetime site...not particularly recommended, in

our view, unless you have a lot of time in London or specifically

relevant interests...