A celeb sighting!

We left home at 8.15am this morning and made good time until we became stuck behind a tractor in a long convoy of vehicles! However, we made it to the station in good time and managed to grab a coffee and a pastry before our train left at 9.18am.

Luckily (very luckily!) we managed to get seats, one behind the other. At Milton Keynes, Mr Sniffy, who was sitting across the aisle from me, departed (hooray!), which meant Sophie could sit beside me. As we travelled towards London, the train became even busier, which meant lots of opportunities for people-watching. A woman alighted at Leighton Buzzard and proceeded to leave voice notes for a friend about her date the previous evening. The whole carriage was treated to an account of her date and how the man had woefully fallen short of her expectations... not in the bedroom, I hasten to add, but in terms of ambition, as he'd been working at Tesco for ten years! Poor thing! She had lurid blue nails so maybe he was put off himself!

At Euston, we made the very sensible decision to hire a black cab to take us to Marylebone Street. We couldn't actually be dropped off in the street itself as part of it was closed, but he dropped us outside Cote Brasserie, our lunch destination, and we walked the short distance around the corner to Daunt Books, where we spent a very agreeable half hour perusing all the many tomes on offer. I could have stayed all day!

My idea of heaven!

From Daunt Books we crossed the road and had coffee at 31 Below, managing to take a table outside to sit in the sun. Bliss!

We enjoyed a coffee and sat and soaked up the atmosphere of busy, bustling Marylebone Street, doing a fair amount of people-watching and enjoying the warm weather.

After a brief stop to take photos of the hydrangeas in the deli next door, we walked the short distance to Harley Street.

Dr Bawa saw Sophie for her review, took some photographs, and arranged another appointment in early January. We strolled back to Cote Brasserie, and even though we were early, we were able to take a table outside in the sunshine.

First up, of course, was a perusal of the menu and cocktails. I chose a Cote Negroni while Sophie went for an Aperol Spritz. We decided to take advantage of the "Prix fixe" menu which was £20.95 for three courses. I chose the charcuterie board to start followed by a chicken breast in a mushroom sauce, rocket leaves and frites. Sophie chose the mussels in a tomato sauce for her starter and opted for the same main.

My charcuterie board was delicious with two types of tender ham, toasted sourdough bread and cornichons. Sophie pronounced her mussels to be gorgeous.

We'd ordered a bottle of Rosé but it took a fair while to arrive. The restaurant was busy, but the staff were friendly and one of them seemed to take real enjoyment from chatting up the women! He was originally from South Africa and was very funny. Two older ladies had arrived to sit near us and they were real characters and flirted with the waiter, telling him stories of how they'd met in the 60s! It was fascinating to listen to them! I honestly do think that Marylebone Street and its surroundings are our spiritual home in the city!

 Our wine eventually arrived amidst a flurry of apologies and we tucked into our main courses, which were also very good indeed. It was gradually getting hotter so after we'd eaten, Sophie and I swapped places and I enjoyed the shade of the awning.

As we were sitting relaxing and sipping our wine, Sophie spotted Rylan Clark walking past! His super-white teeth shone in the sun and we alerted our waiter who said that, sometimes, James McAvoy visits the restaurant!

We both enjoyed chocolate mousse for dessert, lazily finished our wine and then paid the bill. The restaurant had deducted our cocktails from the bill because of the delay with the wine which I thought was a lovely touch. We hadn't been as demanding as a trio of women who had been sitting near us, and noisily asking for everything to be brought at once, and I think the staff appreciated our laid-back attitude!

We managed to hail a black cab, arrived at Euston with half an hour to spare and took the 3pm train back to Northampton. It was a great journey and I enjoyed staring out of the window and looking at the scenery flash past.

Keith picked us up and we returned home for a nap, and a light supper. It had been a truly excellent day!