A very indulgent day in London!

Sophie and I had a little lie-in this morning as we'd booked train tickets to leave at about 10am. I took a different route to get to the station,but was forced to make a wide circuit around Northampton as the road I wanted was closed! There are so many road closures at the moment!

We still made it to the station in time, and enjoyed a coffee and pastry in the café before going down to the platform. The train was delayed slightly, but when it came in, we could see plenty of seats so we were able to relax for the hour's journey to Euston.

We decided to take a black cab to Marylebone High Street, and a kindly taxi driver picked us up as he was dropping off another customer. The taxi rank has moved elsewhere outside Euston, so it was great he saw us! He never stopped talking the whole way, and he was hilarious!

Unfortunately, the weather today has been abysmal with almost non-stop rain and heavy grey skies. We decided to have a coffee first in 31 Below and took a seat next to two loud men who name dropped like mad all the time we were there. Rishi Sunak featured a lot and they obviously worked in Government... maybe for the Labour Party, judging by their conversation, which we couldn't help overhearing!

We enjoyed our coffee, smoothie and sourdough toast and then popped across the road to Daunt Books where I encouraged Sophie to buy Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, a novel I thoroughly enjoyed (and which was made into a television drama). We had a great look around and then crossed back over the road to Bayley and Sage where we treated ourselves to a wedge of Schlossburger cheese, walnut saucisson, a box of parmesan biscuits and a bar of beautifully fragranced soap. Both of us could have spent a fortune in there!

Rounds of Comte cheese

After a quick look in one of the high street charity shops, where Sophie bought earrings, we made our way to Harley Street for Sophie's appointment at 12.30pm. It rained the whole way there, and I felt like a bedraggled rat when we arrived! Sophie had a couple of shots of Botox, and then Dr Bawa recommended another visit in three months.

We were back out again just before 1pm, so we had a glass of wine in the lovely old Victorian pub, Inn 1888, just off the High Street. We ordered two small glasses of Pinot Noir and sat in a quiet corner for a chat and for Sophie to listen to a voice note from Vikesh who'd had an appointment at the hospital.

It didn't take us long to walk to Le Relais de Venise: L'Entrecote and we didn't have to queue to get a table. As before, we were squished up close to the tables on either side and heard more conversations going on! We really couldn't help eavesdropping!

The food, as ever, was fantastic. We enjoyed a delicious green salad with a walnut dressing, two helpings of soft as-butter steak with crispy French fries, and puds. A praline ice cream and cream for me, and creme brulée for Sophie. With a bottle of the house red and a bottle of fizzy water, the bill came to just under £120 with service included. It's worth it though! The women serving never stopped, and the restaurant was packed to the gunnels, even on a Wednesday lunchtime. It's amazing to think that we had all chosen the restaurant and were prepared to eat the same thing! Not a vegetarian in sight!

After we'd eaten (we left hastily because of a screaming toddler) we took an Uber to Soho where we'd booked a table for cocktails. On the way, we passed Nessa restaurant which was featured on Masterchef! Our driver was not the best we'd ever had and he dropped us off a fair walk from the bar! That's not really the idea!

We were early for our booking, but we were able to take a small table in the corner of the tiny bar and watch the action! Most people were sitting with a small glass of red liquid in front of them, and everyone had a complimentary glass of water as well. There were only about 15 people in the bar and it wasn't how I imagined at all. Bar Termini is famous for the house Negronis and there were four to choose from: Classico, Robusto, Rosado and Superiore. However, we decided to try two of their other cocktails first, Death in Venice for me, and Marsala Martini for Sophie. What I liked the most about the bar was that there wasn't any pesky ice in the drinks, diluting the gorgeous flavours!

There was an intimate, cosy atmosphere and it felt like being in a private members' club. People arrived and were squeezed into the tables and everyone ordered the same thing, except a man sitting at the bar who chose an elaborate, layered coffee.

When our first drinks were finished we moved on to the Negronis and had three! The barman filled our glasses up so full that we had to bend down to sip them!

As you can see, from the photos, we had a good time, and I was pleased we'd eaten beforehand and all the alcohol was soaked up by the steak and chips!

We stayed for our allotted time, paid the bill (I won't say how much it was!) and I treated us to a house bottle of Negroni to take home. We walked up to the main thoroughfare and hailed a cab to take us back to the station.

Luckily, we were able to get a train leaving at 5.30pm and we had to do more squeezing in to get a seat opposite each other. It was extremely cosy! We arrived back at Northampton, where Keith was waiting for us, and sloshed our way home.

We hadn't seen Masterchef yesterday, so we caught up with the penultimate episode and then settled down to watch the final. I had predicted either Brin or Chris would win, and Brin took the title after cooking a fabulous dish. Chris's food was totally off-the-wall weird and I do wonder how different this competition will get in the future, with ingredients and terms we've never heard of!