When she was finished, we popped to Waitrose to get a newspaper and something light for lunch as we were driving down to London for an Erykah Badu concert at the Royal Albert Hall in the afternoon. Even here, the forecourt was rammed and I was forced to park opposite. The slight inconvenience set the tone for the rest of the day...
When we arrived back home, every surface in the kitchen was liberally covered in flour. Keith had made a batch of sausage rolls and didn't tell us until Sophie had unwrapped some scones to have for her lunch. I had, in a moment of madness, bought myself a Cornish pasty to eat (which I knew I was going to regret later), and both of us stared at him in amazement. Why didn't he tell us he was going to make sausage rolls before we left earlier? Sophie had spent £10 in Waitrose!
We decided to take a couple with us to eat when we arrived in London, and while Sophie had a shower, I cleaned up the kitchen and swept the floor. Keith had also made a jam tart, and the door of the fridge had a big smudge of jam all over it. There was flour on the floor, on the cupboard doors and all over the worktops. It was like cleaning up after a toddler had been baking!
I then had a shower and we left at 1pm. We'd booked a parking space through Just Park on Exhibition Road, about a five-minute walk from the Royal Albert Hall, and had booked a table at a Georgian restaurant nearby. I had elected to drive to a) save money on train fares and taxis, and b) because we didn't want to catch a train home late at night.
We had a stop-start journey down to London on the M1 before taking the North Circular and then driving along residential streets to Kensington. I was astounded to see that all the roads had a 20mph speed limit. Driving at 20mph was difficult. Even with my foot off the accelerator, I had difficulty, so I just prayed I wouldn't get a ticket.
It took us an hour to cover five miles, but we arrived at the block of flats just after 3pm. I was amazed to see these were the flats we used to walk past to get to the museums years ago, when the children were small. We had to press a buzzer to get into the gated forecourt and spoke to the concierge, who gave us a laminated sign to put in the car. We then drove down to the bowels of the building to park. It was very tight, but I managed to reverse into the ultra-secure space. We made our way back up to reception, and Sophie asked the friendly concierge if she could use the loo. He kindly took us back down to the boiler room, and we tried to remember the way back!
We made for Hyde Park first, and spotted a café. Sophie ordered a hot chocolate and a tea, and we sat outside, well away from a screaming baby who belonged to a French family. It was a gorgeous, Autumnal afternoon, and it was pleasant to be able to sit outside and watch people come and go. We sneakily ate the sausage rolls and threw the crumbs on the ground for the fat pigeons who strolled about.
After we'd eaten and I'd used the facilities, we walked over to the Albert Memorial opposite the Royal Albert Hall.
In the distance, we could see ominous clouds gathering, so we decided to see if we could have a drink at Stein's Berlin, a café/restaurant a few doors up from one of our favourites, Ognisko. Why hadn't we booked a table here, we wondered? Because we wanted to try something new, and a friend of Sophie's had recommended the Georgian restaurant.
The staff at Stein's Berlin were friendly and accommodating, and led us to a table at the back of the dining room. There was a lot of pale wood, and it wasn't at all how I expected the restaurant to be. Berlin bars and restaurants tend to have dark wood and are dimly lit, so I did wonder if the owners had ever been to Berlin!
We had a look at the drinks menu and both chose the Berlin Spritz - Riesling, Aperol, soda and strawberry liqueur. It was delicious and came with a little bowl of pretzels. Perfect!
We sat and enjoyed our drinks and chatted. We were tempted to stay and enjoy the German food, but I wanted to experience Georgian cuisine, so we drank up, paid the bill (£30) and walked down Exhibition Road to an area that was bustling with tourists and had lots of bars and restaurants. We had been visiting the museums for years, but never ventured across the road to this area!
Shoty was situated on a lively street, and we went down a flight of steps first, thinking this was the entrance to the restaurant. A waitress took up back up to the street and into another dining area, a long, narrow room with a few tables already occupied.
We took our seats and looked at the placemat menu. I have to admit that neither of us was ravenously hungry after stuffing sausage rolls and pretzels, and this did have a bearing on the food we chose. We decided to share a starter of meat rolls (blini) and Sophie spotted dumplings on the menu (pelmeni with chicken). I just didn't fancy boiled beef or pork, but I briefly toyed with the idea of having fried Spring chicken. In the end, I opted for cotlet but had no idea what meat it was! We also ordered a bottle of Georgian dry white wine to accompany the meal.
The restaurant was quite austere, with sombre paintings on the wall and a television set broadcasting Georgian songs on YouTube. Two men were putting up lights outside, and the waitresses were efficient but not particularly friendly.
Our starter arrived and we tucked in, dipping the pancake rolls into soured cream. They were filled with some kind of meat and were delicious. Once these were eaten, our main courses were delivered. Sophie had seen giant dumplings on a nearby table, but they weren't the same as she had ordered, unfortunately.
Her dumplings were small, and that was all she had! No salad, no vegetables and just a small bowl of soured cream again.
My cotlet turned out to be two patties, very similar to McDonald's burgers without the buns. They were smothered in mashed potatoes and served with wedges of cucumber, tiny tomatoes and onions, and a tomatoey sauce. Sophie was bitterly disappointed with her meal and said the dumplings had no flavour whatsoever. The same could be said of my meal. Maybe we had just ordered the wrong items, I don't know, but we were both disappointed. The wine at £32 was OK, but definitely not worth the price!
After a little interval, we chose a walnut and honey cake for dessert. This was a thick slab, and if we were hoping to get cream or ice cream with it, we were disappointed... again! It was like eating a brick!
We stumped up just under £100 for the meal, and I asked Sophie if we could get a black cab to the Royal Albert Hall. I had been suffering from a headache all day, and Sophie had also had one earlier, so she readily agreed. The thought of walking back to the venue, with full tummies, was not a pleasant one!
The journey didn't take long, and our friendly driver dropped us off right outside. People were streaming in, and although we were early, we went up to the third floor to take our seats. The auditorium was virtually empty, but then it was 6.30pm! The show was due to start at 7.30pm, and while we sat, we listened to some great music. We liked a couple of tracks and even added them to our favourite playlist!
However, as it grew near 7.30pm, hardly any of the seats had been taken. A couple had arrived to sit next to Sophie, and quite a few people were in the row behind us, but we could see loads of empty seats. The music then changed to rap with a lot of swearing, which I wasn't happy about. I hate rap, and being forced to sit and listen to it was most unpleasant! I stuck it out for about fifteen minutes, but then had to leave. By now, it was about 7.45pm, and people were still milling about and heading for the bar for drinks. We had a horrible feeling that they all knew more than we did...
We stood in an empty bar area and watched more and more people arrive, none of them in any hurry! I said to Sophie that if Erykah Badu wasn't on by 9pm, we should go. Sophie stared at me in amazement! She said she'd be on long before that, but then we started to look at reviews of the shows. Every single one said she was consistently late and kept her audience waiting. The normal time she appeared was about 9.30pm, and sometimes even later!
We were astounded. I had anticipated being home at about midnight, but if she was on until 11pm, it would be after 1am when we got home. If I'm brutally honest, neither of us was in the mood, and although we like quite a few of her songs, we weren't huge fans. If it had been John Mayer or Ben Howard, we would happily have waited, but both of them were on time when we went to see them and didn't keep us waiting!
Sophie asked the friendly usher when she was likely to appear, and he said about 9pm, but I think he was being optimistic! We decided to leave and go home and not think about how much we had paid for the tickets. We spoke to the security men at the entrance door who said she would be on at about 9.15pm, but again, I think he was being cagey!
We walked back to the car and drove out of the decidedly creepy underground parking space. Several cars were covered in sheets, and we saw Porsches, Bentleys and a Rolls-Royce, all snug and dry! I couldn't imagine a safer spot to park a high-value car!
After a brief panic when the gates wouldn't open, we were out and heading home through busy streets, full of people enjoying the nightlife. Cyclists and mopeds weaved in and out of the traffic, and I was terrified of hitting someone on a bike. Hardly any of them were using lights, and I really had to rely on Sophie to be another pair of eyes. Two cyclists even rode into oncoming traffic!
Thankfully, we were soon in North London and then, miraculously, on the M1. I have never been so glad to see it! We made good time home and arrived at 10.45pm. Keith had already changed the clocks to an hour earlier, so we sat and relaxed until midnight, telling him all about our day and hanging about waiting for Miss Badu!
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