Or, the final part of ‘Say hello to Patsy’.
Saturday afternoon, and back in not so sunny Saltdean at the end of our first caravan trip. As usual, I’ll wind back and carry on from where I left off.
Thursday, and after the heat wave of Wednesday it was a little cooler. We were heading to Camden for a stroll around the shops, markets and canal prior to a show in the West end. I thought I’d wear black for a change and, wishing to blend in at our intended destination (that’s my excuse anyway) I opted for leather jeans, winkle pickers and a long black shirt. To others I probably looked a tit, but at least I wouldn’t be an out of place tit.
We took the number three bus as usual as far as Whitehall, then changed to the number twenty-four, which should have dropped us off in Camden High Street before continuing on to Hampstead Heath. However at Warren Street the bus came to a halt and were advised to alight. Unfortunately, none of us had any matches, or a lighter so we got off instead……
It was a short stroll to Camden High Street. We headed north, crossed the canal and had a look at the indoor market. Camden has a bit of a reputation as a place to pick up alternative clothing and the like - you can still buy winkle pickers, tartan bondage jeans and stuff like that. Now you know why I wanted to come. Mobile phone shops apart there are very few chain stores here. I was contemplating how nice it was not to see all the usual global high street names as we sat having a coffee. In Starbucks…..
We headed across the road to another market. I remembered this from when I visited years back when you could lose yourself amongst the racks of gothic leather, pvc and the like. Sadly most of this had gone.
With universal agreement that it was beer o’clock we went in to the Black Cap – one of London’s original gay pubs. The bar is upstairs and there was a lovely bar garden at the back.
Back on the bus then, in the general direction of Piccadilly, stopping at Wardour Street for a burger and surprisingly for all of us, a soft drink. The food was just average but the staff were VERY nice to look at.
On to the Criterion Theatre and ‘The 39 Steps’. it was very good, very funny and very cleverly adapted from the film for the stage. A highly entertaining couple of hours and I would certainly recommend it.
Very little to report on Friday. The weather was still good and I even relented and put on a short sleeved t-shirt – I’ll leave you to guess the colour. Later Trev served up a lovely stew as our friends joined us for our first dinner party in Patsy. We adjourned to their van later on to catch the latest episode of Benidorm.
Saturday morning and time to go. Graham very kindly cooked us breakfast to set us up for the journey. All hitched up and ready to go we said our goodbyes. I drove the first bit this time, out through Crystal Palace, down past Streatham Common and on to the A23. Not having towed in traffic before it was a little hairy at times but we made it on to the M23 unscathed. Trev took over after Handcross hill and Patsy was soon home and back on the drive, our first trip complete.
Well, we both really enjoyed and are incredibly grateful to our friends Graham & Robert for all their help and advice, and for introducing us to caravanning. Keep an eye out for a longer trip that may be coming up soon.
Until then….
