Day 4 - more London wanderings

 Today started with a trip down memory lane with a ride on a rush hour tube.  Ah those were the days, the noise, the small, the heat, the constant white noise announcements that everyone ignores.  Stay behind the yellow line as the train approaches.  Please let the passengers off the train first. Mind the gap. 

I had been able to do a cash withdrawal at the local Barclays ATM with my NZ card, but the ATM the customer wasn’t able to use was in Sloane Square.  So two toasty hot tube rides later, and I was able to prove my card also worked in that ATM.  Very curious.  I noticed that they also ATMs just inside the branch, so thought I should try those as well, only to see a small sign stuck on with blu-tac saying “these ATMs for Barclay cardholders only”.  Sure enough, my transaction was declined in these ATMs.  So our assumption is that the customer was trying to use the in-branch ones.  Good information and we’ll know to ask that question, if we happen across this complaint again in the future.

Victoria and Albert Museum was next on the list, and I had a good old wander.  Some of the marble sculptures are outstanding!

Back to Soho to revisit Mother Mash that my niece Heather had taken us to back in 2019.  Pretty simple concept, there are 3 steps, choose your mash (plain, cheesy, bubble & squeak etc) choose your bangers or pie, and choose your gravy.  I went with plain mash, chicken bacon and mushroom pie topped with Farmers gravy (red wine, mushroom and bacon).  Delicious. 

Mother Mash - pie with mash and gravy

I also did my civic duty and swung by the NZ High Commission and cast my vote in the NZ election.  Looks like the building is undergoing renovations, which are long overdue.

Next stop was a return to the Breitling store to drop off J’s watch for repair, we figured it’s the easiest option for repair at this point, and as there’s family coming to NZ early next year, they can bring the repaired and polished watch back with them rather than relying on couriers.  The helpful guy in the shop thinks it likely just needs a good service, not necessarily any repair.  He asked when it was last serviced – cough – it has never been serviced in 16 years.  Ah, that explains it then.

From there I headed to the local NatWest branch and banked my old 20 pound notes, and all the cash I had withdrawn during my card testing.

My feet are telling me I’ve walked a few hundred miles over the last few days and are complaining bitterly, so I decided to head back to my shoebox and let them have a rest.  My sox have given me an itchy rash which I could live without, so I held my nose and went to Primark (it’s a madhouse, selling super cheap clothing) and bought some cotton sox in the hope that will help.

Tomorrow I head north to Knaresborough to visit Fiona that used to work with us at Westpac back in 2009.  There had been a tube strike planned, so I was preparing for an early start and taxi ride in mad traffic to get to Kings Cross where the train leaves from, but thankfully the strike has been called off. 

I need to repack, but I’ll wait till I’m done sleeping and can spread everything out on the bed to organise the junk better.