Saturday - 11th December 2021

Saturday morning meant an early start to head off to the nearest parkrun. I have really enjoyed using them as a means to explore an area, and today was no exception. It was quite far to the nearest one, about 3 miles. Presumably because most parks in central London are privately owned.

I had to run through Kensington and then Fulham to reach Fulham Palace on the banks of the river Thames. Running that early on the morning meant the streets were pretty quiet. I followed a runner but then lost him and then got lost myself. A quick correction using the phone got my back in track.

I past Stamford Bridge on my way. Coincidentally, I spotted that they were playing Leeds today!

The parkrun had advertised for volunteers yesterday and so I needed to be there for 8:30am to check in as I was going to do barcode scanning for them after I had finished. Thankfully, on arriving at the park I quickly found the florescent signs and found the start/finish.

Second football ground of the day, Craven Cottage on the edge of the park.

I made small talk with another runner from London who gave me the tips for getting around the course. Although it was cold it didn’t actually feel too bad, and hanging around briefly before the start was fine. They had a neat way of aligning the runners in finishing order before start. Before too long we were off.

The course was as flat as can be, but had a few technical and narrow sections. In particulary was a 180 degree turn, with a speed bump on the apex and puddle of water. Unfrotunately on the second lap, whilst positioning on the outside to cut across the apex. As I shift my weight, suddenly my left leg went from underneath me and I hit the deck pretty hard. I skidded along the tarmac with my bare hands before stopping. Using the adrenaline I was able to get back up and get going again. But I could see I’d ruined another pair of running tights!

I got around in 18:35 which was pretty good, but I would have hoped to go closer to 18 minutes which I probably would have done had I not fallen. At the finish I quickly grabbed my phone and started scanning barcodes of other finishers. I had to nip to the toilets afterwards to sort myself out. Thankfully, they didn’t keep us until the last finisher, and so I was able to head back and got back to the hotel about 10:30am.

We got ready and had some brunch, a very nice bostock from Laynes I got yesterday. Unfortunately, the fridge on the kitchenette wasn’t working and so we had to throw away some of the stuff we had brought. I read the paper for a bit and then we decided to head out again as we needed someone to come and look at the broken fridge.

A new habit I wanted to get into is taking a photo of the headlines whilst on holiday. This is mainly because when in New York in March 2020, I accidentally snapped in the corner of my photos a headline saying that China had Covid-19 under control!

We were going to catch the train up to Oxford Street, with a low tolerance for bailing if it looked to busy. Unfortunately the train stopped at the stop before Oxford Street which was Green Park. So we got off as the train was packed and I know in the past they can be a bit funny with crowd control of Oxford Street is busy. We walked to New Bond Street and then over the Carnaby Street. We didn’t find anything to buy so started to walk back.

We stopped off by the Ottelenghi deli and had a hot drink and bought more cakes.

By the time we got back we were starting to get a bit wet in the rain.

We got back shortly before our reservation for afternoon tea in the hotel. We had been there before and again it did not disappoint. These is the interior of the tearoom which is adjacent to the lobby in the hotel.

And, this is the Science Museum themed afternoon tea. We were hoping to get a Christmas themed afternoon team, but unfortunately not this time.