Autumn Lunch

I had a day out planned. It was time for our Band of Brothers Autumn Lunch. I was up early as usual. I prepared phone, battery pack, keyboard, Kindle, and even my Android tablet (in case it was needed). After grabbing an early breakfast, I then set off to provide my escort services to Ellie on her walk to school.

Di gave me a lift to the station where I found my way to the first-class cabin and settled down for a couple of hours’ travel. It was then that I realised I had left my AirPods at home, so would have to make do with my Kindle, not the audiobook. No matter. The book was soon finished and another started. The two hours whistled by and before I knew it, we were pulling into Victoria Station. Well used to the route now, I set off to walk to the restaurant. Buckingham Palace Road, Green Park, Piccadilly, Air Street, Brewer Street, Lexington Street, Broadwick Street, Poland Street, and finally D’Arblay Street. It was a pleasant 30-minute walk (2.7km). I stopped into the restaurant to say we had arrived, but were meeting in the pub along the road and would be back in 30 minutes.

We settled down in The George for a quick pint before heading back to the restaurant. We had a new attendee this time (Paul McNally), but one of our regulars (Richard Butt) only managed to dial in from the airport as he prepared to fly to Vancouver. The meal was delicious (I started with mozzarella wrapped with pancetta, and then had linguine with a beef ragù); we chatted and reminisced for a couple of hours or so. It always amazes me how these lunches remind me of so many aspects of my youth and reveal things that I had not realised at the time. At the end of the lunch, we said our goodbyes and drifted into the anticyclonic gloom of the afternoon. I promised to arrange another lunch for the spring.

As I headed back to Victoria, I again passed Buckingham Palace. A cluster of TV cameras were jostling for position. I was confused; I had not leaked my route, why would they be stalking me? As I marched past, a number of Japanese sumo wrestlers in the dress kimonos photo-bombed me and I watched as the TV cameras melted away in their wake. I could relax, it wasn't me they were after.

I was able to get an earlier train than expected, and had a good run back to the coast. Di was waiting for me and whisked me back home from the station. I then heard the full story of Kim’s dreadful day - the early start to get Jon to the station, the long traffic jam to get to uni (because a car fair had closed the A27), her morning in class and the realisation she had lost her car keys… followed by the journey back to Chichester on the bus.