Out on a Date

It's not often these days that Husband and I get to go out on a Date like we used to in the good, old days. When we started going out over three years ago, Husband was living in North London and I was staying back at home in Cranners, so I used to get the train up to London from Guildford, pulling into Waterloo to find Husband-to-Be waiting for me under the clock by Paperchase. We'd walk out of the station and along the South Bank to enjoy the sights and hold hands in a disgustingly mushy way. One day, we went into La Pain Quotidien to have a croissant and a hot chocolate that was served in a bowl instead of mug, which just seemed really cool. And, until this weekend, we haven't been back since.

I'd been wanting to go up to Lahhnndahhn for ages, but having been a bit cream crackered due to illness recently, it was only this weekend that I felt up to it. So, we left home at 10am, got into Waterloo at 11.30am and immediately went to La Pain Quotidien for the most carb-heavy breakfast ever. Check out this gorgeous bread basket served with 5 or 6 different types of jams and spreads:





Not only that, but I also had a cheese & ham croissant, Husband had scrambled eggs with mushrooms and we both had two rounds of tea/coffee. Suffice to say, I was quite full. We stayed for ages, chatting about random things and taking in the very cool interior of the bakery, which is underneath the railway arches and has awesome little booths around the walls with old-school luggage racks above.

We then headed for the South Bank itself to check out all the celebrations commemorating the Festival of Britain in 1951. The river bank itself is bedecked in lovely bunting and is sporting a collection of beach huts and a beautiful old ice cream van, typically none of which I took a photo of, but you can see them here. Inside the Festival Hall is a fab exhibition called The Museum of 51, showing many of the promotional items that were created for the Festival sixty years ago, along with models of the whole site, and, my favourite, a 50s living room:














I want an armchair like this for my living room SO BAD. Gawjus.





Excuse the wobbly photos; I was taking them on my phone and the lighting wasn't great.

There was a fab food market out around the back of the Hall with some FANTASTIC looking ice cream, but we were still too full of bread to take advantage, dagnammit.

The outside of the Hayward Gallery has been dressed up with lots of "typically English" countryside paraphernalia, like sections of dry stone walling and piped bird song, I think as part of their "The Lands" exhibits. My fave part of this was the ENORMOUS straw fox sitting by Waterloo Bridge:

This lovely photo is by Smudgetikka. Go to their blog to check out their review of the whole Festival of Britain celebrations and to see lots more gorgeous photos.

It all runs until 4th September, so if you can get up there, do.

By 3pm we were both a bit knackered, and I thought it was best to get home before I fell into a big, weepy heap of tiredness, so back home on the train we went. So nice to get out of Brighton for a bit, as much as I love it, and very nice indeedy to spend that time with my favourite dude*.

*Mush is now over, normal service resumes.