The curious incident ...

.... of the dog in the afternoon. But I'll come to that later.

TSM and I went to London, which was strangely quiet but mild and beautiful in the sunshine. Took the tube to Swiss Cottage - worth going to in its own right as they have 'kept the gunmetal and bakolite art deco fittings in the station - and had a walk around the wealthy back streets and a gawk at how the other half lives, heading always, deliberately if not directly towards Primrose Hill. Here I made friends with a small black dog with a sad face who left his muddy paw prints on my knees, and played dodge the jogger. Jogging and dogs are big around Primrose Hill, although we didn't see anyone jogging with a dog. Curious. 

But that is not the curious incident I referred to earlier. Be patient.

The view from the top of Primrose Hill is always spectacular. What struck me today was the enormous number of cranes, right across the city. You could be forgiven for thinking that some alien invasion of tall thin metal monsters was taking place. By now we needed coffee so retired to the nearby Cachao cafe where I had an absolutely first class cup of coffee and a biscotti (although there were some communication problems - I nearly ended up with carrot cake - don't ask). This is a lovely little place, where a little girl was reading a dorling kinderlsey book of dogs - or rather shouting to her parents about rare breeds. Until you have heard a six year old yelling "Novia Scotia duck tolling retriever" as loud as her lungs can carry it, you really haven't lived. 

But that was not the curious dog story either. Wait.

In Regents Park we stopped and TSM asked me to tie a knot in her knickers, which were suffering from slack elastic syndrome. We thought we were being discrete but a very noisy Italian family chose this moment to stop and ask for directions to Baker Street. The father thought my attempts at manipulating my wife's pants hilarious, but he didn't know how stressful it was losing control of your knot every time you thought you had just got it sorted. We managed eventually to satisfy both TSM and the Italians, and made our way down through the park to Fitzrovia and then on to Soho. 

We had a fish and chip lunch in the Mediterranean Cafe on Berwick Street where you can get anything from falafel to lasagna and very cheap and cheerful it is too. I heartily recommend it. I love places like Polpo but this place is just honest and good value. And anywhere that plasters its walls with theatre posters is fine by me. (Curiously, lying in bed at the end of the day TSM was reading Moon Over Soho and there was a scene where Peter Grant, the only Police Constable in the Met's Supernatural branch - The Isaacs - takes an informer for a lunch of fish and chips on Berwick Street.).

TSM got sniffed by the waitress, which was fine. Happens all the time with her. Waiting staff, shop assistants. They just go "my god you smell lovely" and bury their noses in her hair. Seriously. I've got used to it now. It's American Cream by Lush, but as TSM's hair is the size of a small rainforest the smell is just kind of ... well, it's just big. 

Oh yes, and it was why I was sitting here that I saw this guy and took his picture, which I just liked, Totally incidental and marginal to this narrative. Nothing curious and no dogs or anything.

Next stop was the Noel Coward Theatre and Shakespeare in Love, which was fun and exceeded expectations. It was here that the curious dog incident took place. 

Now the whole running gag in Shakespeare in Love is that no matter how cultured your play, you have to have pirates and a dog in the script or the gig won't work as far as the groundlings are concerned. But this play, here in the West End in 2015, did have a dog, and of course every time it came on stage it stole the show and got the biggest laugh. Particularly when it stuck its nose up the Earl of Wessex's backside and sent him flying. So I did find it curious that the whole dog gag somehow got played back into the play. Don't you think?

Okay maybe not. Please yourself as Frankie Howard used to say.

Anyway that was our day. Rather lovely. Really lovely.

Came home to a surprise. Polaroid Blipfoto? Really? Sell out or smart move? Partnership or takeover? I'm full of curiosity. We'll see ....