Posh lunch

Happy birthday Paul McCartney - 80 years old! Can you believe it? Just watching the BBC programme of his old recordings. Actually, I liked Ringo best…

I started with a surprise breakfast in bed! When JR went to go out to the gym, she found two bags of fresh peas at the door - Dougal and his mum must have just snuck in and left them there. Archie and I polished off one bag in about ten minutes - he goes crazy for peas!

Once Archie was safely out with Elizabeth, we set off down to the brand new Virgin Hotel to check it out. It’s in what was the old India Buildings, which has, for all the time we’ve been here, been used as Registry Office for weddings, but has stood empty for the last few years. Good ol’ Richard Branson rescued it, and he’s spent a fortune. It’s the first of his hotels in EUROPE!

We asked to swap seats to sit at the ‘chef’s table’, where we could could watch the chefs at work. The food was really good. But the service was a little over- enthusiastic - plates were swiped away by a hovering waiter as soon as a fork was put down, even before the other person had finished.. Still, they’ve only been open a few days.

After our lunch we popped back up to the bar, where we propped up on the high stools at the bar and enjoyed chatting to the barman and watching him making cocktails. (I think that would be a really good job…) He had time to chat between mixing - we told him about our recent visit to the Champagne region (we tell everyone) and noted that they sold Dom Perignon 2006 at £285 a bottle. But we prefer the 2012… We spent rather longer (and more money) than anticipated at the bar…  

A few items of feedback were shared with some higher up personnel than the barmen - eg the screechy awful MUZAK in every single room - including the ‘library’. Most disappointing, as in the Virgin Lounge in town (which we belong to but haven’t been for ages) NO muzak is played. 

Elizabeth stayed for a chat when she came home with Archie - we got home just before them! She’s off on holiday next week, but we didn’t tell Archie…

(These were the little champagne ‘welcome’ drinks served in the bar, with a wee sand timer in the background)