A pleasant surprise was awaiting us today: the temperature had risen to double figures – 13°C no less! Does this mean that spring is coming at last? I hope so.

The checkout

We went to Sainsbury’s as usual this morning and found it unusually busy. I have no idea why. There was a long queue at the door (this branch has a bad record of opening late) which worked its way in slowly in fits and starts.

Aboard the 30

After lunch, we went out and caught a number 30 bus. This took us on a slow journey through busy streets.

Marylebone Road

The 30 brought us to Marylebone Road, near Madame Tussaud’s where we had caught a bus for home yesterday (see yesterday’s post).

Marylebone Parish Church

We walked along to the imposing mass of Marylebone Parish Church.

Walking beside the church

We followed the path beside the church.

Marylebone churchyard

This leads to an open area that was once the churchyard but is now paved with a few old trees are still in place. It is used for open-air activities such as markets though none were present today.

The Conran Shop

This led us into the street called Marylebone High Street. This contains a lot of “high-end” shops, shops that sell pricey goods that you may, or may not, consider worth the inflated prices. We went into one of these, The Conran Shop, not because we intended to buy anything but just to marvel at the goods in display.

Marylebone High Street

Leaving Conran appropriately marvelled at, we continued along Marylebone High Street, now only looking at the shops from outside.

Le Pain Quotidien

When we reached the local branch of the Belgian chain Le Pain Quotidien (still with us, despite Brexit), we went in.

It was busy

It was quite busy but they found us a small table in a corner. At least we were out of the way of people coming and going.

Patisserie & Hot Drink
Photo by Tigger

We chose the menu item “Patisserie & Hot Drink”, a little extravagant, perhaps, but enjoyable. We chose black coffee, latte, cream and strawberry tart and cheesecake. I leave it to you to guess who had what. (Clue: the photo is the view from Tigger’s side.)

Daunt Books

Out in the street once more, we came to independent bookseller Daunt Books and went in for a look. It’s an impressive bookshop but it was crowded and we had difficulty moving about so we didn’t stay long.

Oxfam Shop

A little further along, we found an Oxfam Shop and took a look inside. This one had books as well as general goods and I went to see the French language books. They were mixed in with other languages, which didn’t help, but in any case nothing took my fancy.

Looking back along the high street

We continued along Marylebone High Street without finding anything else of particular interest.

Wigmore Street

Walking on, we passed through several streets, including this one, Wigmore Street, and by now were both thinking that it would be good to catch a bus for home.

The bus stop in Portman Street

We came at last to Portman Street where there is a stop for the number 30 bus.

Aboard the 30

We had a little wait for our bus but it arrived at last and carried us with stops and starts (the roads were still busy and in places narrowed by road works) but we eventually arrived home. A new working week starts tomorrow but we will worry about that when it arrives and enjoy this evening relaxing at home.