A Few Spare Hours

…in Lon­don. Start­ing from Euston sta­tion I just ambled wherever the whim took me, Euston Street lead­ing to a wrought iron arch­way pro­claim­ing “Tolmer’s Square” — just a small space between flats (50s?) with bushes, and trees, wind­ing paths and a pub. Just the oppos­ite of the windy wastes and dead stone of the Euston Centre just down the road. Then a wind­ing course dwon Bolsover St. , Great Titch­field Street, Langham Street to Cav­endish Square — loads of people sit­ting on the grass and on benches enjoy­ing the after­nonn sun­shine — and across Oxford Street to Han­over Square. Brook Street looked inter­est­ing but I was quickly diver­ted to Avery Row and Brooks Mews — lanes and alleys lined with res­taur­ants and inter­est­ing small shops. Via Dav­ies Street to Berke­ley Square — off which is the delight­ful Bruton Mews — interesting-looking pub half way along– back to Hay Hill, Dover Street, Grafton Street and so to New and then Old Bond Street where there’s a bench where you can sit between Churchill and (?) Tru­man, and then the street is lined with large cars parked on yel­low lines with the chauf­feur loun­ging on the bon­net or the boot while the nobs or the wags do their shop­ping. Steel dino­saurs in the Royal Academy court­yard, craft and tat mar­ket across the road in St. James church­yard. Peace­ful interior, Wren, gal­lery on 3 sides, mag­ni­fi­cent organ at west end, man sleep­ing beside Grin­ling Gib­bons font. Swal­low Street and under the arch to Regent Street grid­lock. Walked between the traffic rather than over it to the other side and into Brewer Street. A very wel­come café stop — I for­get its name, but it’s a hun­dred yards up on the left, on a corner. Press­ing firmly onward into the porn belt now — Soho as crowded and excit­ingly tacky as ever — Old Compton Street and across Shaft­es­bury Avenue. There’s a stret beside Black­wells which leads to another of those odd small squares — this one a wild garden — Phoenix Garden I think. Weeds and cot­tage garden flowers — and any­way what’s the dif­fer­ence? Back onto Shaft­es­bury Ave, Princes Cir­cus, and the famil­iar environs of Museum Street. Over the years, I’ve worn a track from here to and from Kings Cross, but today brought a new ver­sion by cross­ing Southamp­ton Row and tak­ing one of those broad ped­es­trian accesses, Cosmo Place, again lined with cafes and pubs that just reminds you how per­fect life would be without motor vehicles. This revealed Queen Square, yet another green space for the soul, and so to Judd Street with the towers of St. Pan­cras at the far end, and Euston Road and Kings Cross. Three hours in Lon­don could hardly be spent more enjoy­ably, and at only the cost of the shoe leather and refresh­ment on the way.