Saturday in The City

On a brilliantly sunny Saturday morning we boarded the Chiltern Railway cars for Marylebone Station, London, and a visit with Ellie's second-cousin Nancy Mitchell and her son. The first vista off the train was the huge array of bicycles parked and locked by Londoners who are regulars on the Chiltern Line -- on Saturdays, no less. Who are all these folks who bike to the station, and where do they go?

After some coffee and fresh scones with Nancy, we made our way through the glorious clear winter air to Portobello Road: several miles of exotic foods, pickpockets, street vendors, antique shops, cheap clothing, incredible bargains, and exotic languages and accents (English and not).

We wandered for several hours, and fortunately did not stop to take in any of the scrumptious-smelling street food, since Nancy was had planned a proper feast for us once we meandered back to her place. There are endless shops -- actually we bought some outrageous Scottish woolens at unspeakably cheap prices -- but also these really interesting warrens of booths. More like a bazaar. Amazing old silver services, wooden monogrammed lawn-bowling sets, bizarre trade tools, cheap polyester miniskirts and fuzzy sweaters for tourists. . .you name it: it is there. We actually made mental notes about some of the things we might try to come back and get "flea market" style, depending upon how "furnished" our eventual digs are going to be.

Some of the vendors are complete specialists: 33 RPM hot wax of British boy groups from the 70s: zillions of platters for sale (for example). But Ellie has always had a weakness for tea cups, and I thought we could be in for a serious spending spree when she encountered The Greek Guy with a Million Teacups. She found a favorite, and asked the price. He opened a reference book of antique English china, found the exact pattern, showed her the maker's mark, and quoted £260!!! We'll be back, no doubt.

The clouds were moving in as we trudged down an avenue, across a park and canal, and back to Nancy's for a warm and bubbly dinner while a gale moved in from the Channel.