Goodbye London
Hola amigos! Apologies for being away from the blog for so long, I’ve been rather tied up with moving to Spain and settling into my new life in Madrid. Well, you will be glad to hear that all has gone well and I now have an apartment and the all important internet connection, so I have my feet firmly back in the blogosphere.
Much more about Madrid in later posts, but first I want to say a quick goodbye to my old home of London. I came back from Monaco to spend a few days in the UK to say goodbye to friends. I made the most of my time there to indulge in my favourite London activity – the pubs!
First up was a rare treat. My buddy Luke, who is currently working at the houses of parliament, met me for lunch and took me for a pint in the “strangers bar”, which is a pub-like bar actually inside the parliament buildings. It was great to sit and drink a beer where the likes of Winston Churchill had supped before me. After a pint there I took a stroll around the area where I stumbled upon a great pub that I had never been to before. This is something that can happen all the time in London and is one of the things I love so much about the city. Anyway, The Speaker in Westminster is a pub very much of the old school.
As the beer posters on the wall state – “No music, no fruit machines, no television. Just good beer, food and a place for conversation”. Says it all really, Heaven!
The following evening I had my “farewell to London” drinks with a bunch of friends at The Market Porter, a fantastic pub right on the doorstep of the foodie Borough Market. I love hanging out there, the place is a beer mecca – they usually have on around twelve different beers sourced from small, unusual craft breweries from all over the British Isles. On a Friday night it’s packed to the rafters and the fun spills out onto the street alongside the market. The crowd is a mixture of all ages and the atmosphere is a lot of fun.
And to top things off, right next door to the pub is the market stall of Mrs. Kings pork pies.
Pork pies have to be the ultimate pub snack, and there is no doubting that Mrs Kings’ pies are the ultimate pork pies. They are the perfect combination of rich, tasty pork, firm crunchy pastry and sweet jelly. Naturally, a recipe for pork pies can be found in Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub food, but I know that my own efforts wont come close to matching Mrs. King’s!
A happy night of pork pies, great beer and friends. London I will miss you!
