With franine and una, Mortlake/east sheen
I knew it would happen but it caught me by surprise when it did. The first caustic comment about Trump from a Brit. My friend Francine and I were walking on a little path in Mortlake having one of our many heart to hearts when a man passing by suddenly finished my sentence. “One thing you might need to worry about…” I was saying to Francine when the man passed by and said “Trump.” We exchanged a smile and I said “I’ve been worried about that for a long time.” Francine said the guy is her neighbor and a police officer.
We walked further to the posh village of Barnes where we shopped at the little farmers market, ate pub grub at the Sun Inn, outside at a picnic table with a lovely view of the Barnes pond, lined with willow trees, swans gliding by. After a visit to Fulham to see Francine’s mum, we walked along the tow path from Barnes to Mortlake past the old brewery that is now the site of a controversial redevelopment that Francine is monitoring as part of a citizens action group. Lovely Dinner tonight at our friend Una’s in nearby east sheen. Must sleep.
I’ve never seen such a long line at Heathrow’s arrival passport control. It started even before we got to the main waiting area, with a long line in the long hall leading to the waiting area. Fortunately, the maze of a line in the waiting area moved fairly quickly so after an hour or so, I was with my dear pal Francine, whisking our way under a very gloomy sky to Mortlake where where we had a nice little catch-up and lunch, then walk to Mortake where Francine took the train to work and I wandered for another hour or so, jet-lagged but trying desperately to keep going. I stopped in at the new location of the sweet little cafe Pickle & Rye which I was pleased to see has retained its Yank decor (including such Iowa knickknacks as a UI Hawkeye cap and a mug from Marshalltown’s Maidrite outpost, an Iowa-born fastfood chain serving “loose-meat” sandwiches.) The owners, one of whom is from Iowa, are visiting Iowa right now, as it turns out but hope to catch sight of them later in the trip. NOw comfortably ensconced at Francine and Russ’s lovely flat on Shalstone Road and will attempt to stay await until late evening British time.
