The husband is still sick and he hates it. He's spent the whole day in bed doing pretty much nothing - which is a good thing, if it means he gets better faster. He keeps apologizing, even though I keep telling him he doesn't need to. We set the alarm to go to Portobello Road this morning. I don't think either of us slept that well. The winds were fierce and howled past our windows, occasionally making them rattle. And then it rained buckets. He was up coughing, too.
Anyway, when the alarm went off, we knew he couldn't really make it. I said I'd go and if it was worthwhile, we'd try to go back later in the day if he felt up to it. So I headed off, hoping I wasn't too late in getting there. I wasn't. I was there shortly after 8am and a lot of people had barely started setting up. I walked the entire length of Portobello Road to see what was what. The "antique" dealers were pretty much ready to go, but that's because all they had to do was open the door to the store and put some stuff out on a table in front. The vendors with the fresh fruits and veggies were all set and if I lived in London, I would be there every week to buy my produce! There were also meat and seafood vendors (all fresh). After the food came the garage sale type stuff. I think they called it "New Goods" but I always call it "stuff that fell off the back of a truck". There seemed to be quite a bit of space for people to set up, but not much had been yet. By the time I made it back to the beginning it was 9am and it was just starting to pick up. I was surprised by this, as I'm used to the Rose Bowl Flea Market where you go EARLY to get the good stuff.
I knew by then that I didn't care to go back to the newer stuff, especially since it was way back at the far end, so I wandered up and down the antiques section, looking at the booths as people finished putting their stuff out. The first thing I bought was a fossil. The guy selling them had some really nice, and expensive, stuff. I got just about the cheapest thing he had. It's about 180 million years old, unless you believe the universe is only 4000 years old, then it's a fake. After that, I bought a tile hook for my hat collection and 3 brooches (they're supposed to be Scottish, which is a nice touch, but they have multi-colored stones set in silver and were only 5 pounds each). I really wanted to buy a Soviet army fur hat, but it was $60 - too much. Before I bought the brooches I had been hanging around this woman's table - she was setting out really nice jewelry for good prices, but I wanted to see more of what she had before I bought something. I kept going off and coming back, giving her time to get the stuff out. She never once acknowledged me. After I found the brooches, I went back to take another look, but realized I was pissed about her not saying anything to me so I didn't buy anything from her.
(Debby, if you're reading this, you're about to find out what I got you.) I did manage to get most of my souvenir shopping done on Portobello Road. I found a booth selling "Pashmina look" scarves at 5 pounds each and it was buy 5 get one free! So I got 12. It took a while and I really only need 8 at the most, but they're pretty and I think everyone will like them. The real Pashminas were between $30 and $100, so those weren't an option.
I was frozen by then so I headed back, got the husband more cough medicine and some lunch. Decided it would be a good day to go out and do my souvenir shopping - the stuff for me! Yeah! The husband encouraged me to have a good time and I headed off. It was a bit of an adventure, going alone. I went to Buckingham Palace and took some pics, then walked through the park over to Piccadilly. I was determined to go to Fortnum & Mason - they have some sort of official status with the royals. It's not as big as Harrod's but it's also not as tacky. I wandered through the ladies fashions and the food hall and quite preferred the atmosphere there. Got a couple of things and headed back out where I saw a Japanese Confectionery. I've never heard of such a thing, so of course I had to go have a look. I went in and even though the descriptions put me off a bit, I had to try something. I'm not even sure of what I got, I just know it was a chestnut paste surrounded by a sweet red bean paste. Yep, it was as tasty as it sounds. No wonder there were so few fat Japanese if that's what they call candy.
That experience over, I headed on to Leicester Square and the gift shops. Picked up the stuff I wanted and was done. I've been trying to get rid of my copper for several days and I finally managed to drop it in a charity bucket for tsunami relief - there was a group of bagpipers playing in the square.
I hated leaving the husband cooped up in bed all day, but I'm glad I went out. I had a nice time on my own. I do hope he feels better tomorrow so we can get out together.
Breakfast? Back to the bars - dark chocolate raspberry. Still my favorite.
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