High Tea with Pete and Shirley, March 24

Once again, we woke up to snow and cold.  The northern parts of the U.K. had serious snow fall and drifts which buried cars.
Annie, Will, Ewan and Adam came over in the morning.  Mark and I left at 12:30 to drive a mere 7 miles into Streatham to Pete and Shirley's house to meet up with Pete for the trip into London to have high tea at the County Hall on the Thames across from Parliament.  The satellite navigation estimated a 27 minute journey.  Ha!  It took over an hour with the last two miles taking over half an hour due to the dreaded road works. Four big road works delays.

When we finally arrived, we had two minutes to catch a bus to the train at Clapham Common.  But, all was well and we made it to County Hall only a little late for our 2:30 reservation.  But, it was all worth it.  What a lovely, grand building, once the seat of the city government, but now owned by the Marriott.  And, what a sumptuous meal.....endless tea and champagne, amazing scones with clotted cream, delicate sandwiches featuring smoked salmon, cucumbers, and egg, topped by beautifully decorated tea cakes.      We lingered there chatting away and eating away until past 7 being totally spoiled by attentive staff and watching the world go by on the Thames and Big Ben lit up across the river.  To top it off, we took a taxi back to Streatham, where we continued to chat and to see the redecorating being tackled at Pete and Shirley's.  We arrived back in West Wickham around 9:30, with no traffic at all in about only 20 minutes.  A lovely, rather decadent Sunday.