We woke up blissfully well-rested and wondering what to do on our only Sunday in London over our morning cigarettes and breakfast. First on our 'itinerary' was the West Minister Abbey not far from Victoria tube but we ended up at the Cathedral (thinking it was the Abbey) and walked into the serene Sunday service. Starving at almost 2pm and in the thick of the mid-day summer heat, we stumbled upon the nearby historic
Albert Victorian pub - originally known as Blue Coat Boy. The pub was built in 1845 and apparently frequented by royalty and parliament members.
Wasting no time, we tucked into the kick-arse pub grub and lager-top, gobbling up the chunky 'award-winning' pork, apple and cider sausages with caramalised onions and mash (6.25 pounds) and a generous portion of cottage pie with peas, carrots and slathered with a lipsmacking thick meaty gravy (5.75 pounds)... as you could see, it was really yummmy. The ambience of the pub was also quaint and authentic, with its old polished wood and antique Victorian glass.
Our next stop was Camden, which was how I remembered it, except it was much cleaner and there were more markets. I also didn't recall the dodgy characters whispering "marijuana?" and the public display of 'magic mushrooms' on sale! In comparison, the indoor Old Spitalfields Market and Up Sunday Market were more charming and offered more original stuff by local young designers. But do go early becos we arrived late at 5pm and most stalls are closing up. Dammit!
So we consoled ourselves with our second lagertop of the day at this Ten Bells Pub, which soon escalated into the third, fourth and fifth one (who's counting)! The pub had probably seen better days but still it retained a scruffy run-down charm which was authentic and not replicated. Lucius' Spanish friends had a private do on the 2nd floor and we were soon swigging pints with his English mates Luke (who had a recovering black eye), Martin (who was dreading to go back to Swindon), Rob (a deadringer for a young Ian Brown), Sharon (cool S'porean gal) and plenty of hilarious characters.
Just into my third pint on an empty stomach, I was doing the tango with his Colombian mate Carlos while the sky was still bright outside at 9.30pm! The party moved to this underground bar aptly named 'Public Life' becos it used to be a public toilet and we had to pay 1 quid to get in! Hungry and tired, we left soon to catch our last train back. Needless to say we had a full day!
As the holiday kicked in, I was beginning to feel really, really lazy and happly realxed of course. A classic sign was when you found yourself humming out loud to some silly made-up tunes stuck in your head. Someone please stop me! *Grin* And I should be updating my blog more often but it's hard when you get back after a long day of sensory overload and a few lagertops (ok I only had one yesterday!). 
Today we had spent the whole day walking after a full English breakfast; checking out the fabulous Salvador Dali exhibition (mind-blowing shit) at County Hall, the West Minister Abbey and Big Ben across the River Thames. We then strolled past no. 10 Downing Street and the Queen's House Guards, where we tried to stare the horses and guards down. They were scarily still.
Our tourist trail continued (bear with me) from the bustling Trafalgar Square to Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus and Covent Garden where we stopped for our first pint at the White Lion (ok I shared it with James!) and chomped down the Cornish pasty (looked like our curry puffs but damn good - try the pork & apple at St Ives). There were more shops than I recalled at Covent Garden but everything was still expensive despite the sale (so no presents ladies! haha). 
We ended up in Soho and Chinatown homeground (where I noted Young Cheung and Wong Kei!) and bought some ridiculously expensive Chinese ingredients for the dinner which I promised Lucius. Imagine a bunch of withered kailan was 2.25pounds = S$6.75, yucky poo! After getting over the shock with a pint at the Tottenham Court pub, we went over to Lucius' new flat at Finsbury Park where I whipped up some Hainanese chicken rice in his tiny kitchen for him, his flatmate, J and I. Everyone gobbled it up which was a good sign! 
The next day J and I went to Chinatown again to buy roast meats and vegetables for another fabulous homecooked dinner for our hosts before our departure. After dinner, we went out for drinks with Simon (J's hilariously flirtatious friend from Liverpool) at these 2 bars where we also met Zoe who went to college with the DJ Seb Fontaine! Then there was DJ Tomski, a Canadian who was spinning at Sand who said he could get us a stay at The Hilton Barcelona for 50 euros (but it never happpened!).
