Covent Garden

Murdoch had an early (and short) walk in the woods this morning as we had an early appointment at the vet for his annual innoculations. I have always taken him to the same veterinary practice but today there was a vet who I had not met before, a male vet (which is unusual as all the vets these days seem to be female.) He was fantastic, had such a good manner with Murdoch and gave him a very thorough check up and declared him well but a little chubby –  ideally he needs to lose about 1kg.

Then it was back home to rush onto the computer to book opera tickets for a performance next April…this is London, and these things get so booked up. Booking opened up at 9am this morning and I was still able to get some decent tickets an hour later.

I then went to London to meet some friends for a Christmas lunch, although we met at a Peruvian restaurant in Covent Garden and certainly did not eat Christmas fare. We all shared a few unusual starters (which were really like tapas) - things like ceviche mixto, which is a mixture of raw fish in tiger's milk - no, not real tiger's milk - it is the Peruvian term for the citrus-based marinade that cures the seafood in a ceviche. The food was delicious and unusual, and I would like to go back there.

I had planned to stay on until sunset to get some photos of the beautiful Christmas lights in London - but I have camera club tonight and realised I would not have time to do so. So instead, you get an image of St Martin's Lane where A Christmas Carol is being performed at the Noel Coward Theatre, and that's as Christmassy as this gets!