Hodgepodge Alternative - Date Night

No Hodgepodge questions to answer today so I shall just have to waffle a bit on our date night last night.

For my birthday my daughter bought me a voucher for a meal at a restaurant in town.  Now when I say "in town" I refer to the central part of London.  We live on the East side so our main line terminus is Liverpool Street and anywhere beyond that is in town as far as I'm concerned.

There hadn't been a good time to use the voucher but, fortunately, I noticed that it expired next week so hubby and I planned to use it yesterday.  The restaurant was within walking distance of Liverpool Street station so the plan was for him to make his way there after work and I would join him.  Our table was booked for 7.30 pm.

I dithered about what to wear.  I wanted something comfortable around the waist.  Nothing worse than trying to eat a meal when your waistline is expanding but your clothes aren't!  Eventually I decided that I ought to make an effort and opted for a dress that I've only worn a few times which is smart but comfortable.  Of course this led to a debate about shoes.

I needed something comfortable to be able to walk to the station but also something that would look right with the dress and cope with rain.  (Although fortunately it stayed dry last night.)  Sorting through my shoes I came across a pair I'd forgotten I'd bought!  That makes it sounds as if I have loads of shoes and I really don't.  These were a black court shoe with a low stiletto heel.  I bought them back in February intending them to be worn for work but then of course I didn't go to work and the poor shoes have been languishing in a box of shoes in the wardrobe ever since!

Anyway they seemed reasonably comfortable so I thought I would take a chance on them.  Well it's a good thing they were made for walking as I had extra walking to do!  I arrived at the station with plenty of time to meet hubby.  Trains are usually quite frequent (roughly every 10 minutes) but not yesterday.  There had been problems earlier apparently.  The 19.04 was cancelled and the 19.14 was not expected until 19.22.  I didn't panic too much, just told hubby I would meet him at the restaurant instead and that he should go straight there and explain I was slightly delayed.

Well slightly became substantially when they announced that the 19.24 train was also cancelled.  Hang on, what about the 19.14?  That seemed to disappear into a black hole.  Never to be mentioned again.  Although the helpful Temi from TFL (Transport for London) did keep announcing, EVERY COUPLE OF MINUTES, that they were very sorry for the inconvenience caused.  In the end I decided my best option was to walk down to the bus stop and catch a bus into Stratford station where I could get the tube to Liverpool Street.  

As I was walking down to the bus stop I watched 3 buses go past.  Ever had the feeling that you were just not meant to get where you're headed?  I definitely did, especially as when I got to the bus stop the buses due were not the ones which go directly to the station in Stratford.  I had to catch one that left me with a walk through the shopping centre to the station.  As I said, good thing the shoes were fit for walking in.

I eventually arrived at the restaurant at 8.00 pm but it wasn't a problem.  We had a lovely meal, including a glass of champagne each which was included as part of the deal and we managed to get through a bottle of wine.

Hubby had a starter of Goat's Cheese samosa with mixed herbs, beetroot and apple and elderflower fluid gel, followed by pan fried salmon with green beans, carrots, artichoke, potatoes and fish cream
I opted for the main course of  pan fried duck with courgette, carrot, beetroot, potatoes and carrot puree followed by a raspberry dessert.  I couldn't find the description of that on their website but all of it was delicious.  

It was a lovely relaxing evening and the journey home was absolutely fine but I was very glad to kick those shoes off once we arrived home.