A visit to London

Have just got back from a two day visit to London - what have I learnt?

1) That the smart colour for a smart car is black

2) That the ultimate smart car is a Range Rover - in black of course - bye bye Mercedes  nobody -or at least not the uber rich in Knightsbridge/St James area - seems to love you anymore.

3) That- although it is now the season of  ' mist and mellow fruitfulness'  the enthusiasm for London by Chinese tourists is unabated - and - therefor - the chorus of pleas for the government to relax visa requirements on Chinese tourists seems a waste of space -the British Museum - which -not having visited it for forty odd years I spent a morning in - was swarming with Chinese and later - while wandering down Knightsbridge -and my wife and I decided to pop into Harrods that too was simply awash with them.

4)   Harrods: If you need to know the price of something - anyway a handbag -you shouldn't be shopping there.  We wandered through the leather goods and handbag department peering at the goodies but slightly amazed that nobody had bothered to put the prices on them ! My wife - happy though with her look alike Prada bag slung over her shoulder - bought from an obliging black man  on a pavement in Barcelona for £15 - eventually summoned up the courage to ask an assistant how much some perfectly ordinary looking - to me - handbag was - be told £2,250!

Have I learnt anything else - Oh yes - the best museum experience in London is the Sir John Soane Museum Lincoln Inn Fields - it is intimate, eccentric and a monument to a great architect and Englishman and it is free (not many Chinese either)