Woke today to sunshine and a blue sky. However, the minute I stepped out onto the street the wind made me wish I had not bothered to do anything to my hair. As the shoppers had not really got into stride (most stores don’t open until 10) we had a quiet amble down Regent Street and Haymarket and on down to the river. Over the bridge I had hoped to scour the supposedly daily Southbank book fair previously visited on a Saturday when it was quite extensive and a weekday when there was only one vendor. Unfortunately there was no sign of anyone under Waterloo Bridge. So it was back over the bridge and on up to Covent Garden. Everyone was up and about by now and there were various street performers in full swing. After a coffee stop we browsed the craft market and the Jubilee Market and noted several things that would make good presents for various people. After that we wandered around, stopping by Stanfords and Foyles where we had some lunch. I spotted an interesting book on forest gardening but as it was quite a large tome, decided to postpone buying it as I didn’t fancy lugging it back on the train. The languages department at Foyles is now much more extensive than when I visited it 30 years ago looking for a Zulu phrasebook before going on my elective. Shopped out by mid afternoon we were back at the RSM for rest and the papers. This evening we had a lovely leisurely dinner with Charles Burch in Islington to round off an only too rare day when the only thing we had to do was turn up at a restaurant