The Muffin Man

So I'm back from another wonderful visit to London.  It went so fast, I hardly had a moment to let it all sink in, so here we are now.  I thought I'd kick off my coverage of the trip with the next to last day, because why do things in order?  Also, I'm reaching into the far past (for me, that is) to realize the present.  

Though I've strayed here and there, Kensington remains one of my favorite parts of London.  In fact, though we stayed in Southall that very first time in 1994 - it was close to the airport but a good distance from anything else - Pam and I chose as our first destination Kensington, and I have to admit, the first place we ate was Pizza Hut.  Yeah, not even Pizza Express.  Although since then I've grown well away from Pizza Hut, and my stomach thanks me for that, I liked seeing this particular one every time I came back to London.  

The pretty building's still here.  That's great.  Still, it's now a memory added to my list of other past-and-gone places, like Kensington Market, and Shelley's shoe store apparently, to mention a few in stone's throw of this picture:

However, just as London is a constantly changing city, there are always some mainstays.  Thankfully The Muffin Man, which I've mentioned plenty of times, was waiting for me once again.

It looks like they're given the outside a paint job recently.  I could be wrong, but it seemed brighter.  It's a wonderful color.

I was seated in the middle of the shop, which normally makes me kind of nervous.  In fact, for a very short time I thought I felt a panic coming on, but I did a quick stretch and all was well.  In truth, I think I was just a bit overexcited to be back in a favorite place.  My poor delicate psyche.

These ladies had my favorite spot in the shop, but I won't begrudge them as they looked so happy!  And how could you not be?

YAY!!!

I'd had a Full English Breakfast earlier in the day.  In fact, I'd had three in the entire trip.  It was my substitute food coma for the afternoon teas I guess.  So I kept it simple at this point - tea with milk, unsweetened, and two still amazing scones with that unbelievably good clotted cream and strawberry jam,  Pair this with a book I'd just picked up the night before at Waterstone's in Angel, Islington, and it was a tea time fit for a happy me!

The Muffin Man: a living legend.