Nothing to grouse about

Yesterday I went up to London to attend the annual Grouse Dinner at the Oxford and Cambridge Club.

Having travelled up by coach myself I met up with my host at Victoria Station and then, walking along by the side of Buckingham Palace managed to trip over my feet on the pavement. Fortunately I was unhurt if alittle shaken and had afriend with me. A passer-by was all for calling an ambulance - no wonder the NHS is at full stretch - but I got to my feet and continued along our journey, reflecting that I had, perhaps, managed to seemingly perform a proskynesis to the Sovereign...

London being London we managed to meet acquaintances in The Mall by pure chance before going to meet another friend at the Red luion pub opposite St James' Palace before going to the O and C.

We sat in the roof garden overlooking Marlborough House before the reception and dinner, which was in the Princess Marie Louise Room - that part of the Club was formerly the residence of H.H. Princess Marie Louise. This was a suitably opulent setting for such an occasion and a good opportunity to meet up with many old friends from Oxford and to catch up on their news.

Afterwards we adjourned to the bar and then back to the roof garden for more drinks and a cigar, before I made my way back to the coach pick up point and my host returned to south London.

An excellent and enjoyable evening - and nothing to grouse about ( save perhaps two more than usually sore knees).

An evening in London

Yesterday afternoon I went up to London and arrived there in good time for my dinner engagement. This gave me the opportunity to call in at Westminster Cathedral so as to be able to renew in a Catholic church my baptismal promises on the anniversary of my christening. This I did just before the cathedral closed.

I then walked through the modern development opposite the cathedral piazza and came out on Buckingham Palace Road. After looking at the rather appealing items on sale in the window of the Buckingham Palace Shop I walked past the palace and into The Mall, and past Clarence House round and across Friary Court and past the Queen's Chapel into Pall Mall. There is still, despite the armed police at the Palace gates, something very relaxed and informal about the setting of these royal residences. At the same time they emanate a sense of continuity and stability far removed from the bustling comings and goings of politicians at Westmisnter and Downing Street. These are historic places, but the history is living.

My destination was the Oxford and Cambridge Club where I met up with a friend for dinner. This was, as I expected it to be, an eminently agreeable occasion, catching up on one another's news and having good food and wine. The O&C has very fine rooms, and is beautifully maintained and clearly popular. Inevitably we ran into another acquaintance from Oxford, before setting off homewards, arriving back in Oxford at 2.10 am, with the prospect of a meeting at 10am - which I made.