It has taken a little while to recover from our wild weekend in London but at last it is time to chronicle the passing of a milestone for Frank – the big 60! It was his weekend to plan whatever he wanted and he wanted… records! So to the big vinyl market in Spitalfileds we went. It is held the first and third Fridays of each month so we needed to be there a few days before his birthday. No problem!

We headed down to London on Thursday night on the Caledonian sleeper. Yup, like in the old movies! We had a cabin with a double bed and a “bathroom” – a closet that doubled as a toilet and a shower. Very entertaining! We left Aberdeen at 9:45 and had some prosecco and snacks in the dining car before heading to what we expected to be a peaceful night with the gentle rocking of the train to lull us to sleep. HAH! That might have been the case if it didn’t feel like the tracks didn’t quite line up and a few of the wheels were ready to come off! The rattle of the carriage as we barrelled throught the darkness was anything but soothing. And then there was the “bathroom” door which didn’t quite shut snuggly and so knocked incessantly until we stuffed towels in the latch. So a goodnight’s sleep was not to be found – but it was an experience!

So we were a little trainlagged (?) when we arrived in London and made our way from Euston to Spitalfields where our AirBnB was located – right across the street from the market! And right upstairs from a fish and chip shop! With the front door in an alley behind rubbish bins! Yay! 🫤 But we are intrepid travellers so we dropped our backpacks and headed for the market where the next several hours was spent rifling through vinyl old and new.

We then spent the rest of the day wandering around the east end. For all the times we had been there, it was always just a stop on the way to somewhere else so to actually spend 3 days there was definitely a different experience. We were AMAZED by the street art in Shoreditch, where hipsters and vintage clothing stores are amazingly thick on the ground. Here’s just a sample. The photos don’t do justice.

To be honest, most of the weekend was spent walking around, looking for records, eating things we don’t get in Aberdeen (Peruvian, Vietnamese, etc.) and just relaxing. We spent as much time out and about as possible, avoiding the stuffiness of the flat – opening the windows during the hours that the chippy was open was not advisable! – and day drinking. They’ve elevated it to an Olympic sport in London with “happy hour” specials for the entire day on Saturday. And of course we had to join in the fun… although it actually wasn’t our idea…. really!

If you followed our adventures in Portugal on the travel blog, you may recall the Hungarian friends we made at our cooking class. Well one of them actually lives in London so Alexa met us for lunch and then suggested that we try the cool cocktail bar down the street. And everything went weird from there! It was two-for-one that afternoon so you order one drink and get two. They obviously weren’t as strong but there was no measuring going on and just lots of beverages being handed round. The crowd was quite lively. We were well into our second or third round of two fisted drinking when the bar staff started dancing on the bar and throwing ice. And so it went for the entire afternoon. Alexa headed off to meet other friends and we managed to find somewhere to eat and get back to the flat without too much mishap.

Sunday was more of the same with stops at Brick Lane Petticoat Lane market. We had covered Camden Lock the day before so we had the east end street market scene pretty much covered. So we watched Spain score against England (the only goal… ugh) and then headed one of Frank’s favorite breweries to quaff more beverages. We ended the day with an Indian on the famous Brick Lane before it was time to get ready to pack for home. We were taking the train home as well but this time NOT the sleeper but first class on one of the long distance trains. Monday was the big day itself so everyone wished Frank a happy birthday and we enjoyed the free drinks in first class all the way to Aberdeen. Now it is time to let the liver recover.

Now back to reality….