Second blog entry

I wonder whether this will become a habit.

Sunday 14th November

I had no plans for lunch today, but I got a text from my (80 year old) father (he has only recently discovered SMS, so it is all still a bit new to him!), telling me that he was on the train back from Paris to London, and could I recommend somewhere to go for lunch. I did a bit of googling, and made some suggestions, and then I invited myself out for lunch with them.

I had, of course, forgotten that there was no direct service from East Croydon to St Pancras, which would have been perfect, but I still got there reasonably well via London Bridge and the Northern Line (one of very few Underground lines which were running!), and we met in the Betjeman Arms in St Pancras station - http://www.geronimo-inns.co.uk/thebetjemanarms/. I have been there before, but not in the dining rooms at the back. I had told my father that the pub was upstairs in the station, near the statue but, on the way there myself, I realised that you can't see the statue from the escalators, so I told him to head for the clock instead. Unfortunately, he didn't get that text until he was already at the statue, and it turns out, you can't see the clock at all from there! So, that didn't help! :)

It's not bad for a station pub, although the service was bewilderingly bad for the whole time we were there. I ordered the butter bean hummus to share as a starter, because I speculated that it would take some time for the mains to arrive, but it never came. There was no nut roast on offer, and the vegetarian special had cheese in it, so I had the pumpkin and pearl barley risotto. It was as tasteless as it sounds, and with that strange sweetness which often comes with pumpkin, and which I dislike. My father was happy with his roast beef and all the trimmings, though. For pudding I had the lemon posset and, seriously, I can do much better than that myself. It was far too set, and I wonder if it had something added to it to make it so.

I probably will visit this pub again, because it is a convenient place to meet, but not for Sunday lunch.