Sunday 29 March

This morning I had a slow start ( helped by daylight saving starting) . I went to a church service in Holy Trinity church in Sloane Square. I went because the daughter of friends used to sing in the choir. It is a nice church – building started in 1888 – Gothic – known as the Arts and Crafts church. William Morris designed some of the bits. It was a ‘smells and bells’ service – too much smells’- the incense started to get up my nose. Apparently some years ago the church addressed the ‘bums on seats’ problem by hiring professional choiristers. The music was lovely – they sang an anthem during communion and lots of other bits. There were several hundred people at the service. I did not see one male over 25 without a jacket. I was definitely the least ‘well dressed’ female.

After church I went on the ordinary ferry service from Embankment to Greenwich. This took about 40 minutes. It was good. I had the ‘walking along the thames’ guide with me so I did not need a commentary – there is quite a lot of detail in the pamphlets. It was interesting to see the development along the river. At Greenwich I bought a quick sandwich and then went straight back to Embankment on the next but one ferry.

I walked to the Wolsely, next to the Ritz., where I met 2 friends of my elder daughter – 1 who I visited before in London and another friend. We had to wait for a little while for a table, but we had a good table in the corner of this lovely old room – high ceilings, twiddly bits, gleaming silver. We had afternoon tea and enjoyed chatting, the occasion, the sandwiches, scones and tiny little cakes and plenty of tea. I donot need any more food today.