Portobello Road this morning

The day starts gently in Blenheim Crescent, at Books for Cooks - that impossibly tiny space that not only offers seemingly every cookbook in print but also dishes up wondrous treats from its test kitchen at the back of the shop.


Could there be a better combination than books, cake and coffee?


Outside, fortified by the rites of holy coffee and an indulgent slab of freshly baked almond cake, we make our way at snail's pace through the jostling crowds.
Lunch reservations are abandoned in favour of street food!






And a little antiquing never hurt anybody ...




Time for tea ...


Wait - is this Audrey Hepburn in the vintage lingerie shop?


Best of all was doing it with old friends ...