Sunday in the park in London

Regent's Park was glorious in the Sunday afternoon sun and Londoners have taken to sidewalk cafes and Sunday shopping like ants to the sugar bowl. These pleasures didn't exist in England when I was young! Mid-October and the weather here is sunny and warm enough for just a light jacket. The parks on Sunday afternoon were filled with people of all languages taking their dogs and children for a walk, the leaves are turning yellow and beginning to fall, but still plenty of green trees and colourful flowers abound.

After enjoying coffee, the Sunday papers, and the company of various scotty, dachshund, labradoodle, and other designer doggies in Regent's Park, I walked down Baker St (stopped only by eastern european tourists " excuse me, are you a local? Do you know where the Sherlock Holmes museum is?) to Oxford St, jammed with crowds of Sunday shoppers. For the first time ever (and I love this about London - there's always something new to discover) I chanced upon a crack between the shops that led to St. Christopher's Place and discovered aromatic sidewalk cafes with southern european street musicians and a relaxed mediterranean atmosphere of Sunday afternoon lingering over coffee and conversation. How England has changed!

My shopping mecca, Marks and Spencer, disappointed. In the children's section I found clothing targeted at 3 - 5 year old boys, military fatigue-style with " Little Soldier" emblazoned across the front of khaki-coloured t-shirts. I doubt the designers and marketing folks at M&S know what the life of a real " little soldier" is like...I am tempted to go and talk to them about it.