After a busy day exploring part of the East End, Docklands and Greenwich, we decide to head across the river to a pub featuring an open mic night and, supposedly, a menu of pub grub.

Our mode of transport for this adventure is the 76 bus to Waterloo. The 76 bus sets off South on City Road and down through the financial heart of London at Bank, before trundling along through the traffic on Fleet Street and The Strand.

We pass the courts and Australia House before our front seats on the top deck of our big red bus gives us an excellent passing view of St Pauls.

Gradually the traffic sorts itself out and we turn Southward across the Waterloo Bridge and around the roundabout, under the overpass before stepping off the bus. 

It’s just a bit late for a Waterloo Sunset but in time to catch the lights of the London Eye as it spins in front of jet streams away up there above.

We walk to the Stage Door; a small local pub where singer songwriters are taking part in the regular Sunday Open Mic night.  Unfortunately, the kitchen is closed on a Sunday so we’re forced to leave the music behind and go in search of sustenance.  We find that our next choice, All Bar One has also stopped serving dinner for the night and, with the help of a friendly cabbie we end up in Covent Garden at Balthazar, a replica of the same restaurant in lower Manhattan.  Balthazar is just at the back of the Covent Gardens markets and close to the venue for London Fashion Week.  We chat to the waitress about the number of slim, tall women in the restaurant and she confirms that they’ve been selling ‘lots of salads; and oysters!’  Apparently oysters have a great level of protein and a host of minerals and vitamins without carbs. I guess it’s a shame that I don’t eat oysters; but then, I’m a long way from being a model. We have a chuckle on our way home as the billboard outside Shoreditch Grind, proclaims: “Please do not feed the models. #lfw”

Time for a rest.