I'm happy to report that my house survived Friday night's Hallowe'en party. At least that's what I've been told.

On Friday, Gord got back from class early enough to join me at the lunchtime concert at St. Mary Abbots Church. We heard a recorder trio playing Bach and some much earlier music, and the Alea Quartet performing Brahms's String Quarter in C minor. Another group of talented students. We then went to a restaurant across the street called Maggie Jones, which a student had recommended highly (we had also passed it many times and read about it in the Zagat's guide). It was very good, but the portions were huge.

Saturday morning we went to Borough Market, a wholesale and retail food market in Southwark (pronounced "suthuck") in South London by the London Bridge station. It was incredible, definitely the best food market I had ever been to, and it seemed that half of London was there! There were stalls devoted to everything you can imagine, olives, cheeses (one that sold only parmigiano reggiano), breads, chocolate, flowers, and of course fresh produce. You could even buy a rabbit or a quail (see photo). We picked up many bags of food for our dinner party that night. We made it home later than we intended, partly because the market was so neat and partly because the subway was so crowded (we had to pass up the first train because there was no room, waited almost ten minutes for the next one, only to be crammed in with someone's bookbag in my back most of the way), but it was definitely well worth it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon preparing our meal and, after J, J, R, and A arrived, we spent the next five hours serving and eating it. And, of course, drinking and talking and discussing, including a lively conversation on public versus private education. They are really delightful people. I have now moved Cairo, South Africa, and New Orleans up higher on my list of must-see places. Oh and we now have some beautiful fresh flowers in the flat, thanks to our friends. I must tell you that I have been admiring the flowers here in London on a daily basis and have wanted to buy some, but unfortunately I'm still converting pounds to dollars. So thank you so much for them. And for the very special chocolates. (Confession: they were especially delicious with my coffee this morning!) Oh and the dessert and wine, too. And, by the way, we still have your Lord of the Rings DVD set!

Today was rainy and a good day to stay indoors, doing the NY Times Sunday Crossword, blogging, indulging in chocolate, enjoying the flowers, reading, indulging in more chocolate, eating leftovers.