The Anonymous Widower

Christmas Shopping Completed

I got everything I needed in Oxford Street this afternoon.  The strangest request I had was to get six lemons for Christmas Day from my son.  In John Lewis, they were in fours, so he got eight.

Some parts of Oxford Street were seriously manic, but none as much so as Selfridges, where I was picking something up. John Lewis was quite quiet, but when I enquired about blinds for my house, the assistant said that a lot of their departments are quiet over Christmas and pick up in January.  So as their sales are up four percent on last year, they are doing very well.  Although the food department in the basement had the longest queue to pay, I’ve ever seen in a shop.

After I left Selfridges, I had intended to take the 30 bus which stops at the end of my road, but they seemed to be thin on the ground, so I took a 274 to the Angel, where I knew I’d be able to get any of five to get home.

The 274 bus brought back many memories, as it effectively took the route of the old 74 to Camden Town and then meandered towards the Angel.  We’d used 74s many times when we lived in St. John’s Wood in the 1970s to get to and from Oxford Street and Knightsbridge. The route used Routemasters and you had to be quick to fold the double push-chair and stow it under the stairs, before someone else grabbed the space. C would regularly do the trip with three children under four on her own. Mothers today have it so easy.

The 274 will be a useful bus for me, as it connects so easily to where I live.  Either I can take another bus from the Angel or a train from Cmden Road or Caledonian Road and Barnsbury to Canonbury and then walk.

Today I did the simple thing and got a bus down the Essex Road.

December 23, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel, World | Buses, Islington, Shopping