Good nosh in Notting Hill

Jobs applied for: 3; Response from agents: 1 (general, not job-related). Jules: 4, 1.

In more cheery news, we went for a pub walk through Notting Hill and Holland Park with London Walks on Saturday night. I didn’t go with high expectations but we all had a great time. The general idea is that you turn up at the tube station at a certain time, pay your £5.50 and trot around the neighbourhood with a guide who tells you all about the history of the area and takes you to a couple of tiny, tucked-away, old pubs that you wouldn’t have found on your own.

In the course of the walk, we learnt where the phrase ‘daylight robbery’ comes from. We came upon a large square house on a corner, with all the windows on one side bricked up. The story goes that at one time in London, there was a tax on clocks. The obvious drawback of this was that it was very hard to tell how many clocks someone had in their house. So the government decided to tax windows instead, because at least you could count those from the street. Objecting to the idea of having to pay for daylight, Londoners bricked up windows left right and centre, especially those in the upper floors where the servants slept. What seems weird to me, though, is why, having bought your £2 million mansion in Holland Park, you wouldn’t put the windows back in now. Apparently nobody wants to look across the street into their neighbours’ house, but surely a simple net curtain would fix that? But no, apparently it is better to have a dark and dingy house. All right, perhaps not dingy exactly, at least not in Holland Park…

We also learnt that before street numbering, all invitations to dinner included an illustration of the fanlight over the host’s front door. All the fanlights in the street would be different, and the host would light the front hall so guests could see which house they had been invited to. Now a lot of the fanlights are pretty similar, but in some areas of London, like Bloomsbury Square, the old fanlights have been preserved – must remember to go and have a look.

One pub we visited was called The Windsor Castle, because when it was built you could see Windsor Castle from upstairs. Not a chance of that now!

After the pub walk we went to a nice little European-type restaurant, where I had a french onion soup and a chocolate mousse. Mmm.

Speaking of food, I now know why we got fatter last time we lived here. You walk into Sainsbury's Local and it is just full of ready meals and donuts. And the vegetable section is full of empty plastic bins, where the few vegetables that came in in the morning used to live. As Jules said, with 4 jam donuts costing 45p, why wouldn't you buy them?

Today I saw a fantastic-looking job at a website with the slogan "The London guide for Londoners". Then I found out it is based in Ashford in Kent! Honestly! Still apparently that is only an hour from Charing Cross so I might apply. I only hope that's not an hour by Eurostar or it could prove uneconomic!