I have been commuting to my new job now for a month. People keep telling me that I am mad, but I actually like commuting! Except when there is a traffic jam; or if someone has the temerity to sit next to me - the nerve!
To minimise the chance of both, I have been experimenting with which bus to take. The earlier I go the smaller the chance of traffic jams, so I like to take a bus before 06:00. If I skip breakfast at home I can be ready in half an hour and take an early bus, and once in London indulge in one of my favourite past times - a nice long cooked breakfast with the newspapers! Jam is so much better on hot buttered toast than on the motorway .....
You would have thought that early buses would attract fewer passengers than later buses, but that isn't necessarily the case - if I take the one that leaves 20 minutes before my regular bus, it is actually fuller than my regular one. Once I seriously pushed the boat out and took the 04:30 one - superfast journey and half-empty bus, but what was I supposed to be doing in London at 05:45?
The trouble is that I can't start working before 08:00, and most breakfast joints don't open until 07:00 - the day I took the 04:30 I walked across London for an hour, to fill in the time between the arrival of my bus and the opening times of breakfast places, but it was a cold morning and I was tired and it wasn't as good an experience as I had imagined. So I decided to stick to my regular bus, which regurgitates me at Marble Arch shortly before 7, give or take a few minutes.
The first breakfast place I patronised was Bill's, ten minutes away from my work. Great breakfast food, free newspapers, and good service - but freezing cold! I went four days in a row, and every time I was told by the staff firstly that 'it wasn't that cold!' and secondly that 'it was just that day - usually it is much warmer!' I gave them up as a bad bet - having breakfast huddled under my shawl for warmth isn't a good start to the day.
Next I moved on to the Holborn Dining Room. It is attached to a hotel, and has very innovative breakfast dishes, which are sometimes better and sometimes different than expected. They also have free newspapers, and extremely friendly staff. But they are expensive, especially considering the portion sizes, and ambitious - they plan to fill their restaurant with customers to the brim asap. These are serious drawbacks. If they have too many customers there won't be enough newspapers to go around and service will deteriorate, and since breakfast is the main meal of my day small portions are a big No No. Update 18/05/15 I have started to frequent the place again, having ascertained that there is a cheap option available: toast and jam, which, together with coffee, can be had for £6.75! Very nice bread, and jam which looks and tastes home made. Also, I noticed that they increased the number of newspapers in proportion to their number of customers. So, all in all, a winner!
Paul's Boulangerie, just down the road, is very nice, of course, but their breakfast dishes are extremely limited. Also they have no free newspapers, and the staff consider early sit-down customers as nuisances and treat them rather badly - not what I need to start my day. I tried them twice, and then left to explore other options.
After intensive Googling I chanced upon Beppe's at 23 West Smithfields. It is an old-fashioned Italian family run place, with huge portions and low prices, and a varied and friendly clientele. Officially they open at 07:00, but if one shows early it is not a problem. I went there several times, but had to abandon it, too. Firstly, no newspapers and it is rather cold at that time in the morning. Secondly, it takes me ten minutes to walk there, and fifteen to walk from there to work, so getting there and back takes half an hour out of my morning. Which is fine if I take the earlier bus - but that bus is overcrowded and people try to sit next to me! Also I have to get up 20 minutes earlier.
http://www.localdatasearch.com/london/the_city/cafe_tearoom/beppes_cafe-10022419
Being thus betwixt and between and at a loss for what to do for breakfast, I noticed, well concealed behind scaffolding, a breakfast venue I had not hitherto considered, just a few meters from my arrival bus stop - Lanes at the Marriott Hotel.
Now I have rather fond memories of the Portland Marriott hotel, but this particular one was in my bad books. About a decade ago I once went there in the morning before meeting friends for a Christmas dinner. To transport the presents, which were fragile, I had put them into a wicker basket. And I wore tweeds. And when I went to the restaurant in search of food, the serving staff asked me pointedly whether I had ever eaten in a hotel before? Did I realise they cost more than McDonalds? They must have thought I was a country bumpkin on a day out in London, blinded by the big lights and foolish enough to venture into a real hotel. Darn cheek!
Well, this time I wasn't going to take any funny stuff from them! I looked around the place imperiously and demanded a table and newspaper in my best genteel commando voice! I needn't have bothered. The place was empty, except for a very solicitous Polish waitress who pampered me to within an inch of my life and more than made up for my earlier bad experience. So, I think I may have at last found the perfect breakfast venue - on the way to the Underground station, so no time loss; free newspapers - they even have the International New York Times! very nice food - I had the English breakfast and could barely finish it; and OK prices - not cheap, but given the portion sizes acceptable.
Update 18/05/15 I had to drop this breakfast venue, sadly, after having been treated with less respect than I expect. Six times I was forbidden to sit at my accustomed table, because someone staying in the hotel had reserved it. Which would have been OK if they had showed up! But having to sit on a sub-standard table, huddled in the draft, trying to both read the paper and have breakfast on a small table, while one's favourite seat remains empty a few meters away, is not a good way to start the day. I know when I am not loved! For three months I had breakfast there every day, but they would not reserve the table for me, just for others. And I had planned to go there every day until I retire in ten years time ....
