Great girl's day out!

Romy and I met up the other day to have our pampering with a mini-manicure and pedicure at One Aldwych. We decided to try the Delaunay for lunch beforehand. We had plenty of time, and exchanged Christmas presents. Romy gave me a super wallet which will go with everything, a brilliant art calendar, some great Spanish scarves and the most amazingly kitsch plate, with heavy gilding around the outside and little putti artists painting and drawing. This will be perfect in my 'antique' boudoir. The Delaunay is part of the Wolseley group, and whereas the Zedel has a definite French accent, the Delaunay has an Austrian flavour. I ordered tarte flambee, and Romy had smoked salmond and beetroot served with pumpernickel for starters. I have to say mine looked like an oversized pizza, but was fortunately wafer thin, very crispy, with cheese and bacon. Since we had decided to indulge in a pudding, we thought we would hold back on the mains and both ordered a hot dog with mash, onions and sauerkraut. It was, of course, enormous. Having plenty of time, we opted for the shared Salzburg souffle, with apricot sauce, which took 20 minutes to prepare. When it came in three large mounds, representing the three hills of Salzburg, heads turned towards our table. It was of course, deliciously light and fluffy, despite the large size. We finished up with coffee before staggering out to One Aldwych. When we arrived we were given a guided tour around the spa and regretted we had not taken bathing costumes as we could have had a swim in the heated pool, which would have been excellent. However, we were very happy to have our treatments in a shared room so we could chat. Romy opted for a beautiful beigy frosted varnish on finger and toenails, while I decided to just have my fingernails done with a clear varnish, but they spent quite a long time massaging creams into hands and feet, which was very relaxing. We leapt into a cab and shared a bottle of cava with Nicos at home afterwards and Romy kindly purchased some prints and cards. A real treat of a day. The next day I babysat the exhibition until a text came from Dorothy who had been confined to barracks with a nasty cold for days, so I purchased chicken, onions, leeks and carrots from Sainsbury's, and some Manuka honey and oral aloe vera from Holland & Barrett and spent the latter part of the afternoon cooking and ministering to the invalid, who declared an intention to go to work today. Hmmm. I washed some sheets and last night I attempted to change my description and prices on Airbnb but it would not let me edit them, even though I tried twice, but it would not save the changes dammit, so I have emailed them. Today I shall be sketching in Kew, but thinking about Victorine doing her dress rehearsal for La Traviata in London and wishing her well.