The Covid -19 pandemic seems to be hitting European countries including the UK, for a second time with it being said that the UK is some 3 weeks behind France and Spain, which are being particularly badly hit at present.
Fearing that further that further lockdowns would be imposed in London very soon Mrs maytrees, Bernie, Paul and I decided to try another reunion last Wednesday. We again attended mass at Westminster Cathedral after which, having heard that Bills the restaurant had extended the government's generous eat out to help out scheme from August to September 30th, we opted for lunch together at Bills opposite the Cathedral.
In the event, Bills has further extended their involvement with the scheme until the end of October and the popularity of their Westminster restaurant during a weekday lunchtime amply illustrated their reasoning. We were given a table and told that our time there might be limited to one and a half hours. In fact with so much catching up to do and recollections of years with HCPT Group 35 we spent over three hours there without being hurried by staff in any way.
On a more serious note the travel to the Cathedral by mrs maytrees and I was by London Underground from Wimbledon to St James Park. The train was hardly empty but there was ample room. Upon exiting at St James Park we came across a beautiful cake and pastry shop which sadly despite the delicious looking offerings on display was completely empty. In pre-pandemic times such a shop would I am sure have been crowded with city workers looking for bites to eat and drink at lunchtime.
After lunch mrs maytrees Bernie and I decided to travel by bus to Waterloo for trains home which are rather faster than the London Underground; Paul who lives near Epping, travelled by tube. The large Boris-type 211 bus from Bills was empty and I have never seen Waterloo station so quiet even late in the evening. The train to Wimbledon was also almost empty yet at about 4:30pm we would have been travelling in the crowded rush hour of pre-pandemic times.
The cost of running so many almost empty buses and trains in the capital at least, must be enormous and some hard decisions will be required soon. Interestingly trams locally in Wimbledon as well as buses seem much fuller.
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