Waterloo Station to Foyles

Our respective wives having decided to meet some friends for lunch in Wimbledon, youngest brother and I decided to travel to Waterloo by train and from there to walk to Foyles bookshop in Tottenham Court Road. We hoped to have lunch at the cafe in the very large Foyles bookshop as well as browse some of their five floors of books.

Trains from Wimbledon to London Waterloo run every few minutes for the journey of twenty minutes or so. The Labour government having settled the train unions' pay claim almost immediately after taking office, the unions allowed the new train rolling stock which had been sidelined for years under the Tories under some claimed defect or other, to be brought into service almost immediately afterward  . Thus we traveled by almost new gleaming trains into and home from,Town.

From London Waterloo Station we walked over the footbridge to Charing Cross Station thence over The Strand.

A  brother in law of  youngest  brother is a long term tenant of a hugely interesting old bookshop in Cecil Court, which street we were able to walk through on our journey to Foyles. Cecil Court is full of specialist bookshops of which the brother in law's is one. His specialises in old and first editions of young people's books including for example some early Harry Potter books, though was closed on our Wednesday afternoon walk.

We then walked on to Charing Cross Road with a right turn north, passing a number of West End theatres until we reached Foyles itself. By that time being hungry we headed upstairs to the large cafe there on the fifth floor as I recollect, and enjoyed some of their delicious pie, salads and cups of tea for lunch.

After lunch we separated to look at some of the vast range of books on offer. I purchased a Peter May crime novel which I had been looking for, for a while, as it completed the series of three of which I  already held two,. 

Although Waterstones book shops  have taken over Foyles there was no discernible negative effect of that take over. Futhermore though not advertised, I was able to use my Waterstones card with the purchase at Foyles.

After rejoining my brother and  looking at the two tomes he had purchased, we set off again on foot, for the return journey to London Waterloo where we caught a train back to Wimbledon almost immediately and were only slightly late for our meeting again with the girls.