The pudding

Thursday 21 December

Our mission today was to collect a Christmas pudding. Here’s how it went ... When Rob and Judy were staying in Hadstock they decided to continue their long Christmas pudding-making tradition. Judy’s recipe makes two puddings so there was one for the friends whose house they were staying in and one for them.

The problem was that they were going to Norway and didn’t want to carry a pudding there. So it was left in Hadstock with a plan that someone would bring it into London on Rob and Judy’s return.
I don’t know how many emails and texts went back and forth.

It was finally arranged that a friend of David and Lucy’s, who Rob and Judy had met in Hadstock, would bring it in to work today. He works just near St Paul’s Cathedral so we caught the train to London Bridge, crossed the Millenium Bridge and met him at a cafe next to the cathedral.

Millenium Bridge

The pudding was duly handed over, coffee was drunk and the friend returned to work, relieved to be able to cross one more errand off his pre-Christmas list.

The pudding is handed over

The pudding then accompanied us on our wandering for the rest of the day.

Beside the Thames

We walked beside the Thames to Somerset House and had a lovely time watching people ice skating. There was a special area for children, with little polar bears that the children could push along to help them balance. The bigger rink had people of all ages and abilities. One woman that Rob spoke to said she had ice skated 30 years ago but was a bit rusty now. Rob commented that we all get a bit more cautious as we get older and she agreed, saying she couldn’t afford to hurt herself because she had to cook the Christmas dinner.

Polar bears waiting for children

Somerset House

Then it was home again both under and over the ground. This time we beat the rush hour, had an uneventful train trip and got the famous pudding home in good condition. We keep thinking about the “magic pudding”. It might keep us going until we go home!

Man with pudding