One Last Round

As I write this, we're heading into our final week in London. I'm approaching this week with mixed emotions: I will be glad to get back to my family and friends, to play with my big brown dog, to do laundry in a real washing machine - one that doesn't turn white clothes that lovely shade of gray, to sleep on the softest sheets and the best mattress in the world.
What will I miss? The list is way too long! I love so much about this city - several times a day as I walk down the wide, damp sidewalks or climb the stairs at the Tube station or even wait to cross a busy street, I say a prayer of thanks and gratitude to have had this opportunity.
Today I had a lovely lunch with the daughter of one of my best customers. Jennifer grew up in Charlotte and three years ago, married a fellow who had been transferred from Charlotte to London. She's spent her entire married life here and she absolutely loves it. She was kind enough to reach out to me before we came here and getting our schedules worked out has been tough, but we finally had that lunch today.
We met at the Baker Street tube station (if you're a child of the '70s, you're probably humming the Gerry Rafferty tune right now) and from there, walked to Marylebone High Street. I'd never been in that area, and neither had Jennifer, so we were exploring new territory. I'm so glad we did. The area was wonderful - very quaint, all small shops and cafes, no big chains. We ate lunch at Carluccio's, and believe it or not, we ate outside. It was clear and chilly, but the restaurant had tall heater lamps to keep us nice and warm. Jennifer loves the ex-pat life; she and her husband have filled up their passports with travels to Europe and beyond. It was so much fun visiting with her. After lunch, we walked a few blocks to the Oxford High Street and into Selfridges (see photos below) where I had a bit of holiday shopping to finish.
We had been talking at lunch about dogs and were amused to discover that both of us had pets named Biscuits and Muffins while we were growing up. That led to talk of Biscuit, the animatronic dog I wrote about a few months ago.
Update: Biscuit is still in the stores but he's been reduced to 99 pounds, down from 149. We went to find him (Jennifer had not seen him yet and I was anxious to show him off) and what we found was a limp, ragged-looking dog with zero pep. It seems a little girl threw him around on Thursday and ... well, broke him. We tried to get him to do a trick and soon, a crowd gathered. An older lady wanted to buy a Biscuit but insisted that she see him perform his full round of tricks first - naturally. She told us she wanted him because it would be like having a real dog but without the mess. "And you don't have to walk him," Jennifer said. The lady smiled at her and said, "You Americans are lazy." We thought that was pretty funny - since we had walked all over London earlier. There were probably 10 of us gathered around, all of us well over 21 - and then some. I was telling the crowd all about this talented dog and his coterie of tricks and I encouraged them not to leave until they saw him in action. As we anxiously waited for the sales clerk to put batteries in a new Biscuit, an older gentleman said, "Look at us. This is a children's toy and we're all standing here, not a child in sight."
The lady who thought we were lazy said, "Well, children don't know how to treat him."
After New Biscuit went through his round of commands, she bought one and so did another lady. I missed my calling, I'm afraid. I should sell Biscuits.