Bring on the new
On more occasions than I can exactly recall, staying at London’s Savoy Hotel for Judy and myself has never been anything less than totally romantic.
Where else can you be whisked so authentically back into the 19th Century gaslight and horse-carriage era the moment you enter the main lobby?
Never mind the stern dark-suited 21st Century businessmen and women with their laptops and cellphones hurrying and scurrying hither or thither, making their mega deals.
Let them get on with their downstairs dashing-about while you’re upstairs in bed enjoying leisurely British breakfasts, taking-in the magnificent vista along the River Thames towards the Houses of Parliament. Which, depending on the ambient temperature, light and wind direction can seem close enough for you to reach out and move the fingers on the face of good old reliable Big Ben.
And while deals and takeovers are busily consummated in public view in the public lounges, we consume the finest roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with horseradish sauce it has ever been our pleasure to know. Taking just as long as you like, in the renowned Savoy Grill.
And if the unthinkable ever happens and you tire of England’s only contribution to the world’s culinarium, there are always other great Edwardian and Victorian dishes of pheasant, quail, partridge, venison or lamb by the groaning platter-full. Followed by a rib-sticking bread and butter pudding studded with caramelised, burned and bitter sultanas.
But, and I think The Monkees said it first, sadly, “That was then and now is now.”
I’ve just learned, probably to meet the sterner demands and tastes of the movers and shakers of the new millennium irritated by oldsters like Judy and myself lingering over lunch while they had to work their fingers to the bone, the hotel owners are currently gutting the Savoy Grill and replacing it with a fancy trendy restaurant.
Now, Rule No 1 when you join the Confirmed Romantics Society never let anything stand in your way. So on our next Savoy Hotel visit our passion will defiantly not be diminished.
Not even if the new restaurant offers, “A sliver of lightly-blackened virgin salmon on a bed of crisp basted arugula salad enhanced with strawberry sauce drizzled over hand-pressed goat’s cheese.”
There will always be sausages, eggs, mushrooms, bacon, hash-browned potatoes, toast, marmalade and tea.
In bed and all day long if push comes to shove. Which it inevitably will.
