In the first decade of the 21st century I was working in an office in Pimlico and frequently used to come in to work for those days between Christmas and New Year when few people were around and everything seemed to be becalmed. The places I usually went for lunch were all closed, so I used to walk up Marsham Street and Horse Guards to Trafalgar Square, then descend to the crypt cafe at St.Martin-in-the-fields for a meal (nearly always soup followed by apple crumble and custard – the apples still had their skins on, so the crumble tasted very home-made). It was a hive of activity below, when everything on the surface seemed deserted.
Later, I started going to concerts at St.Martin’s, and met a musician friend of mine with whom I had barely been in contact for about 25 years, enabling us to renew contact details and keep in better touch (so far).
St Martin-in-the-Fields