Penn Club Breakfast

Photo: view into Bedford Place opposite Penn Club
In London, I stay at the Penn Club, a Quaker hotel open to non-Quakers, conveniently located round the corner from the British Museum.

When I miss London, I make myself an English breakfast, Penn Club style. Scrambled eggs, beans in tomato sauce, sauteed mushrooms, toast, and of course, a nice pot of tea with milk.

Here at home, instead of looking beyond floral drapes through old windows with 0ft-painted sashes to mirror image houses of similar bricks, I look onto the back deck.

In neglected pots, new bulbs are venturing through last year's dead foliage. Beyond the wide back lawn, natural trees screen us from view by the people in the houses hidden a few hundred yards away on the other side of the creek, a protected salmon habitat.

We're so lucky here in Surrey: we can enjoy a quiet country life in the middle of the city. In London, this is what I miss.