Sunday, 29 May 1955
Missed breakfast (no great loss), slept right through to noon. Listened to the BBC and anxious news of the rail strike. Phoned Victoria Station and Thomas Cook about getting out to Newhaven, no one will guarantee transportation. Long queues at bus stops for this Whitsun Holiday.
Took the tube to Piccadilly about 2. No place to eat but Lyons Tearoom open, the usual slops there, then bus to Victoria Coach Station. The line for booking office about a mile long. We got in enquiries line looking for a bus alternative to Newhaven but booked up for Monday, our departure day for France and Paris.
The Victoria Station Continental Travel Office were more optimistic, tell us that the boat train ran yesterday. Optimistic.
Tube to Warwick Road Station for tea with Peter Kneebone and friends, an English couple,. They leave and we invite Peter to dinner to a nearby Norwegian restaurant run by a tough-talking woman with dangling cigarette. Food not bad but place a sty. She claims that the Polish artist, Felix Topolski, always eats there. Also Christopher Fry and Nancy Mitford.
Peter gave us a copy of a book which he wrote and illustrated, shown here. We missed the last tube train, took a taxi back to our room.
Artwork by Peter Kneebone through the years