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Slight hic-up with getting into London – no direct trains were running between Thatcham and Paddington so we needed to switch at Reading. Just a 10 minute delay or so so nothing too bad.
First stop was breakfast and we looked at the food options available in Paddington Square – the new complex that’s sprung up outside the station above the new entrance to the Bakerloo line tube stations.
We decided to grab a bite to eat in the Market Halls in Paddington Square. There were various kitchens offering a variety of food choices, although only a couple were offering breakfast. Ashes were serving sausage and bacon rolls in baps which would set us up nicely for the trip across London. You order and pay at the stall, receive a buzzer and pop back to collect when small pop up restaurants but managed to find one that served bacon or Sausage in a bap in from the Ashes. Order and pay from the booths. Get a buzzer and you go back to collect when it goes off.
We were heading to the ExCel Centre to watch Formula E today. We’ve occasionally watched it on the TV to see what it’s all about and had been meaning to get tickets for the last couple of years. This year we were going!
The quickest way from Paddington to get to the ExCel was via the new Elizabeth Line and was about 20-25 mins away. The stop at Customs House was a short walk to the entrance.
There was a large exhibition of the electric racing cars plus a couple of other electric vehicles.
Formula E at the ExCel is a little unusual in that all the seating is indoors. The circuit is part indoors, part outdoors. We had chosen seats by the corner where the cars come inside, hoping to see a little action.
Qualifying was in the morning whilst the main race was several hours later in the afternoon.
We didn’t think there was enough time to pop out and find somewhere to eat so ate at the on site restaurant, The Bridge.
A little disorganised was being generous! Not sure if the staff were all temps or not used to working in hospitality but they were struggling.
We kept our order very simple so as not to confuse – chicken burgers all round!
Time for the main race and it was quite exciting. we could see the action on the other parts of the track on the big screen, and there was one pile up just before our corner when several cars came together.
Really glad we went … and we did enjoy it. Not sure this will become an annual event though.
