Vegan Britain, part 2

 After lunch with Hana, I met Seanan at Kings Cross and we took the train to Brighton for a five o'clock dip in the ocean (brrrrrrrrrr!)    Then we met up with Sam for coffee followed by dinner and drinks at the Prince George, which has an all-vegetarian pub menu. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Really good food, too. Sam says the standard is very high in Brighton; you won't find half-hearted pub grub anywhere, because a pub has to keep up with its competitors or it can't stay open.  I'm looking forward to spending more time in Brighton on my next visit to the U.K.—it seems like a really fun and funky place (with, um, lots of pretty dress shops—which, again, were mercifully not open.)   Let me tell you what an awesome friend Seanan is. While we were planning my visit, he said he had a few surprises and wanted to make a whole day out of them—“surprises" as in, I had absolutely no idea where we were going or what we were doing. Proper secrets!So we were walking in the Mayfair neighborhood, and when Seanan turned into the lobby of a posh hotel I thought he was joking. Turns out he'd made a reservation for high tea, with a vegan version for me! Apparently there is such a thing, though he'd had to ring several places before Flemings said they could accommodate us. Hooray for Flemings!  Those of you who've had the experience of a proper English tea might be wondering if it measured up. Having had a "real" high tea at a cute country pub in Winchcombe during our Cotswolds trip, I can say that it did. I didn't miss the clotted cream one bit. The sandwiches had sunflower spread, the scones were of "I can't believe it's vegan" quality (you know how I champion vegan bakery, but it is hard to do things like scones well!), and the desserts were scrummy—a chocolate brownie, mocha cake, and a ginger cookie. Oh, and you should have seen the tea menu! It took me ages to make up my mind. (I settled on assam.)  Next time: two days in Edinburgh!