If you have an hour to kill at Euston Station you could pick up a sandwich from Pret a Manger and then spend your time developing a cricked neck watching the billboard and waiting for the sign for the Liverpool train to creep up the queue and then wait for the mad rush as the platform number comes up.

Alternatively you could find activities to keep you busy until such time you can saunter into the station to find that the crowds have gone and followed the platform number and all that is left for you to do is hope you haven’t left it so late to get down there and find you have missed your train.

The activities are twofold.

Make your way out of the station and turn left up and stat to make your way up Eversholt Street and almost immediately on the right hand hand side you will see a street called Doric Way. Make your way along and on the left there is a second hand sign for a Chinese takeaway that has long since left. It has been replaced by The Roti King. Home of the best roti in London.

The fun starts with the queue. There is an hour to kill which should be plenty of time. But will it be time enough for the queue to turn round so you find yourself sat on a table. At lunchtime today the turn around across the the 30 or so seats inside meant the queue wasn’t much longer than 10 minutes.

That meant that once sat down with a fork, spoon and napkin and perfunctory menu there was time enough to put in a quick order of Roti with chicken curry.

A Roti is a sort of cross breed between a nam bread and pancake – a billowy buttered dough cooked on a hot griddle and perfect for dunking.

I was wearing a clean white shirt and for though it all with no stains.

Having been consumed I was left with a dilemma over the second option. Would the twenty or so minutes I had left before my train give me time for a quick pint in The Euston Tap?

The question was of course answered with a resounding “yes”, so I made my way over and tucked myself over into a pint of something cloudy and fruity from Bristol.

I then embarked on a first in The Euston Tap which was to make my way up to the loos. These are on the first floor up a tight metal spiral staircase. Upstairs there was a whole new room I had never been in before with the the facilities to one side. As I stood there it was slightly disconcerting to find that the first floor appeared to have been constructed with some sort of sprung floor which gave off the vague impression of being stood in the heads of a rolling ship.

By the time I got back into the station the platform had been called and the rush had gone. I made it to my seat on the train with at least five minutes to spare.

The veg patch is kicking off and in a few days time the mini courgettes will have turned into marrows as thick as my thigh.

In the meantime there has been an opportunity to make use of what is out there. Along with the courgettes the cavolo nero is about ready and there was one globe artichoke ready to eat.

We got through all of them this evening.

The artichoke was boiled for an hour after it had been rid of all errant earwigs. Once cooked I went through the disappointing process of trying to find the choke in the arti – to be left with a large pile of tough leaves and a relatively small bit of edible choke.

As I pulled off the leaves from the artichoke the courgettes were cut into chunks and put in boiling water for a couple of minutes.

More water was put on to boil and pasta went in to cook.

As it did so a clove of garlic was softened in warm oil, I then added the cavolo nero, a touch of chilli and some lemon juice. As the cavolo  nero wilted I stirred back in the courgettes and artichoke.

Once the pasta was cooked and drained I stirred in most of the veg mixture along with a smattering of feta cheese. It all went back in to the pan to be topped with the rest of the veg, courgette flowers and torn basil leaves.

It was the second Saturday of the month yesterday so with some inevitability I made may way down to New Ferry over the morning to invest in some good food at Wirral Farmer’s Market.

There was a threat the sun was going to continue shining for the day so I planned on a BBQ. I was in search of a large slab of meat to go on it and I found the perfect candidate in a large fore-rib of beef. It was big enough for four people and was just going to feed me but whatever was left over would do for sandwiches.

It needed no more preparation than to be rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

It took about half an hour to cook. I turned over half way through and once it was off the grill I left it for ten minutes to rest.

Earlier in the afternoon I had grubbed up half this years garlic. It is now drying on a hook in the celler. There were a couple of cloves that came loose as I pulled the bulbs out of the soil.

One of those was chopped and mixed with some roast potatoes.

And very good it all was too!

We listened to Perfume Genius.

There was half an hour for some art this afternoon whilst the youngest daughter took herself off into the wilds of Birkenhead to buy tights.

The art came courtesy of The Williamson Art Gallery.

It is easy to drive past and hardly notice it is there and just as easy to turn right into the car park and spend some lost time walking through its galleries.

On the moment they are showing an exhibition of Liverpool artists centred around a painting called Dinner Party (22 people and me). The painting features a number of well known Liverpool artists from the time including Adrien Henri and Maurice Cockrill – it has centre stand and around it are paintings, sculpture and other art from the people featured in the picture.

if you have an hour to lose in Birkenhead it is well worth the time.

Back at home I stirred at the garden with my big toe and spent an hour or so cooking Vietnamese food. All it was missing was a dinner party to eat it in – and a grape.