So I’ve been in London this week. It’s a long, dull story, so let’s not drag over it; best to just go with it and accept I had a short stopover in my old hometown.

I only had five days in London (since somebody else is living in my house it works out expensive coming here) and most of those days were taken up with somewhat dull chores that needed to be done.

I warned her what would happen if she put on any more weight.  Here she is in her little cell with plenty of time to contemplate.

Albatross my wheelie bag has gone to prison. It was getting beyond a joke travelling with her; I was struggling to even lift her into taxis (and I was annoyed enough having to take taxis all the time because she was unmanageable on public transport).  The next leg of my travels I will be travelling instead with Betty Blue, my flowered cabin bag.

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I spent a lot of time wandering around the Southbank (I was staying in the LSE halls of residence, which becomes a hotel out of term time. It’s an excellent location, right at the back of Tate Modern).

My little room at the LSE Bankside.  

Gabriel’s Wharf, Southbank

London in August is ridiculously busy, full of yummy mummies up from suburbia, usually travelling in packs of 3 or 4 with 2 or 3 kids each, massive prams and too busy gossiping to notice that their kids are running around getting in everybody’s way. Then there are the tourists taking photos on pathways that involve stopping all the foot traffic for two or three minutes whilst they pose their family in every combination possible. They don’t understand how London works. These are the people who complain that Londoners are rude. We’re not rude we’re just trying to get somewhere.  The city can’t grind to a halt just so that you can get the perfect selfie stood on the millennium bridge.

Southbank: Millennium bridge

One change to the city since I was here last is that we now have a 24 hour tube (subway) system. Well we do if you want to use one of the two lines that are running on either Friday or Saturday night. I had been hoping to use it to get to Heathrow in the early hours of Sunday morning, but that isn’t one of the all-night lines.

Apparently staff had a dress rehearsal for it where they flung soup around (to simulate people being sick all over the place). The night tube has taken away my one decent excuse to get away from boring social events, i.e. ‘oh I need to go to get the last train home’.

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On my last day I travelled all the way to zone 3 – Walthamstow – to see street art.

One advantage of travelling out to zone 3: lunch for just £3.  Hanging out at the Southbank all week has been expensive.