Phew what a scorcher!

Summer has burst out in London and the weekend was amazingly hot and the sky was sparkling blue. We've had a long and cold winter so we are all very excited by this change and it's all the more precious because we know it won't last.... These photos are taken on the Thames in the centre of London. One is where a gang of sand sculptors use the low tide to create new art works every fine day. And the other is by the Royal Festival Hall where a temporary fountain tempted people to get completely soaked! So, it was like being by the sea side without being stuck in traffic for hours getting there...

London has gone mad about elephants and elephant tracking is now a major activity with people trying to snap as many of the 250 as possible (see last 2 blog posts if this doesn't make sense!) I've attached a couple of my favourites from this week. If you are looking for them, try near City Hall and Covent Garden where there are small herds!

There was one day trip out of town this week to St Albans, the old Roman settlement of Verulamium with its fine cathedral and old streets. So much wonderful history that we really needed a guide book but just wandered around instead tho' we did know that St Alban was the first British Christian martyr and is buried here so it became a site of great pilgrimage.

Restaurant report this week focuses on the Blue Print Cafe near Tower Bridge where we spent a wonderfully long Sunday lunch with a great view (see photo) and good food. The big treat was to see an old sailing boat go through Tower Bridge - they opened up the middle and in a mere 5 minutes it was up and down and the traffic and pedestrians are crossing over again. It's such an amazing sight, everyone stops to watch.

This week's theatre trip was to the Noel Coward theatre to see Enron which was a brilliant production, making the story of a corporate failure into a gripping visual feast. I gather it bombed in New York but it's a sell out here and deservedly so.

Other restaurants included Marco Pierre White's new place where he's reviving the old Wheeler's group - it was good but I chose badly for my main course which was a shame but it happens. Then there was the Carpenter's Arms, a gastropub in Chiswick with a lovely beer garden which really suited the weather and the crab gratin is highly recommended!

Bye for now,

Sue

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