Interesting few days

I have been fortunate to have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off and because of thia length of time, I wanted to make the most of it. Having said that, a while ago I promised my sister that I would babysit for her on the Saturday night, and then it turns out it is my father's 60th birthday, aswell as Steve's, my brother in law, so Sunday will be pretty much taken up with the family thing! Besides, the weather is shit here and so the BBQ organised may have to be brought inside. I am writing this at my sister's house right now. I am still waiting for my computer at the cottage and even if I do get it this week, broadband will not be connected. This is very frustrating as I rely on this to keep in contact with certain friends.

Having said that, I was invited up to London by Dom on Thursday evening to stay until Saturday morning. He was taking a day off work Friday so we could do stuff together. I had bought the ticket Thursday morning and was already to go when I heard about the bombings in London. This scared the hell out of me. I know we should not give up going about our usual business but I was very worried. Dale's girlfriend was coming down on the Thursday too for his birthday and so this kind of swung it for me really to still go. Dale was having my bedroom! (Only double bed!) He really didn't want me around. Lol

So I got on the train to Clapham and Dom met me there. He had to change his journey pattern because of the Northern Line being shut down. Having friends in London now makes me very edgy, knowing that everyday their journey is a risk. Luckily we managed to get on a train to take us to Carshalton and from there walked to his house. Once I had dumped my stuff we went to Ikea which is not a million miles away. Dale and I had worked out a list and Dom said he could take me. We enjoyed meat balls first and then shopped. At 10pm at night Ikea is quiet and a pleasure to shop in.

In the morning we assessed whether going in to London city as planned was such a good idea. Bollocks to it! What Dom had in mind to do was a fantastic opportunity that I would not let some terrorist ruin. We went to Tower Bridge to the Boot and Flogger. It is a beautiful, old pub that you would walk past if you didn't know. It reminds me of going back in time to a middle class victorian period. The seats are grand and the setting is dark and mysterious, ney, cosy, with wonderful objects displayed all over, from traditional guns to pots and ancient bottles of delicous wines. The food was good too. Tapas. And I tried my first glass of vintage port which I surprisingly enjoyed and which went straight to my head!!

From there we went to Vinnopolis, a wine tasting adventure! What a fab place. You learn the history of wine and how to taste it. All the staff are experts and very helpful. The setting is very relaxed and it's a beautiful way to spend an afternoon, slowly getting more and more relaxed! The funny thing for me was that every wine Dom tried was bloody awful and he was spitting most of it out!! I, on the other hand was picking some great wines. I had an Israeli white which was very crisp and dry, a delicious rioja 98, french, thai (absolutely disgusting, but not as bad as the Chinese!!!) and can't remember after that!! lol.

After that fantastic experience we went to the market just across the road. It was amazing. All fresh produce, from olives to bread, cheese to cakes. We had some food there and brought back some olives, which turned out to be very salty. We walked back along the river rather than getting the tube, besides it was a beautiful day. The journey home was a long one. The trains were so full we were hanging around alot. Still it had been a great day and something I had never done before so I am extremely pleased and honoured to have been given this opportunity.

In the evening we just chilled over another bottle of wine and a video. It had been a long day and so I hit the sack early. Hadn't done so much walking since my trip to Stockholm!

In the morning Dom drove me to the station and my sister picked me up from Havant. He had to help his best friend Aaron move into a flat 3 flights up! (Have just had text saying he is very stiff! Lol. I think he needs to get fit!!!)
It was a great few days and I hope I can do it again sometime. We get on really well and I feel he is one of my best friends now.

Will post pictures once my computer is up and running.

take care y'all...