OK – so what to do on a day out in London? Well, how about a spot of shopping in Oxford Street after a leisurely breakfast at the hotel? OK – that sounds like a grand plan (see, my grand plans are a lot less grand these days).

What next? How about meeting with my pbase buddies for lunch and to review the good/bad and downright ugly of the night before? Good=seeing everyone, meeting Jeremy, Lee, Margaret and Karen for the first time, brilliant company and food. Bad=drinking too much, downright ugly=er, well nothing I suppose except for me being so trollied I knocked over all of the drinks. A feat usually left to my dear friend Colin although as he wasn’t there, I suppose someone had to do it.

Now, how shall I spend an afternoon in town before going to meet Colin (he of the drink-knocking-over-fame)? Ah yes. The Natural History Museum. I am not a little ashamed of the fact that in nearly 30 years of living in and around the periphery of London I’d never managed to be arsed to set foot into the museum before. Now though, as it’s 250 miles away from home, I have a burning desire to go there.

It has stemmed from seeing lots of great TV documentaries about Charles Darwin. You know – 200 years since the great man was born and 150 years since “The origin of species” was published. We’ve been lapping these documentaries up as we’re both confirmed Darwinists.

So, here is a shot of the great man, sitting surveying the Central Hall of the museum. Boy, did I enjoy myself. The architecture alone would have made the trip worthwhile (as hopefully you can see from this shot). Add to that “The Wildlife Photographer of the Year” exhibition, the Darwin exhibition and even I didn’t get uptight at all of the crowds and busy-ness.

Back to the hotel to collect my luggage from the concierge, a trip to Pret-a-Manger for the picnic supper I’d promised Colin for the train journey then on to Paddington to meet him and accompany him back to our place for the Easter weekend. I feel privileged to have spent time this week with a large number of my good buddies. What a cool week.