I’ve been in London this afternoon, on a mission to find a good place for our annual bash. Even though this may sound like something of a doddle, it’s actually been a mad dash around four restaurants, a quick peek at their facilities and then a scramble back onto the train…..

On route to look at the Globe Theatre as a possible venue, we walked from the Strand, across Waterloo Bridge in the glorious spring sunshine that we’ve been experiencing here and as we came to (I think) Blackfriars bridge, I spotted the old railway insignia in the sunshine and decided it’d be a good symbol of my day.

Trains feature fairly heavily in my life at the moment and although I didn’t catch a train that would have been on an old Invicta route, the route has a special place in my heart because its route goes through my Mum’s home turf, a small mining community in between Canterbury and Dover. Of course the Kent Collieries are long gone – I’m fairly sure that it’s more than thirty years since the coal mine that my Dad worked down (and the reason for his migration to Kent) was closed. If he’d not gone to work down the pit at Snowdown Colliery, he’d never have lodged with my Mum’s grandparents and therefore would never have met my Mum.

The illustrious past of our railways often gets forgotten (by me and I’m sure by many others too) in the overcrowded, dirty nasty modern commuter world. I have to confess to my own little bit of anorak behaviour because even though I am not a train spotter, I do love the opulence of the Victorian stations.

Even though they can now be distinctly nasty places at times, though in truth they’re more often dreary than nasty, they do still have a charm and glamour that so often goes unnoticed by the hoards that go through their portals each day. I happen to think this is one of the nicest things along the South Bank and let’s face it, despite some real monstrosities (the South Bank seems almost littered with grotesque 1960s and 70s architecture), there are also some real beauties along that part of the Thames. I really love the old shipping trade headquarters buildings, among other things.

There are moments, even for a committed country girl like me, when I just think that London is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Today has been one of those days……but don’t ask me again when it’s dark, cold and raining on a February evening when the trains are all delayed!

I am dead proud of last year's shot.....and DM and I had so much fun making it - giggling like a pair of babies!