So, while Maaike was off on a girls only weekend I headed on a short walk to the Packhorse Hut with Steve, Mike and Heather.

It’s great having a hut that you can stay in a short walk from the city. Obviously it’s a hugely popular one for families etc. (and busy) – so we brought tents to camp in.

The wine was tasty, cards were played – and it was a lovely evening.

On the way back we saw the Remarkable Dykes

A pair of rock walls that form the boundaries of a crack in the side of the Lyttelton Volcano. The surrounding rock has since weathered away, leaving the parallel walls.

Unfortunately – this has now been removed. Leaving this up just in case EMI grow a sense of humour.

So instead I’ve added the contact juggling routine. You Tube have added the music back in !!! (woohoo) so I guess sometimes it works out for the best.

Another day of museums – another look at the Science Museum… here a picture of some hour (and other measurement!) glasses.

And, this is possibly from the Natural History museum – but here’s a picture of a bolt of lightning caught in sand. Nae Bad.

Next it was on to the British Museum. Now, this is a place that I really can’t remember being – but must have. It’s incredible – the amount of stuff there is ridiculous.

Here’s a picture of the Rosetta stone which is housed in the museum. The Rosetta stone was used to decipher the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt.

This was a stunning piece of glass – I’m not entirely sure what it’s called (silly me) but it’s one piece of glass and the different colours have been incredibly carefully and beautifully moulded together.

And the head of Augustus. This was buried under a temple (so that everyone would walk on his head!) which is why it’s in such good shape really.

Cocktails were also drunk – this was because Maaike lost a bet that she wouldn’t get a new position (she did!)

Had an absolutely wonderful sendoff from cousins and friends. It was a real highlight to see Declan again – and to meet his fiancée and now wife Grainne. I think she was slightly worried by the fact that, pretty much, everyone told her to “run”. But yes – happily married – and I think they’re both very lucky people.

Possibly the worst part of the entire trip was when Thomas beat me at scrabble. Bleedin’ seven letter word right at the end. Sigh. Here he is trying to look modest – and a picture with his far too lovely wife Paula! Thanks so much for having us to stay – was a great time.

This was a great day – on my cousin Liz’s advice we took a boat down to Greenwich (where not nice (Mean) Time comes from).

I will get round to putting some of the audio commentary up – but the boat drivers take it in turns to narrate – and our guy was hilarious.

Above are pictures of Big Ben and Cleopatra’s needle.

Shakespeare’s globe theatre above there – and other sights of olde London town. Maaike had never visited London before – so that was extra fun. There’s just so much to see.

This was quite cute – the OXO building. So, I’m not sure what OXO did (if anything) before they made stock cubes.. but.. advertising wasn’t allowed on the river .. but OXO made their windows in the shape of the letters they wanted to advertise. Quite a clever work around!

Finally arrived into Greenwich itself. It’s a UNESCO site and just completely worth visiting. This is where the Greenwich meridian runs through – giving us Greenwich Mean Time(GMT). There’s far too much to talk about and I’m woefully out of date on the blog anyway so I’m not going to dwell too much.. suffice to say – worth a visit.

Then we walked back to my cousin Thomas’ where we had a perfect evening with my cousin Catherine who came to dinner. I really really miss getting to see much of Thomas and Catherine.. they’re the only cousins who are really close to my age – and are such wonderful people. We’ve always made an effort to meet up when we can – and I really look forward to the next time (whenever and wherever that may be!)

Maaike and I flew into London 2 days earlier than expected – because the volcano was thinking about erupting again. Very irritating.

So the first day we were there – headed to one of my favourite museums (though I think the British Museum would have to be up there now) called the Victoria and Albert. It’s mainly the plastercast room that I think is very impressive.

Here’s a picture of Maaike outside it, and inside the plastercast court.

And then we had a quick look around the science museum. This is the real problem with London – there’s just so much to see and do.

We also took in a West End show – called ‘Avenue Q’. It was really really funny (and more than a little rude!). Well worth a look if you get the chance.