I got a lust for life

So yesterday, in honour of my friend E's birthday, I went to the park where there was talking and water-fights and cake and silliness and fun, but I did manage to come home with a) sunburn, despite the sun cream and b) a bit of thorn lodged in my foot. Not the *best* of preparations for today's Walk for Life ....

I managed, eventually, to excavate the offending Very Small Twig (about 3mm small - it hurt though!) after I'd spent half an hour with my foot soaking, and fortunately I wasn't too sore this morning.

After last week's heatwave, we had bright blue skies, but noticeable breezes, and temperatures around 25c, which is hot, but not horrid, so, practically perfect weather, really. The route - starting from Prince Albert's gate, through Hyde Park down to Buckingham palace, up to Trafalgar Square, down to the river before Embankment, down the Thames to St Pauls, over the Millennium Bridge, back up the South Bank to Westminster, and then back into Hyde Park - has plenty to look at, was really well marshalled, and my co-walkers made for some interesting people watching.

Now, earlier this week, I treated myself to a teenie tiny digital camera, for a tenner, in the sure and certain knowledge that it would probably be a bit naff, but it'd be better than no camera at all. Let me put it on record, that I was wrong.

It's worse than no camera at all.

Not only does it have some combination of key presses (which is, at most, one 'hold down' rather than a 'press firmly' away from taking a photo) which deletes all the photos, it's also point blank refusing to talk to my computer and cough up the thirteen photos it *might* still have in it ....

Due to a combination of these factors, I have no evidence of the various very cute dogs, or any of the other various things I snapped.

You'll just have to believe me that there was a teenager with lime green liberty spikes, which clashed with his yellow and purple fund-raiser t-shirt [I wasn't wearing one as, by the time I checked in, they were out of adult sizes, which didn't make me that sad, because it was bright YELLOW, but it would have been nifty to be wearing it during the walk, really. ] And the short guy with his dyed black shaggy hair, and his pinstripe suit jacket, and his giant Rodhesian Ridgeback dog, which was wearing his t-shirt. And the teenage rottweiler, and the MAC crew. And that the bit of riverside path just before the Millennium Bridge was swarming with yellow shirts and yellow balloons while I was on the bridge taking photos, and that the interactive fountain outside Queen Elizabeth Hall was making the most amazing patterns of water against the pure blue sky. You'll just have to believe me. They were all pretty cool. In the fountain's case, literally.

So - yes - that wasn't a bad thing to do with my Sunday, and thanks to everyone's generosity I've raised a shade under £500 for Crusaid - I can't tell you how grateful I am for the support! THANK YOU!!!!!

So - who's coming with me next year?

this London life in the summer

I walked the longer way home tonight, and I didn't get properly rained on. I did get slightly rained on, but only that specific combination of heat, humidity, and rain that makes you wonder if you're wet because it rained or if, maybe, the humidity just condensed on you.

On this slightly longer wander I passed

- a truly impressive giant dog, panting in the shade. Huge and solid and jowly with a bit of a smooched face, and a lovely rich rust-fox plush coat.
- three people engaged in Shakespeare, in costume, apparently for their own amusement. At least, they were doing it in a sort of 'dead end' bit of space, facing away from the passing foot traffic. They hit the 'what? your tail in my mouth' part of Taming of the Shrew as I wandered past.
- an entire costumed cast preparing to perform the Pirates of Penzance aboard the Golden Hind. Which sort of hurt my head, but in conclusion it's clearly a cool thing.
- human beings being - human. (imagine that said in a Dr Who sort of voice) People watching is fun.

And I got to walk across two bridges and confirmed that the nifty-looking building between the Tower of London and the Gherkin is the old London Port Authority building.

Thanks to the fantasticness and generosity of my friends, I've broken the £200 mark on my sponsorship page for the Walk for Life on Sunday - I'm sending proper thank you notes out slowly, but THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! (and keep it coming! It's an excellent cause!)

She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge

J and I spent Sunday taking advantage of Somerset House's Free Days to go and poke about in the Courtauld and to see the Byzantium exhibition in the Hermitage Rooms - I still get a real kick out of seeing pots which I have written about in the flesh ;)

Greatly enjoyed the Byzantium set, but, while I was wowed by some of the pieces in the Courthauld, I remain slightly boggled that they can charge what they do, when there's so many other paintings by the same artists elsewhere in London. The Kandinsky's were interesting, though, so I might have to wander down to the Tate Modern at some point to see more.

There was dance stuff of variable quality going on in the courtyard, though, some of which was really fun. Just the fact they'd organised a whole weekend where these government buildings are opened up so kids can go and play in the fountains (they even had a drying tent set up) is a good thing in my book.

Sushi and sitting in the park was a really nice way of finishing off the day, before we walked home down the river to test drive my new shoes.

On days like these when skies are blue

Today has been a good day, sitting in Embankment Gardens with friends and sushi for a leisurely picnic, and then wandering up-river to wander around the Tate Modern (cubism and futurism gallery this time) before heading down to Tower Bridge and home.