The big smoke

I was in London again this week, to interview master chocolate maker, Paul.a.Young, the 'a' there presumably so we don't confuse him with the Paul Young who laid his hat all over the place in the 1980s hit parades. It's an enjoyable train ride through some lovely countryside and then along the backs of homes in London's suburbs, which I love perving at. I stopped at the Australian Embassy on the way to my meeting to renew mine and Flo's passports, a super efiicient, easy peasy process. I had a nostalgic walk through Covent Garden's back streets on my way to my meeting in Soho, particularly around Seven Dials where I started my career in journalism, as Editorial Assistant on Essentials magazine, at the time the second highest selling monthly magazine in the country. My first office on Earlham Street is now this luxury shopping mall. 
The Coach and Horses pub on the corner became our second office, until we moved up to Long Acre, where the Kembles Head pub (now a smart restaurant) was the nightly stopping off point for everyone at GE Publishing, until the entire staff was barred after the antics that took place at my leaving party. But that's another story.
Onwards then to Wardour Street, to the chocolate shop, where I was to meet Paul and watch him make me a bespoke chocolate. I had the chance to peruse the astonishing collection of hand made chocolates, before I was told the meeting had been cancelled and could I come again next week. Sure thing - it's only a 4 hours round trip from Hastings. I wasn't really that bothered. I got to eat lots of chocolates before leaving, had our passports all sorted and I get to go again next week. 

On the way back to Charing Cross, I stopped in at the National Portrait Gallery to see an exhibition of images of the Queen. I love this image, made up of hundreds of small images of Diana, Princess of Wales.

I spent as much time as I could with Janice this week, in the run up to the removal van arriving on Thursday. I helped Janice pack and clean the house, and she and Mathilda spent their last night in Hastings with us on Thursday. There were tears at our farewell on Friday afternoon, but we have already planned a weekend visit to them at their new home in Crystal Palace next month.

I took my mind off  Janice's departure on Friday night, meeting 3 friends from school at the Stables Theatre to see a play in which our friend Lisa played two parts. Lisa is lovely, but not someone who strikes you as particularly funny, but she was hilarious in both her comic roles on stage. We all loved seeing her in what was otherwise a very intense and sombre play about a couple's problems adopting a baby from a junkie birth mother.

 On Saturday we were without Scarlett for the day and she headed off with a school friend and her family to a theme park nearby. I hung out with Flo until it was time for her to go to a friend's birthday party, and then the evening was all about X Factor. Awful but unmissable. Yesterday the weather changed for the worse, wild weather warnings punctuated the news bulletins, and we battoned down the hatches. I spent the day in my PJS and we devoted the whole afternoon/evening playing Monopoly with the girls, which we all loved. Rob is a ruthless property tycoon who cannot be trusted.