Day 5

First things first - Happy Birthday David - if you are listening......reading. We hope you had a lovely day. Does this count as a birthday card? I've got no idea if there is a 'blogger protocol' regarding such situations. Anyway, you're not getting a real card - especially after that text message. If you happen to be called David and you are reading this and it is not your birthday, then take heart, your time will come. But still probably not a real birthday card. What I am basically doing is wasting space as there is not a lot to say about today, so I'm just trying to pad things out a bit. Not that I am for a minute suggesting that your birthday is in any way a waste by any measure, even for all the David's out there whose birthday it isn't today.

Good news on the jet-lag front. The rest of the body might still be in the throes of recovering, but I am pleased to be able to report that all seems to be in tip-top regular shape in the bowel department. And there was I thinking that today was going to be a slow news day.

Legged it (as the locals say, or at least they used to on The Bill, so it must be true), down to Madame Tussaud's and spent an enjoyable couple of hours admiring wax - was tempted to offer to light Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly character in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' cigarette, but thought it could get messy, literally and metaphorically, so decided against it. The displays were not at all how we both remembered them from 20 years ago - much more interactive. And I think Isabel managed to photograph just about every exhibit on display. That'll be good for the slide night.

Then wandered down to Piccadilly Circus (a monument to Lord Shaftesbury, which I hadn't known), had some lunch in a quaint little downstairs restaurant (made quaint by virtue of the fact that there was only enough room for six other customers), ice-cream in Leicester Square, and strolled down to Trafalgar Square, only to be rather disappointed that the whole space had been taken over by a giant screen to televise the Paralympics, with all the really interesting bits cordoned off to public access. The up-side of this was that virtually all of The Mall down to Buckingham Palace was also cordoned off to traffic, so we were able to casually saunter down. We had to deviate slightly through Green Park about half-way down, but were able to get back on track down at the business end of the palace, and wander about fairly freely between the palace gates and the Queen Victoria monument, which was staggeringly......staggering in its enormousness.

By which time most of us were getting a bit foot-sore, so it was back home. Looking forward to catching up with Cheryl tomorrow evening before heading off to Paris on Friday.

Unfortunately I still haven't worked out how to upload photos on this particular tablet, so you have all been spared. Nevertheless I am persisting in my efforts to figure it out, but as it is rather late, this will have to wait - I know, I know, I'm just as devastated as you are - quite possibly even more so. Tomorrow is, as Scarlett would say, another day.

Au revoir - no, wait, that's on Friday. Goodbye.