sorry mum

didn't mean to wake you up - just wanted to let you know we are safely (and happily) in London... won't do that again.

Did the fat tire cycle tour this morning - it was good fun and we saw lots of palaces and parks. i have the t shirt to prove it as well.

raced back to Greenwich - which is a really fantastic place to stay - so we could check out the market - Geoff bought me a lovely ring and then i sneaked back while he was catching 40 winks and bought a cute handbag as well. he will learn this when i go back...

We delivered the car in one complete piece, not even a scratch, to Bordeaux airport yesterday, before embarking on the big wait. Easyjet is an interesting experience but not necessarily one we'd be eager to repeat. Having said that, once we got on the plane the flight crew were really good and the flight was great - they almost made up all the time we'd lost on the french side and only landed a few minutes later than scheduled.

the really amazing part was queuing to board the plane - we all lined up, sort of, with speedy boarders (who'd paid extra) in their own queue. then they said they'd let families on first - tried not to snarl - but then they didn't and it became a bit of a free for all (after the speedy boarders, who got their 12 quids worth, i suppose), complete with some pommie whinging about how dare they promise families first but not deliver. G and I had our heads down and kept moving.

Even so we feared we'd be in the bowels of the plane. We chose the front steps to enter - hope springs eternal - and agreed we'd look for aisle seats across from each other. well blow me down, in row one there were two aisle seats, still empty. too good to be true? NOT! we were in the front row and almost first off at Gatwick. Then immigration. they had two types of queue. UK and EU citizens, then 'the rest of the world'. as it turned out there were about 600 people in the first and about six of us in the second. Yay rest of the world!

then it was a slight scramble onto a fairly packed train, a bit of a tortuous climb or two at the change (London Bridge if you're interested), and fetched up at Greenhich. the Ibis is great - excellent room and right next to a french bistro and spanish tapas bar, along with numerous other pubs and restaurants.

we celebrated in style with a pint each before dinner (tapas), followed by 1 1/2 further pints each after. Possibly we went a bit overboard on the pub visits, especially given we'd split a bottle of tinto over dinner. However, we felt very very pleased to be here. And we still are.

i think we might be off to Lewisham shortly - to revisit a sliver of G's past, then possibly a curry for tea. we had a slap up breakfast at an organic cafe this morning and found a really good coffee cart at the market, so are doing quite well - in fact probably undoing all the good work we did in Spain where we seemed to eat quite often, but quite lightly. hmmmm.

we have found a concert at st martin in the fields that we hope to go to on tuesday evening - have to ring tomorrow to check on tickets. if we do that it will mean shakespeare at 2pm and concert at 7.30! what a way to end our time here.

already we wish we'd chosen to stay longer in London - i can feel GB beckoning again and we're still here...