London with friends

Here we go...... my London adventure was wonderful. WONDERFUL!! And before you wonder, the complete picture above is so hideous, I had to crop it. Never let a completely strange man stand up and take a photo of you sitting down. It is an unfortunate aspect. Very unfortunate.

But, here we are. And the happy smiles say it all. I have had the most wonderful day with Morning Glory and Barbara, and I hated saying goodbye. Morning Glory is my very first blogging friend, and I am so glad we got to meet. It was quite amazing how we could read each other's mind instantly, and one look was all it took when we were walking down the street, and we both knew what the other was thinking. So there was much laughter, and the talking. Oh my word. There was a great deal of talking. And also a great deal of coffee. And did I mention the talking???

When I arrived at the hotel, I realised that I did not have a clue what MG's surname was, but fortunately she was there in the foyer waiting, and recognised me immediately. I had visions of holding up her photo and saying... I want to speak to this lady.....

We walked through Hyde Park, and talked all the way. Then we found a coffee shop and sat and talked. And we got on the tube, and you guessed it, we talked all the way.

MG and I met her husband in the Crypt of St Martin's in the Field, a famous church in Trafalgar Square for lunch, and there was more talking before her husband sprinted off up the stairs to hear and watch the bell-ringing, and we set off to meet Barbara at Canary Wharf. In the rain. We spent a great deal of time moaning about the state of our hair, which did not do well in the constant drizzle. And we made a fatal error not having some photos taken at the very start of our day, before the rain.

We had intended to walk along the river at the Docklands, and it would have been stunning had it not been so wet. I think MG was cold here. I certainly was. Barbara was waiting for us, and thankfully, she recognised us straight away, or I might still be trying to work out the map she sent me! We found a coffee shop, and we sat down to chat. Indoors. Where it was warm and dry. The hair did not recover. I had not realised just how huge the development is, or how many malls there are, all inter-linked. There are loads of restaurants with tables along the quaysides and I can just imagine how beautiful it would be on a sunny day. Like last weekend. However, it did not stop the talking. Or the laughter.

We didn't have a lot of time with Barbara, as we had to get back for our various plans in the evening, but it was wonderful to get together. 3 women from 3 countries, drawn together by the blog world. The fact that it was the FA Cup Final, also meant that we wanted to get back before the match ended and the trains all filled up to capacity. This photo was taken as a joint effort by us, as we sat on a bench at the top of the escalators at Baker Street tube station. We had to go in different directions there, and we decided we had more to talk about, so we sat down and carried on talking.

And it was hard to say goodbye. We knew it would be like this. We knew we would be friends. In real life. So much to talk about and so little time!

It was great. Just perfect.