Cosmopolitans and pints

After dropping Soxie at Gloria's and Sal at gym, the four of us went to Greenwich Park - our failsafe Sunday destination. Grace's geocaching obsession continues, and she was prepared to walk a good couple of km round the park for the sake of four miniscule caches. For a fourteen year old girl she shows a happy lack of urgency to divorce herself from the family and will (almost) always come on a trip. She has, however, started to draw the line at churches or castles. Totally understandable really, I was the same at her age. I haven't told her we've got four castles in four days planned for next week and a couple of churches and cathedrals thrown in for good luck. I'm fully prepared for her to turn into The Incredible Sulk.

In the evening, Jamie and I got all dressed up and went up The Shard for a cocktail to celebrate the start of his week's holiday. It was the first time I'd been inside the Shard, I haven't been able to justify the ticket price for the viewing gallery, but you can go to the bar on the 32nd floor for free, have a drink and admire the view. It was lovely, it's always lovely to look at London, but I definitely prefer the Sky Garden on top of the Walkie Talkie building - it has much more space and light and you can walk the whole way around, watching London change through 360 degrees.

After half an hour we decided we'd much prefer a pint and a bit of fruity in the pub we used to date in; The Market Porter in Borough Market. My favourite London pub. It brings back hugely happy memories of living in Waterloo, walking through the market (when Boro Mkt was just a few veg stalls and nothing like the foodie Mecca it is now) invariably ending up at the Porter for one of their guest beers and a go on the London Underground fruit machine - the only one where we ever understood the rules. Walking back through Bermondsey, past Guy's, brings back mixed memories. Mainly though, it's just another reminder of how lucky we are.

It's a rubbish photo. I've lopped the top off the Shard. Blame the Cosmopolitan or blame the pint of Shipyard, but please don't blame me ;-)

I ❤️ London.