A chocolatey day

Some days just work - today was one of them (except the car).

Let's get the car out of the way first. Once again the steering wasn't playing when I went out so I called a cab to the station. Tony reckons a second-hand pump for £60 is the way to go and if that gets me another year out of the car I'm happy; I'll give him a ring tomorrow and we'll go from there.

Train to That London and tube to Euston. It's a lovely walk from there to Camden and I did some of it along the canal. I went to Camden to see Emma for lunch. It was tremendous seeing her and having a chat about all kinds of stuff. My photo of the lovely Ems is in the extra photos bin.

From Camden I tubed to London Bridge so that I could walk along the river to Festival Hall. In "Pies & Prejudice" Stuart Macone talks about the pride with which Northerners use the tube. We have this feeling that by mastering public transport we have somehow demonstrated that we "belong". As a transplanted Northerner, albeit one who has lived away from Manchester for longer than I lived there, one of the sights that I always find spectacular is St Paul's Cathedral. Drunk or sober I can tell you how tall it is because we're still tourists under the veneer. Again there is a shot in the spares box.

At Festival Hall I went to the Koestler Trust exhibition. This is works of art created by men and women in prison, immigration removal centres and secure hospital units. The work on display is of a very high standard; were it in a mainstream exhibition it wouldn't be out of place. A couple of years ago I knew a few of the award winners but I'm out of that mix now (and there were a lot more pieces from the north and Scotland). While I was there I received a tweet from a lifer (on the out) directing me to a particular poem which is simply stunning. He posted it for those who might not see the exhibition. 

Then across the river and up past the Houses of Parliament to Victoria for the train home. Ro wasn't able to collect me from the station so I enjoyed a couple of beers before grabbing a cab home. 

My knees ache and I have a large blister but I've walked more than 15k steps (more than 7 miles) and had a lovely day.

PS - It's a pod on the London Eye of course