Boris

I took the children to London Bridge to meet my mum and play in the street fountains, as we often do on a hot day. The fountains were closed, behind barricades, (drought? or repair? I don't know) so we walked on past the Mayor of London's Office; City Hall.

The children are fascinated by Boris Johnson, ever since the 'wiff waff' speech and since they met him in the Olympic Park, the day after the Opening Ceremony in 2012. He must have been absolutely exhausted and incredibly busy that day, but he stopped and spoke to the children and was kind enough to have his picture taken with them, which went down very well at school!

Anyway, Tom and I were joking about which office we thought Boris was in, or whether he was in at all. Tom asked if we could go and see, and, half jokingly, I said I'd ask. In a blink of an eye we were through security, inside City Hall and making for The Chamber.

To our amazement, there was Boris sitting in front of 20 or so inquisitors, in the middle of Mayor's Question Time. We, the rabble of me, three kids and my mum, were waved into the inner sanctum and there we stood (we could have sat and stayed for as long as we liked) for fifteen minutes or so, watching Boris debate policing levels with a London Labour MP.

To say we were surprised is an understatement. But so very very pleased to find transparent democracy working in our favour.

Boris's hands were absolutely filthy. His bike had broken on the way to work and he'd had to fix it by the side of the road. Late for Question Time and covered in oil, he'd had to go straight to The Chamber without time to clean up. (Bizarrely reminiscent of each morning's arrival by the Head of Deliverance in the BBC's Olympics mockumentary, Twenty Twelve.)

This shot shows Boris, tiny in the middle, with his back to the Thames, facing the horseshoe of MPs. Phones and cameras are allowed inside the Chamber (again, isn't that surprising?) but I was worried I'd make too much noise, so this was snapped just outside.

Also, bizarrely, there was a pretty young woman sitting in The Chamber, on her own, in a wedding dress. I'd love to know why?