Me Outside St Paul's Cathedral

Lauch and I are engaged as of yesterday!

St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral By Lex

You could be forgiven for thinking that London was some exotic city in Europe today. It was all long shadows, porcelain blue skies, people speaking in different languages. Lauch and I saw a theatre performance that had dialogue in English, Chinese and Farsi (there were subtitles!) then went to admire St Paul's Cathedral.

Oui

A chocolate tart and a deep, round, white cup of tea in Paul (a French patisserie chain) at Holland Park. People watching and listening to the employees talking in French. Oui! D'accord.

The South Downs

Uncle A and I went walking across the South Downs, through fields of wheat and up and down rolling hills covered in grasses. I was breaking in my first ever pair of hiking boots because one day I want to hike up Machu Picchu and see temples in Tibet.

Click here to see a few more pictures from the South Downs and the nearby cute little town called Steyning (pronounced "Stenning").

Pimms

Pimms is a type of gin that is mixed with lemonade, mint, cucumber, orange, lemon, lime and strawberries. It's great.

The World Naked Bike Ride

I went to Hyde Park to see the start of the World Naked Bike Ride. As I strolled towards the crowd and noticed several people walking around in the nude, I wasn't quite so keen to pull out my camera. Is it right to photograph people when they are naked? Even if they are naked in the middle of Hyde Park? The other onlookers around me didn't seem to have any qualms though, they were snapping away with their phones and cameras.

The people in the ride were wearing body paint, fancy hats, slogans written on their bodies. They wore wigs. One wore a bear suit and rode in a bike that had an armchair attached to it. A girl rode a unicycle. There were people with slogans like "Curb car use" and others with loftier ambitions for world peace.

I decided that it was all right to take photos.




While I was standing around, taking it all in, a nude man came along and said "Excuse me miss, would you mind posing for a photo with me for charity?" Certainly, for charity. He said he'd lost a bet and so he had to raise money for charity doing this bike ride.

Then he said "And would you raise £10 extra by giving me a little slap on the bum?"

That wasn't what I signed up for!

"Just a little one? For Greenpeace?"
I thought of saving the whales and gave him a slap on the bum.

Then there was a loud whistling and a cheer went up. A couple of hundred people - mostly men, with a few women as well - jumped on their bikes and slowly the World Naked Bike Riders wheeled off down the road.



I walked away, thinking that if the world benefits from such a quirky and entertaining event, it has to be a good thing.

P.S. Click here to see photos of the rest of the world doing their bike ride!

Book of Wishes

These pictures are for you, Hannah. This is a book I've had lying around for a while and every now and then I paint a page or stick something in or sew in something. It has the odd pocket sewn inside it and I've written wishes and put them in the pockets.

Sunday Afternoon, Hyde Park

Spent laying on a picnic rug, eating a Freddo frog and reading the Venice guidebook (because we are going there in August!)