The silence of the tourist

I should possibly change the name of this blog to 'Eat, drink, sleep, sleep again'.

I have had four relatively empty days, which have been good. I am currently based in Paddington with my friend Laurinda and her husband Cam. Paddington is on the North side of Hyde Park, and is understandably posh and lovely. There are stables right around the corner and pony girls take the horses out to the Park each morning.

Needless to say the flatmates are New Zealand and Australian, which has been good for advice on London. This is particularly good this week as THE JOB HUNT BEGINS !!!! I had an interview yesterday that was fairly horrid, but (thankfully?) only the first of many.

On the tourist side, I have visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. I enjoyed this rather much, especially the 7m x 4m paintings by Raphael on loan from Her Majesty's own collection. I also ducked into Harrods, where I have never felt so poor and out of place in my life. (It helped that the cashier checked my money for counterfeiting.)

The Diana and Dodi memorial statue is far less offensive than I expected, but the first floor's separate display with the engagement ring Dodi bought the day before the accident was gold-plated yuckiness. I gave some pence to the charity fountain to try and make it all go away.... no luck.

Without a doubt, the best thing so far this week is hanging out with my Aunty Marianne, her daughter Adele and Adele's new human Ronan. I enjoyed seeing Regent Street, Carnaby Street and Chinatown with the three of them - we have plans to see Buckingham Palace tomorrow. Hopefully Ronan's cuteness will have some magic effect on queues and the grumpy English service people who control them.