Back in the swing

So London is feeling like home again. We have spent the week being squished on the tube, working hard, getting used to walking rather than a car and wearing jackets again. The weather is slowly becoming more pleasant. The is more sunny and warmer days. I have even been able to go outside once or twice at lunch without a jacket. People have started planting flowers and daffodils are popping up everywhere. I am just loving all the flowers in bloom.

On Friday Ben's dad and Julie arrived for a short visit. We went out to one of our favourite places Hudson's for dinner on Friday. Julie even tried my favourite fish pie. On Saturday we decided to visit the Geffrye Museum in East London. The museum had textiles, furniture, paintings and objects from 1600 until today. It was actually an old hospital. The grounds were beautiful and in the summer the garden is open with herbs and fresh flowers. It had a lovely coffee shop where we had scones, cake, coffee and tea. Oh so very English.

After the museum we were off to the Broadway Market to explore a few shops and markets. So much great smelling food. It is always nice visiting East London it is not as prim and proper like the South West of the river. On Saturday night we were even lucky enough to secure a table at the great Vietnamese place in Lavender Hill. It has gone slightly upmarket since our last visit but the prices haven't changed. We treated ourselves to a great wine from the Clare Valley. Very, very yummy indeed.

On Sunday we went to Greenwich markets. People at work had recommended it and they won't wrong. It was a lovely market, filled with arts and crafts and great market food such as Japanese, Persian and Thai. Ben and I will go back again to explore some more. There are some nice parks and ships that we want to go and see.

It was so great to see Keith and Julie, we really loved having them. I had never spent so much time with Keith and Ben together. It was scary how similar they are. Julie and I did a lot of giggling together observing all their similarities, including the matching crease on their left ear. Ben really enjoyed spending time with his dad. They left us really early on Tuesday to visit Keith's sister who lives near Bristol.  Ben's catching up with them for a coffee on Friday.

Also this week we have been planning Nanna and Pop's trip to come and visit us. The arrive at the end of April and we have so far booked a trip to Cornwall and a weekend in Brussels. We can't wait for them to visit.