London report

On Thursday I had a phone call from my musician friend, Jim, to ask if I wanted to go and celebrate St Patrick's Day in Edinburgh. Initially I was going to be sensible as was taking the 10.12 am train from Berwick the next day, but then I'm not really known for being sensible, so packed my stuff and headed into Edinburgh for party time. The only thing was, by the time I got there, it seemed that a lot of folk had already had quite a bit to drink and it was relatively quiet. Still, we went out and had a very nice evening and I even got to bed before midnight!

On Friday I scooted back down the road to change suitcases and get my train. By the time I got to London I had had a message from one of the people who'd looked in on my mother to tell me she still wasn't eating, so on the way to her house I stopped and picked up some all-in-one food replacement drinks for her. She wasn't thrilled with the first one, announcing it was too sweet, but amazingly she then went on to have another and it seemed to do the trick and she picked up pretty fast from there on in. Of course, what that meant was, as she was getting to feel better physically, mentally she just got into a bad mood and stayed like that for most of the weekend, and although I started out my weekend as 'good child', by the time I left this morning I was back to being the usual disappointment. So all good there!

I had a really nice dinner out at an Italian restaurant in Covent Garden on Friday night, which was fun.

Then on Saturday, after shopping for my mother in the morning, I spent a lovely afternoon with my ex ex husband's best friend and his wife. We had a great time catching up and gossiping about the old gang and I now have an invite for Sunday lunch the next time I'm down. Then in the evening, I went out with Aisha, a Guide Dog owner and her gorgeous golden retriever, Pearl, who's quite a character, for dinner.

Aisha and Pearl outside Carluccio's at St Pancras station

We decided on going to St Pancras station as Aisha was staying at a Youth Hostel not far from there and it was the easiest place to get to.

Aisha is truly amazing. She's 30 and had very limited vision since birth, but that hasn't stopped her doing anything. She's a full time Social Worker in Manchester and is an absolute inspiration. Pearl has been with her for 8 months and she's never had a dog in her life before, but it's incredible to see them together. And it also made me feel really good about being a Puppy Walker. It really does have the potential to change a life. Although Aisha has done a lot of things, Pearl has brought a whole new dimension to her life, which is wonderful to see. It also made me feel truly lucky that I have my sight.

There was one funny instance that night though, as I woke up at about 3 am and couldn't see much at all. Everything was really fuzzy and then I realised I'd forgotten to take my contact lenses out! But just for a second I did have a momentary thought about losing my sight! I also had the bizarre thought that maybe I could have Vespa back... but that passed as soon as I realised what had happened! No harm done though, thank goodness!

Yesterday, I went to see the stage production of The Lion King, which was absolutely fab. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to go. We had a slight drama when, just after the interval, that there was a technical hitch and we had a 20 minute wait while they sorted it out, but that couldn't spoil what was an incredible production. The staging was so clever.

And then in the evening I went out for yet another dinner, this one with my cousin, Mike, from the States. We went to The Wolseley and had a lovely evening together, but we did have a couple of problems. First of all Mike ordered a bottle of red wine, but when they opened it he announced he didn't like it. The waiter's face was a picture, but to his credit he went off and got the menu so Mike could choose a different wine, which luckily turned out fine. Then my dinner came. I'd ordered halibut, but they brought smoked haddock! I very quietly informed the waiter re the mistake and they rushed it off back to the kitchen. By this time I was wondering if they thought we were absolute pain in the arses, but the manageress came and profusely apologised and we did say we weren't being pains on purpose, which caused much hilarity. Eventually my halibut came and it was absolutely delicious. By the time we'd walked back to my mother's house I was really, really tired and was relieved to be in bed by 11.

So this morning was an early start as had to leave my mother's house before 9 because of the London traffic. Of course what that meant was there was hardly any traffic and I got to Kings Cross in no time at all, but at least had the chance to sit down and get a breakfast, which was great.

I got home to a letter from Vespa's trainer from Forfar to tell me he's doing very well. She really loves him and is taking him home for Easter. He's still a bit self interested and that's not so good and she also said he loves the kittens at Forfar and I'm not entirely sure exactly what that means! However, the very good news is that I'm going to get invited up to see him work before he goes on to the next part of his training, which means he IS going on to the next part of his training, which I'm so super happy about.

I thought I'd finish this post with this lovely pic of my boy:

My gorgeous Vespa