I'm four days into my stay in London and it's turned from being lovely and sunny on the weekend to cold and wet since yesterday. I'm getting a bit sick of all the bad weather to be honest. I try to bear in mind what my first Contiki guide told us way back in 2000 when I first arrived in the UK: "You're not Beroccas, you won't dissolve!" I guess the weather must have been a bit grim back then too! I do remember we took a diversion to go to Sherwood Forest (our driver was from Nottingham) and the rain poured down when we were about to get out of the bus to go to Mighty Oak. We got pretty wet that day.

I got quite wet yesterday as I headed out and about. I decided to take the bus so I could see some sights on the way into town. After a while we got into the city and I spied the Museum of London. I like museums, so got off and tried to figure out how to get in but couldn't, so kept on walking. It was raining and I was wearing ballet flats and long jeans, so it didn't take too long for my feet to get wet and cold. I walked for quite a while and wanted to find somewhere to have breakfast. Whenever I found somewhere I liked the look of, I'd try to find somewhere I could buy a paper, and then not be able to find the food place again. I ended up having a croissant and a big cuppa in Leicester Square station.

Feeling more awake after my brekkie, I set off again. I walked to St Paul's. I'd been there when I first moved over here but hadn't done the Whispering Wall thing so wanted to see what that was all about. When I got there the place was fenced off. I asked a guard why and he said the Dalai Lama was due! I hung around for a while but I was was wet and getting too cold so headed off again, this time for the tube station. I have no idea where I thought I was going, but I caught the tube, got up to street level and was basically back at the Museum of London again - I'd just done a big circle!

I made my way to the National Gallery. I thought it was the National Portrait Gallery, so it wasn't quite what I was expecting, but still enjoyed it. There was one painting in particular that was quite cool. It had a skull painted on it that from the left and front just looked like this long, weird thing, but from the right was obviously a skull. As you walked from left to right you could see it transforming - very cool! And it was a really old painting too, several centuries.

After that I went for a wander, had lunch in a restaurant called Garfunkels, went for another wander (I actually can't remember what I did!) and then went to Covent Garden to meet Dereck when he finished work.

When we got back to Haringey, he took me to the wonder that is Iceland. They sell the chicken tikka lasange microwave meal. Chicken. Tikka. Lasange! That makes me laugh for some reason, they just don't sound like they should go together, but Dereck assures me they do and very deliciously at that.

Today I was looking forward to getting out there again but had a rude shock when I woke up. Slugs. All over my backpack. Luckily they had gone by the time I got up, but their silvery trails were easy to spot on my dark pack. Unfortunately I had left the pack unzipped and the b******s had even got inside and slimed some of my clothes. Before I'd seen the pack, I'd put a load of washing on and because it's a front loader, I couldn't open it up to put the slimy clothes in. I really don't like front loaders!

I did a pretty thorough check of the pack and couldn't find any slugs so guess they came for a visit rather than a permanent stay. At least I hope that's the case. Ugh, ugh, ugh! Makes me feel a little sick!

I eventually made it out of the house and caught the tube to Covent Garden where I met Dereck for lunch. We walked to Holborn Sainsbury's and made for the amazing salad bar - nom! It was awesome! We also got some really nice cheese twists, which are made with similar pastry (if not the same) to croissants. We then walked back to Covent Garden and had lunch on the roundabout at Seven Dials - much nicer than it sounds! Seven Dials is a lovely place - seven streets that come off the small roundabout. I almost felt like I was in Paris walking down one of them.

I wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to go after that, so had a wander around Covent Garden down to a bridge (London Bridge?) and then around to the Royal Courts of Justice, Chancery Lane, Strand (though not necessarily in that order!) before finding a tube station and heading west to the Victoria & Albert. While on there, an announcement was made that further down the line there was an unexploded device on the tracks and the service would end at Hammersmith. I was slightly alarmed! They repeated the announcement a few times, and people on the train got a bit antsy; "we KNOW!". Maybe they are used to that sort of announcement? By the time we reached the next station all was good again and the train would be heading to the original end station as planned. Phew!

I got off at South Kensington and followed my nose to the V&A (it didn't appear to be sign-posted) and had a good look around.

There was a function in the lobby being held in the evening so they were closing it off from 4.45pm. On the way to the other exit I went to ask a young staff member for directions to the loo but before I got there he had to stop an older posh woman to advise her that she couldn't go out the front exit as it was now closed. Wow, you'd have thought someone had told her that her expensive Knightsbridge townhouse had been trashed by gipsies. She was quite indignant that she'd have to walk around the corner to get to where she wanted to the front again. She went on and on, and the poor young guy kept trying to explain the situation to her, and said it wasn't his decision Then she said she was going to lay a complaint against him because of how rude he'd been (he'd been anything but. I wanted to slap the cow; I don't know how he stayed so nice!). I wish I'd stood up for him, but I was standing there with my mouth and eyes wide open in surprise at her behaviour (well, at some point I did manage a "oh, for God's sake woman!", but I guess it wasn't that loud!). After she stormed off, he turned to me and asked if he'd really been rude to her. I assured him he hadn't and that he'd handled the situation really well. He seemed happy to hear that.

Got home tonight and had a nice relaxing evening with Dereck and various flatmates making appearances.

When I first got to London on my OE all those years ago, my plan was to live in London, but I realised pretty quickly that whatever wages I earned wouldn't be able to get me living in the way I'd like (ie, a bit posh!) and it all just seemed too big and scary. I applied for (and got) a flat in Turnpike Lane where I'd be sharing a room with another girl. That didn't really appeal and needless to say, I didn't take it. Well, 12 years on and I'm living just down the road from that flat and sharing a room with another girl! I'm sharing with a friend of Dereck's flattie, who has broken up with her boyfriend and is sleeping on their couch for a bit. I have the blow up bed on the floor, but tonight I'll be sleeping on the lazy boy chair, as apparently the slugs get in through the lounge door as well and I don't want them slithering all over me - ick! I feel like I'm doing that London dossing thing - something I missed out on in my youth. I kind of feel like I'm doing traditional Kiwi London thing. And apart from the slugs, it's all good!