National Portrait Gallery Restaurant

It was Margaret's birthday today . . . . . . . Happy Birthday Margaret! Having had a dreadful day yesterday I decided to skip work today and visit a restaurant that was recommended to me a while ago by a friend. The National Portrait Gallery must have the best views of almost any London restaurant. Even the OXO tower can hardly compare. Sadly the weather was not very obliging, and also I took the photos very fast as the tables were filling up. The food was pretty yummy too.

A Tourist in London

As ever a day out with me starts on the South Bank and the London Eye! This time my victim was my aunt Lesley, who overcame jet lag and no breakfast (I am a lousy host) to spent the day allowing me to be a tourist!!

Nelson looking for the missing pigeons in Trafalgar Square

St James' Park in hazy sunshine

The view of the City from the Bridge formerly known as the Hungerford Bridge (it sounds so much nicer than the Jubilee Bridge)

Those pesky strormtroupers aiming their guns at the Houses of Parliament again, you would have thought they would have been stopped and searched under the new Terrorism Laws by now

Buckingham Palace in the sun and surrounded by cyclists enjoying the fact that Central London was closed to cars for the day

Davis Cup -So Long Tim Henman

Months ago I booked some tickets for the doubles match in the Davis Cup... GB V Croatia. Subsequently Tim Henman announced his retirement from the professional game, and then surprisingly as GB were 2-0 up Tim actually played with Jamie Murray to try and win the tie and take GB into the World Group in 2008. This would be his last competitive match, and we had great seats! I took plenty of pictures of the serve and particularly the end.. but her are some of my favourites! I actually missed the last point mainly because I was trying to make sure I captured Tim Henman's final shot.. He hit the ball three times during the last rally, and this is definitely the last shot.. although not the clearest photo. Sometimes photographs are good (and come on we are talking relatively here I know) because they capture the moment, rather than being the prettiest. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

I suddenly realised it was 40-15 on Tim's serve and that potentially it was the last ever serve he would take professionally. To be honest I had pretty much thought the same in the previous game, but forgot the photo, so not forgetting to take the photo was obviously a good thing for GB's prospects. Note to self.. remember to take photos frequently!

Tim Henman says 'Goodbye' The roar from the crowd was unbelievable

No more will we see the clenched fist when things are going well.... Oh my! Happy Days! This says it all really! Except the woman with the letter 'U' wasn't really playing ball was she?

I know this shot isn't really very exciting, but we had just won a service break and I was trying to capture all the Union Jacks!

Actually this one is back to the beginning when they were warming up! And we shouldn't really forget that Tim did have a doubles partner.... Take a bow Jamie Murray
Just a salutory note.........

I bought the tickets from Ticketmaster who were the official sellers months ago, because they were doing a Kids go free special offer. I realised a couple of days ago that my tickets hadn't arrived so called Ticketmaster who confirmed they had been posted on 23rd August and arranged duplicates which I collected this morning. I had 4 tickets.. and just before the start a couple arrived claiming I was sitting in his seat. I explained he needed to see the usher.. as Thomas hadn't been able to come he plonked himself down in the spare seat. If he had been polite I probably would have let it go, but he was so rude I went and reported him to the stewards.. who threw him and his wife out! I did feel bad, because I often buy tickets on Ebay.. and it wasn't his fault he had bought stolen tickets.. but he really had been quite insufferable. About half an hour another couple arrived with my other two stolen tickets... Luckily the steward spotted them trying to get us to move.. and threw them out too. It looks like my tickets were stolen in the post, but because I had reported them missing I had duplicate tickets. The steward told me duplicate tickets ALWAYS have priority. She felt sorry for the other people too, but she said their policy was always to remove the other ticketholders however genuine they may have been. i often buy Ebay tickets, but it is really worth checking them out.. There were four unhappy people at Wimbledon (or rather outside!)

**** Late update - I spent a lot of time looking for my tickets on EBAY and finally found them.. YES Honestly. Just so you know his name on E-Bay is TNERT16 and apparantly if you phone him on 07960 895964 He can get you anything your little heart desires! ****

All the fun of the Fair!!!

My view of the Fair - Think this says it all

Sunset over London . . . . . . .

The things a girl has to do to find a bit of sunset in London... OK so none of these photographs actually has much sun setting in them, but I like the colours and the effect of the last rays on the normally cold London stone.

London at night 6th September 2007

Had a slightly less traumatic evening along the South Bank, and I am really quite pleased with some of these efforts.. Plenty to learn, but at least this week I don't feel that this photography lark is totally hopeless! Saw no policemen at all, except for one in a tutu, and I think he might not have been a real policeman

Storm Troupers Take London

May the Force be with you. . . . But not stopping and searching you while you try taking a few innocent photographs!

There's a storm brewing!

View of Southfields taken from Burntwood Lane.

London Zoo 3 September 2007

Thomas' last day of the holiday and we decided to visit the zoo together. I always head straight to the tiger enclosure as they have a tendancy to sleep all day, out of sight. It must have been my lucky day, he was on the prowl!

We couldn't work out what the Tamarin was calling to his/her mate for Until we realised she needed a flea check from the nit-nurse

Men are men whatever shapes and sizes they come in. This one was lion shaped and didn't hesitate to hide his antipathy towards me . . . That wasn't his only bad habit either . . He yawned without putting his paw over his mouth Spat up a furball in front of company . . . . .

and wouldn't stop biting his nails . . . . .

Sensibly, his mate sat there pretending she wasn't with him . . . .

Couldn't see the pelicans when we arrived, but they soon trouped in side by side.. think they were looking for Noah, and made their displeasure known when they realised they were stuck with me!

We have flamingos in London too, and although they don't have a mirror to play with, they are kinder to me than the flock at martin Mere ever were.

This meerkat was on lookout in the sun. . . . . . .

this isn't my favourite giraffe in the world (That is Jamie the one eared giraffe at Whipsnade for obvious reasons) but this giraffes eyelashes are my favourite eyelashes the whole world over

I am always dubious about zoos.. Are they cruel etc etc. However when we were staying in Belves we saw a dancing bear performing in the town. We were all very upset to see the magnificent beast being treated like this. The sloth bears at London Zoo are the bears that traditionally are used for this kind of 'entertainment'. As long as London Zoo helps stop this kind of treatment and keeps bears safe, they get my vote. this bear was soaking up the sun and looked pretty happy to me

Finally - my nemesis. I can never photograph these animals at all well. They have a small enclosure with a thick wire fence. I think this young one was keeping his eye on me however!