Last Thursday after work it was up to the Stables for Jen's farewell party up there. After much decision making and plan changing (by her), she's finally decided to head back to Australia and take up a job offer where her sister works. There were a good crowd of us up there, and with the added combination of a decent summer evening, cold beers in the fridge and meat cooking on the BBQ, there wasn't a lot else you could ask for :) She was flying out the next afternoon, so had to make the most of her last night in London town.

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Since Thursday was quite a late one, I decided to take it easy on Friday evening. Plus I had just gotten my new S3 phone so was more than happy to be a nerd and stay in on a Friday, sitting outside in the garden and figuring the phone out. Then on Saturday I was up early and off for a cycle around Richmond Park. It was a slightly cooler morning, but nice and crisp to get on the bike and out into the park. The rest of the day I was just around Putney and down the high street a bit, and then off to Uns' place for dinner that evening.

On Sunday Uns and I headed out on the DLR to Mudchute Park and Farm. It's the largest urban farm in the London area with 34 acres of open parkland in the heart of the Isle of Dogs. I had never heard of these city farms before, of which there are apparently a few around here. But was nice to spend the morning there and walking around alongside the various animals.

From Mudchute, it was over to Greenwich to the O2 Arena to find somewhere to eat. With so many options to chose from there, it doesn't make decision making all that easy. After narrowing it down, we went with the Spur option, which I hadn't been to yet. Lunch there was good, very much your classic Spur lunch, which is always somewhat decent.

After lunch we thought we'd catch the new Emirates cable car Air Line over to the Royal Docks on the other side of the river. The Royal Docks comprise three docks over there in east London, and collectively form the largest enclosed docks in the world, with a water area of nearly 250 acres. The Docks over on the other side were much nicer than what I expected - in my mind I was imagining slightly run down graffitied warehouses and broken windows in the buildings, however I was pleasantly surprised! I think they had recently gone through some redevelopment, as most of the cafes and shops looked fairly new and shiny. After a while of walking around over on the side, we caught the Air Line back and tried to grab a drink or coffee from TGIF inside the O2. After waiting for a while and told there weren't any tables for ages, even though there appeared to be some, we decided against going there all together. But at least I got my picture taken on the motorcycle outside. Think the look suits me :) From there it was onto the tube and off home. The Air Line is probably something I'll hardly ever catch, but still a nice addition to the skyline over on that side on London.

On Tuesday it was over to the Jubilee Gardens just next to Waterloo Station. They had been hard at work recently renovating the gardens in time for the Olympics which aren't too far away now. After sometime chilling out in the gardens, it was over to the National Theatre to check out the Fire Garden they had over there. To mark the arrival in London of the Olympic Torch, the National Theatre invited The World Famous pyrotechnic company to turn the building into a blazing 'Fire Garden', animating the exterior of the building for three evenings with fireworks, fire, flame and special effects. It really looked impressive, and spectacular with that amount of fire and frame spread around. After the fire show, we headed back to Waterloo and popped into the Wellington for dinner. Not the best place in the area to eat, but we just wanted a simple pub deal to snack on.

On Wednesday Uns and myself made our way down to Greenwich to hopefully catch sight of some of the Tall Ships which were supposed to be passing by Greenwich at some point. It was part of 'Sail Royal Greenwich' which would consist of 20 tall ships including schooners and clippers, many originating from Holland and would positioned in St Katharine Docks. There was a report that they'd be sailing down the river and past Greenwich, so we figured this would be our best bet to see them going by. Once at Greenwich, we grabbed a takeaway from Pizza Express and then found an area to sit overlooking the river quite near to the Cutty Sark. And then we waited. And waited some more. Unfortunately there were no tall ships of any sort passing by, but there was an amazing sunset and sky which made up for the lack of tall ships. I'm guessing we must've just missed them or the article got the date wrong.

After sunset we hopped on board the Thames Clipper towards the O2, which was just a single stop away. There wasn't much of a plan to stay at the O2, just head to Waterloo via the O2 on the river. We had to wait quite some time out at the O2 for the next Clipper service back, but it was definitely worth it - the night views along the river were stunning... beats taking the underground any day!

On Wednesday night I didn't have the best night - reckon it was probably from being out the past few nights and on the boat cruise being rather cold. Whatever it was it went straight to my chest. I was struggling a bit to get to sleep with a rather chesty cough, so thought it best to head over to King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill and get it checked out. I spent some time there waiting and check ups, but a but of oxygen later and I was feeling a lot better. I did spent yesterday and today at home, just taking it really easy and sleeping loads, which I'm sure has helped. Just unfortunate timing as I was meant to head up to Newcastle this weekend for Brian's stag party, but reckon I'm going to have to give that one a miss :(