What a crazy couple of days! It has been very tiring, and somewhat confusing, but also a lot of fun - a whole lot of new and exciting experiences for me. I had suspected something was up, since my parents had seemed so busy and a bit stressed over the past few days. But I had no idea what was going to happen.

It began on Monday around lunchtime when Grandpa came over. We then drove out to the airport, and said goodbye to Grandpa. There was then lots of waiting and queuing, filling out of forms, talking to official looking people, and walking through security checks. Eventually, after a long wait in which I played with another cute baby, we went through a door and onto the aeroplane.

The next 22 hours were a bit of a blur: lots of sitting in our seats; too much time spent trying to get the video screen to work so we could watch some films; numerous meals were brought to us; lots of fun people to make friends with; some other babies to play with; some songs and stories, but not much room to move. I also have a very vague memory of wandering around Singapore airport, and playing on the floor with a very friendly Swedish boy who was a very good crawler.

Then there was the sleeping. In the end I slept quite a lot, but it wasn’t the best sleep, and it wasn’t too comfortable in the little bassinet I was provided - I just fit into it. I did have one good stretch of sleeping with Wibbly for a few hours, but I really preferred to be on my mum.

The we arrived in London. Through immigrations and customs quickly and easily, but then my parents realised that they’d forgotten to pick up my porta-cot. So dad had to go back to get it. Then we caught a fancy train into London, got into a real London Taxi, and had a slow and scenic tour throught the middle of London: past Hyde park, Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, across the Thames and down the Old Kent Road to Lewisham and Catford (though our taxi driver got a bit lost, saying he hadn’t been to that part of London in 40 years - so much for “London Taxi drivers are the best and most knowledgeable in the world.”)

Now we are snugly set up in our house in Catford. We’ve slept a lot since arriving, and gone for a few walks in the cold crisp air. Yesterday, when we first went out, it was nice and sunny, but it was snowing lightly. Beautiful, but a bit of a shock after a hot Melbourne summer.

I like Catford (the area in London where we are staying). Out the front of the main shopping center is a sculpture of a huge cat. The people are friendly and interesting. There are lots of other babies around. Yesterday we went out for a walk, up to the shops in Lewisham to get me some new tights - I somehow put my toe through the ones I’ve been wearing, and it is very, very cold!

This morning we went out for a coffee, and I sat with my parents and read the Guardian newspaper. Very sophisticated. Then we went back home for a play and a bit of a nap, before our big (and fairly futile) expedition to try to see the giant squid at the Natural History Museum (full report coming soon).

This afternoon we went into central London, to visit the Natural History Museum, hoping to see the new giant squid exhibit. But they wouldn’t let me in - apparently I’m too young to be exposed to the horrors of an 8m long Architeuthis dux. I did manage to see a smaller specimen, as you can see in this picture.

The trip to the museum wasn’t entirely wasted. The big animated T-Rex was very impressive. I wasn’t scared at all, even when other children were crying with fear.

Today we went on the train to visit my dad’s friend Tom in Tunbridge Wells. I loved the train trip - especially flirting with the other babies. We played in Tom’s dad’s house for a while - I even helped them with clearing out the house (they are moving soon) by taking lots of books off the shelves. We then went and had a yummy meal at Wagamama - I really liked the miso and tofu. Then we went for a walk in the park, and eventually caught the train back to London.

 

I was very busy today, and I learnt a lot.

I went to the British Museum with my dad while my mum was giving a talk at the University. I met Σωκράτης (Socrates), who taught me that living a life of virtue is more important than having material wealth. I also went down to the ancient Roman exhibit and gave myself a quick Latin lesson. I then felt a little tired, so went for a bit of the nap with the mummies.

 

After the Museum we went back to mum’s talk, and caught the end of question time. After the talk I had a great play with all of my mum’s colleagues.

Then we got on a very crowded bus and headed out to Hackney, to an area that has been called the Murder Mile. But the only thing scary about going there was the heating on the bus - way too hot! We went there to have dinner with Julian and Lara. They all ate yummy food and drank great wine, and they all didn’t stop talking - so much that it lulled me to sleep. I barely remember the long late trip back to Catford.

A lazy one today. A bit of a sleep in after last night’s fun, then we headed in to Blackheath for a walk on the heath and a tasty lunch. It was cold but nice and sunny, perfect for a bit of a wander. I liked the idea of going to Blackheath, mainly because it reminded me of my uncle Heath. Although Blackheath was nothing like my uncle Heath at all.

After lunch we went back home and just lazed around. I played with my favourite things, the plastic containers in the kitchen cupboard. Every time I play I pull everything out and scatter it alll over the floor. But the next time I go into the kitchen everything is magically back in the cupboard. Mysterious!

 

After our play in the kitchen we went back up to our nice room, had a bit of a snooze, then another play with my friends Wibbly and Puppy, then a bath, a feed, and back to bed for a long night’s sleep in my brand new colourful striped sleeping bag.

It took a week, but the traditional London spring weather is finally back. Cold, grey, wet and gloomy, and everybody is feeling so much more confortable about it. The sunny weather was just too weird. We haven’t done much the past few days, just played around a lot at home and gone for a few walks down to the shops. I had a fun but slightly scary play with Leo the dog today. He can be a bit over enthusiastic about playing - although I guess I can too.

A wet and wooly day today. After a bit of a sleep-in this morning I went out into the weather with my dad. We caught the train in to Charing Cross and walked up to Covent Garden, where we had a delicious falafel at a place called “Just Falafs“. I then watched a silly busker who did a sort-of Charlie Chaplin routine. We then wandered through Soho, checking out all the dodgy geezers along the way. Then back through Trafalgar Square (which was strangley devoid of both people and pigeons - I wonder why?), to the train station and home.

 

Mum gave her second presentation today, a talk at the Institute of Philosophy about Descartes’s views on animal minds. I’ve already heard the talk a few times so didn’t really want to hang around, so I went back to the British Museum with my dad. There I managed to have a very close look at a replica of the Rosetta Stone (it is almost impossible to get through the enormous crowds to see the real one), checked out a bust of Joseph Banks, and had a good look at some mummy heads.

We’ve been eating pretty well since coming to London (despite what some say about British Cuisine). Of course, it hasn’t all been mushy peas, bangers and mash, or bubble and squeak. We’ve been wandering through nice food shops, like Neal’s Yard Dairy, sampling from local farmer’s markets, and today we went in to London Bridge to check out the Borough Market. It was very crowded and busy, but it was well worth it just to get the great cheese, mushrooms and olives. But we ended up not being able to get many vegies because the queue to pay was way too long (the English do like their queues, don’t they), and I just couldn’t be stuffed waiting.

 

I’ve just had a few quiet days at home - mum’s been working very hard, and I’ve been having fun with my dad. Today I went for a swim with him at the Ladywell Leisure Centre. For the first hour we were the only ones in the “parent and baby” session, then another little boy turned up with his parents. I wanted to play with him, but he was a bit wary since it was one of his first swims ever. After the swim we then went to Gino’s for lunch, then back home for a nap and more playtime.

 

Today was a huge day of touristic sightseeing. It began with a coffee with mum at the local Italian-style cafe in Catford. Then we said bye-bye to her, jumped on a train at Catford Bridge and headed into the city. We got off at Waterloo East and walked up to the Thames. I took advantage of the uninteresting walk by catching up on some sleep. When I woke we were in a funky restaurant, and there were lots of other babies around. The cute waiter gave me a balloon to play with, and I also played with a fun almost-1-year-old girl called Robin while my dad finished his yummy burrito. We then walked along the river bank, then up on to the London Eye. Great fun! I’m certainly not scared of hights (unlike my dad). After that we walked across the bridge, past Big Ben, and into Westminster Abbey. We had a good look at the tomb of Margaret Cavendish, a 17th century philosopher my mum thinks is great. We then saw lots of other very ornate tombs, and I kept getting too excited - dad kept saying “shhhh” and looking embarrassed.