Top Shop and top of the world

That'll be blue sky in the background - London Eye

The family all arrived safe and well and rather more promptly that I anticipated yesterday.  Flight 15 minutes early and then the rock star treatment one often receives but can’t rely on for getting through queues quickly when you have a disability meant that they were out of Heathrow nearly an hour before I actually got there to meet them which was not the plan.  

Curtis arrived in an oversized pair of Qantas pyjamas due to a bout of in flight vomiting – glad I missed that one.  Caught the tube to Kings Cross but unfortunately the lift at Heathrow was out of order so we didn’t really have a fully accessible experience of the London underground (friendly staff happy to help with a extra hand on the escalator).  That’s it for the tube for Stella as the rest of it is out of bounds for anyone with any sort of mobility impairment.  Today we’ve found that actually when there’s 4 of us travelling about town that it’s actually quite economical to use taxis.  They’re quick and efficient and most of all accessible and quite cheap for shortish distances, but I found out tonight that the buses are free for wheelchair users - I guess they're trying to compensate for fatal shortcomings of the train service.

Up late last night writing a pitch for channel 4 as I have a meeting there tomorrow to pitch this  film I'm making.  Amazingly the person we approached at Channel 4 actually remembered Untold Desires and was very impressed by it so that was a pleasant surprise.  Now I just have to make her love this new idea.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Tonight I tackled the tube again for another interview, this time with Sian Vasey.  This time I got a great room to film in and the lighting set up worked a treat.  The interview was a little shorter than some of the others but some good stuff none the less.

Earlier today it was sightseeing time.  I took Geoffrey and the children on the London Eye – Stella was disappointed that it didn’t go faster.  The views were amazing and it was a really fabulous way to see London.  Then we went on a river cruise to Greenwich – perfect for a lesson about Greenwich mean time and latitude and longitude (some if which I’m a bit woolly on so maybe I’m not the best teacher).  I thought that the cruise and London eye would be the perfect low key activities for anyone who might still be carrying a bit of jet lag – not too much walking involved or schlepping about on public transport.  Perfect weather and a great day.

Doesn't it go any faster Mummy?

Absolutely lovely to have the family with me again although I did hear myself getting just a little bit terse when I got home from filming tonight and there were no teacups or drinking glasses in the room.  The hotel I chose as a special treat for the family is uber cool (and expensive) but they don’t routinely provide tea and coffee making facilities in the room – I guess fashion models & rock stars order room service when they want a cup of tea. When I asked for a kettle and some cups for my room yesterday they were happy to oblige but then the cleaner must have removed the cups during the morning clean up which was really annoying.  The room is enormous and rather glamorous but of course I didn’t sleep well which is always the way.  Yesterday they had an event here for London fashion week here and we had to battle our way through hordes of skinny blondes wearing too much makeup to get to our room.  The staff were a little vague about which brand it was – I think it was Top Shop – hardly the apex of glamour but that didn’t stop them.

I could get used to this - at the hotel

Oh well enough fluff now – time for bed.