External attention!

Well, guess who got a pretty good rating on Soapbox Jury?

Yes, my blog has been rated a 7/10 by this site. I have no idea how I was found or why I was reviewed. Only thing is, why oh why did I have to get reviewed after slacking off on my educational posts and only a few days after I considered writing another one?

You can read my review here.

Perhaps you can leave feeback there, if you like :)

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And now I have forgotten all the things I have been storing up to share with you!

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I had a long day today. Went to see some old friends, so went to Richmond where Christopher of the previous post picked me up. There were hoards of people making their way home from the Lord Mayor's Show, and globs more on their way to the rugby in Twickenham, so he and I got stuck in quite a bit of traffic.

Chris's Mum (Joy) had laid on a generous spread of food, with the feature being chicken in coriander, ginger, lemongrass, garlic, spring onion. Yum and surprisingly tender. We drank claret with that, followed by some of the Eiswein I had brought along. It was amazingly full-bodied, ever so fruity, really desserty, and possibly even more fun for the tastebuds than Muscat. Dessert was a nice blackberry and apple pie, with cream. I had seconds...and then a cuppa tea :)

Joy and I chatted about how Chris and I were born. Part of the time I spoke on behalf of my mother - she and J met in the maternity ward at Queen Charlotte's Hospital. I was born in April at 27 weeks, Christopher in July at 25 weeks.

Then, brainiacs as we were, during the conversation about London, we got out the map. In the one about holidays, we got out the stonking great world Atlas.
Eventually, that led to Chris getting out his laptop and us spending the next hour AT LEAST, going all over the world in Google Maps, exploring all the places we've visited or lived in. We found the Sphinx in Eypt and we could even see the people walking between the pyramids, and the shadows they cast...!

Then we had more tea with cheese, fruits, and crackers. After that, Chris did the boy thing and watched TV while Joy and I talked more seriously - she and my mother both went through divorce ordeals within the past 4 years, so there was a lot to say. It is amazing: after you think you have gotten over something, you find that wounds will open in a moment, at a word.

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I left there at nearly 10, and Chris dropped me off at the station. The District line took me to Westminster - so far so good, apart from the lights flickering and a hydraulic sound every time we pulled out of a station. At Westminster I made my way to the Jubilee line. A few seconds before the train arrived, the lights went out over one half of the platform. Then the train pulled in. I stood at the door ready to enter when it opened and a girl stood within ready to step out. Suddenly there was an announcement that, due to an emergency situation, the station was now closed and all passengers were asked to leave. The girl and I frowned perplexedly at each other and then the train pulled out immediately, with an air of abandoning us to our fates. We were all herded out, and I reached the surface in time to hear Big Ben strike 10.30 pm.

I got on a bus to Oxford Circus where I expected to walk to Bond Street, but then the driver announced that particular bus would be terminating at Piccadilly. There is no end to the joys of London Transport. I walked, briskly, to Green Park and then I was home without incident at a quarter to midnight.

Hot chocolate and dark choc cherry liqueurs rule!