London

London - such an amazing city. This morning I was in St Pancras churchyard near the University College Hospital. St Pancras church stands on a site that can trace its ecclesiastical origins to back before the Norman conquest. There was a track that wove its way from Hampstead towards the once tiny city of London right past this church. Farmers would bring their produce day after day. Now it is swallowed up by the London sprawl.

In the eighteen seventies the authorities had to clear a lot of the graves in order to make way for train tracks leaving the twin stations - Kings Cross and St Pancras. The man charged with their removal was none other than young Thomas Hardy the novelist - before he met with fame and was a journeyman architect. He - or at least his men - stacked many of the old stones round a sapling which has now become a great lime tree known as Hardy's tree. Its roots almost meld in with the gravestones - life and death bound tightly together.

Of course that's not why we were in London. We went to see Hull City at Crystal Palace and then on to see a West End show - "Les Miserables" before a cheap and cheerful Chinese meal on Gerrard Street and then back to our nice little hotel in Pimlico. There are so many ways to look at London. So many different things to see. And it is great to get overground and walk instead of riding the exorbitant Tube system - £4 fora single journey. This morning we also visited Camden Market which our son always raves about but it didn't have quite the same impact on us. Clothing and fashion disinterest me. I would be happy running around in animal skins like a caveman!