Off to London

I know it must seem a terribly hard to believe coincidence so soon after my dad's coins turning out to be sovereigns that have now funded my next OU course, to also disclose that a little while ago - completely out of the blue - I got a notification from a company that there was about £1,000 of unclaimed money from some share valuation or other (my dad dabbled a bit here and there and I've never quite got to the bottom of some very confusing papers about all his bits and pieces - I've left them alone). This notice came from a company whose job it is to track down unclaimed monies and they take 10% for doing it - fair enough and what is left couldn't have come at a better time.

I have an elderly aunt - my dad's remaining sibling - who is now in a retirement home and it is her birthday on the 25th of this month. I had planned on doing a whistlestop visit to see her and stay with her daughter - my first cousin - in North London. The thing is though that a) I hate staying with people and b) I adore hotels, especially good ones. I would be ashamed to tell you how much I have racked up over the years staying in luxury hotels - you wouldn't believe it anyway.

This out of the blue money means that I can now stay at quite a nice hotel , instead of having to share a small maisonette with my cousin and her hubbie. Don't get me wrong - they are lovely people, it is just that I like my own space. I've not stayed at this hotel before but I do like the Radisson chain very much (my favourite of theirs is the Hampshire, right bang in the middle of Leicester Square but which is definitely out of my price bracket these days).

During my four days in London I plan on doing my favourite thing in the world - going to the theatre*. The only show I know I am definitely going to so far is Wicked; I've heard such good reports of it and it is the sort of thing I once would have seen within its first month - not a few years after it has opened. I'm a bit peeved that I've also missed Michael Ball (my favourite leading man) in Hairspray; I won't bother seeing it now.

I would have done a bit of shopping whilst in my home city but I'm doing a very cheap flight with Ryanair who now stipulate that if you only have carry-on luggage (as opposed to checking a bag in) you have to put your handbag/shoulder bag/laptop inside it - giving you just one thing to bring on to the plane and which must not weigh more than 10kg. It doesn't give me much leeway to hit the shops. I can't complain though - the flight has only cost me £23 return to Stansted- in fact my air fare will be the cheapest thing about the whole trip.

The photo above is from a lunch party that Mr FF and I gave yesterday. The clearing up is only just taking place - I was a bit too inebriated mildly tipsy yesterday to even attempt it. The reason that the tablecloth is quite vivid as opposed to being tasteful white linen is that it is an easy-care one (no class, I know) because there is always someone who spills the red wine and it is such a faff to get the cloth perfect again (yes, it was me who did it yesterday).

*all suggestions gratefully received, although if it is well known and has been running for over ten years then no doubt I will have seen it