We arrived back from our holiday in London on Saturday, after a crazy 7 days. As I’ve said in the past, having your anniversary in late northern hemisphere November isn’t great, and I’d advise anyone thinking of making their relationship official to wait until Christmas or springtime. Luckily being in London meant that, unlike the country retreats of yesteryears, there was actually quite a lot to do in this time of off-season closures.

It will come as no surprise that I have several (understatement of the century) photographs to share with you, and that I’m still going through them to make a collection of the best instead of showing you a blurry London. Expect a couple of posts as whilst I’d love to limit holiday excitement to one post, I’d need to reimburse you for the days you’d have taken off work to read it all – saying you found it interesting. So instead, for now, I’ve done something similar to the past years when I would list pros and cons intentionally under the opposite heading – I’m still giving you a crazy list, but this time there is no separation.

Here is a summary of our holiday:

• Primose Hill: you have to see this, especially if you’re into photography. Visited for the sheer numbers of references to it in chick-lit books, and now I can see why there are references.
• Seeing some gorillas: picking your skin and eating it is apparently tasty.
• Strangers rallying to get to the aid of people falling down escalators: hearing the squeak of the machinery as a fallen person nears the bottom is rather scary.
• Seeing a minor celebrity on a tube escalator, trying his best to cover his face whilst noticing that everyone could see him: this man, known best for his role in EastEnders.
• Oxford Street, Mayfair, Picadilly – Beautiful and amazing times 3.
• Problematic Canary Wharf – the place looks stunning but it’s no good for those with asthma or who like clean air. Best viewed at night when everyone has gone home.
• Charlotte Street: I haven’t read the book yet, but I had to get a photo of the place.
• DLR: Often travels above street level, though otherwise just like the Underground.
• Unexpected penthouse apartment: more on this later.
• The Savoy, The Ritz: The Savoy is squashed between buildings, easy to miss but quite something, the Ritz is a behemoth.
• The Strand, Charing Cross, Leicester Square, Chinatown, Covent Garden: All worth seeing and Covent Garden at Christmas (or near it) is unmissable.
• Science Museum: Geared more towards children, not so interesting for adults.
• Missing the National History Museum (it’s next to the Science Museum): going home a couple of hours before, it later emerged, the royals turned up.
• Deciding to attempt using the toilets in a café without eating there: a necessary venture, gets spoilt when you realise you really ought to buy something. The brownie was heavenly.
• Hello sushi: after so many day-trips-worth of saying I must go to a Wasabi cafe, I finally got there.
• A Folio Society Guardian event: unfortunately the less said about that the better.
• Sims games: thanking you in advance, boyfriend, for the lost free time.

I had a few chances to come online throughout the week and I was happy at the response to the guest posts. Firstly I’m glad you all liked them because of the work the writers put into them, and secondly because I’m rather humbled to have my site kept alive. Thank you to Alice, Chris, and Meg for the posts they wrote (click on their names to read them).

So there we are. It will take me a bit longer to have detailed posts written up, but it seemed a bit odd to not have a written reference to my holiday closer to the time, to come back as though I’d not been away. Hope the list has you intrigued!