One of the slightly strange things that pbase has done for us is to turn us into London tourguides for our friends who come to stay from other parts of the world. This is the third time we have done the touristy thing in the last year.

Equally strangely we seem to keep bumping into things going on in Trafalgar Square, not from our incredibly well-honed tour-guide acumen but from sheer luck. On Mayday last year we stumbled on a big Mayday rally (doh, we should have thought of that!) and today we found ourselves amid the revelries of London’s Gay Pride rally which added colour and a bit of spice to the day’s proceedings.

Our role was to ‘fill in the gaps’ left by ChrisBrooker’s tour that he gave to Mark on Thursday. Well, as many of them as possible. So, Borough Market (open at weekends only), Shad Thames, St Katherine’s Dock, Covent Garden, The Strand, Trafalgar Square, Buck House, St James’ Park then back over the Hungerford Footbridge to Waterloo. We (of course) recovered ‘old ground’ for Mark too as it is virtually impossible not to, so throw in Tower bridge, the Tower of London, Southwark Cathedral, the Clink, The Golden Hind and the South Bank too. Phew, what a day. For those Londoners out there, this was all done on foot except for the journey between Tower Bridge and Covent Garden, done by tube partly to ease the feet and partly to show Mark the infamous London Underground, which he described as ‘complicated’. Yeah, I’ll say!!!

We had lunch from Borough Market, a quick drink in the Coal Hole in the Strand, as an example of an old fashioned London ale house…..yes, to all the Londoners, I know it’s not by any means the best of the breed but many aren’t open on Saturdays are they?

I love this walkway under London Bridge. It’s always fascinated me. The blue and green lights change seemingly randomly all day. I could stay under there for hours. Just gimme a white suit and a pulse of ‘Stayin Alive’ and I’d be a happy woman down there. So, this is my pic for today. Not an easy shot and not as well done as it should have been I don’t suppose, but it captures the essence of the moment.

Later, we walked from home down to the local curry house to give Mark a flavour of a Saturday Night institution here in the UK – a good curry!!! The place was heaving and we squeezed on a table right at the back but we had a yummy meal then walked home to watch the stars from our patio.

I learned that ‘it’s all relative’ again as Mark loved our night sky here in Sandhurst, which we hate because of light pollution and (real) pollution. He says much more is visible from here than from his home in Washington.

Tomorrow he starts his journey home in time to celebrate American Independence on Monday.

Last year, I was watching Edwyn Collins performing - what a terrible sequence of events has happened since that day for this gifted musician. I hear he 'went down the pub' a few days ago so let's hope his life is getting back on track. Dogstation Zebra was built two years ago today.