Today’s blog is dedicated to my incredibly family, both immediate and extended. I am blessed to have amazing kids, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. A family that accepts, loves unconditionally, and is generous with their time and their words. Shout out to you all, I love you all for everything you’ve done for me, and for accepting Matthew so willingly into the fold. You all rock.

Today’s plans were to do a bit of sight seeing before meeting up with my cousin and his family who have been living here in London for a number of years now. We have a lazy morning and opt to pick up a coffee from The Department of Coffee and Social Affairs, before heading down to the platform. I am distracted by the new sights of the station when Matthew points out that there is a puppy behind me. Apparently having his 2nd trip on the tube to socialise him and get him used to the sounds and the smells of what it takes to be a good puppy in the city of London. As we chat I spot an Aussie accent and we talk for a little bit and find out that he has been here for about 10 years and moved cause he loved the cold. Not something I could envisage doing, unless it was to move to the sunshine.
We don’t have to wait long for the train and find ourselves a spot quickly. We end up sitting next to a little girl and her mum. It’s holiday break at the moment so we do expect to see many kids out and about. A smartly dressed man joins us a few stops up, and the little girl pipes up and asks the man if he is a lawyer (he asks her to repeat herself – as he misheard and thought she asked if he was a liar). We all chuckle at the exchange as he tells the little girl he isn’t a lawyer, or a liar!
We get off at Westminster and we walk out straight onto the main street and see the Big Ben. The ongoing restoration works means that it is covered in scaffolding. We have taken out the good camera too, so we can capture some lovely pictures of the beautiful architecture of the historical buildings around us.

We meander around the river side, through monuments and parks. There was a small park that had an incredible musical interactive sculpture on the ground. Basically each square allowing children to make different notes with a built in bell underneath. We go around the the outside of the embankment and weave our way through the hoards of children making their way into the aquarium and the London Eye. We had to pay attention to make sure we didn’t step on any of them.
As we pass through Southbank we stop to watch the local kids as they do tricks at a skatepark while a barrier blocks off the pubic so they can watch as they provide entertainment for us all.

The place is covered in graffiti. It’s as colourful as the characters skating and biking past us. There are clearly young people who come from less privileged lives, and others that are there for their own brand of self expression. I love it when people, young and old, are allowed to express themselves how they like. It’s not for show, it’s just being able to be who you are. A bit like me and my blogs I suppose.
The tricks are impressive, and you can see when they stick a trick their faces exhume a sense of pride. It’s a special thing to see.

Matthew realises that we aren’t far from a street food market so we stop there for small snack and a glass of wine. The smells are incredible and the selection is vast. There’s Ethiopian, Thai, Burgers, vegan, ethically sourced…you name it, it is represented. We decide on a couple of bao buns and we grab our wine and find somewhere to sit. It’s set right amongst an art precinct too, so there are many young families around, obviously having enjoyed some school break entertainment.

We’ve been wandering around for a little bit, with both of us able to share stories with each other about past times being at Southbank. I was reminiscing about some special moments as it wasn’t far from the hostel that I’d stayed at a couple of years earlier. We eventually get a message from my cousin Jai, to say they’ve arranged to meet us at, and we are not far so we head straight over and get our chance to have some much loved family time.
I am so fortunate to have such incredible family. They are scattered over the world and it doesn’t matter how long it is between catch ups, it’s like we’ve been hanging out all the time. We enjoy chatting and I love the opportunity for Matthew to meet more of my family. We joke about how many there are left to meet, as there are quite a number of us. Jai, Rebecca a little Mia give us a great afternoon of entertainment. Mia even opting to click her fingers at the waiter to ask for the bill, and then take her fathers card and put it into the machine to pay for the bill. She’s adorable. Beautiful big brown eyes and a lovely soft smile. She has warmed to us over the course of lunch, slowly realising that we are family.

The restaurant is apparently Mia’s choice. We are surrounded by young families which I realise is not something that I have done for a long time. Normally frequenting restaurants, pubs and bars where ordinarily you wouldn’t find small humans.
After we walk to the station with the family we farewell Jai, Rebecca and Mia, and head back over the bridge for a quick bevy before jumping on the tube.
There are so many familiar sights around me, but we opt to stop at a gay pub near Charing Cross Station and stand under the heaters. The street is so busy as it’s coming on peak hour and rather than find dinner around us we mutually decide to order in is a great idea. When we get back off the tube, we decide to enjoy some more cards and questions together while we wait for the food to arrive.
Our Uber delivery guy is super happy, probably because we were his last delivery for the day. We hoe into some dumpling and curry and while we had every intention of watch Bohemian Rhapsody, I literally couldn’t keep my eyes open. So we switch it off and head to bed. Tomorrow is Saturday and we have nothing booked in, but plans for another day out. Can’t wait.