I don't want to go home so soon! I'm not used to such short vacations. Add to that, it's 16 degrees outside, and the result is that I really don't want to return to winter!!

Tamara took me to a sample sale yesterday, and as if we didn't already know this, I have a problem. The pound is strong and dollar is weak, so I figured there wouldn't be a whole lot of shopping this trip. But when it comes to footwear produced in Spain, particularly boots, I just can't seem to help myself. It's been interesting trying to jigsaw an extra four pairs into my not so spacious back-pack.

In the afternoon, I decided to continue my tourist trend. Prior to leaving Canada, I spent a couple of weeks mesmerized by the British Sherlock series, so it only seemed logical to visit Baker St; I made a quick trip to 221b. After that, it was such a beautiful day that I decided to walk along the Thames. I started at Westminster Bridge and headed East. While the historical sites are still the same as they were twenty-five years ago, the modern parts of the London skyline are massively different. Welcome to the 21st century!!

This morning, I finally got to see my cousin Ben, who has just returned from a week on a fishing trawler waaaaay up North. We, along with his two children, went for a walk in Hyde Park then sat by the pond and had coffee. There's so much activity in the park- runners, horseback riders, roller-bladers, dog-walkers, and tons of roller-skiers (which, as a Canadian, I found very odd to have the desire to go cross-country skiing when there's no snow).

Today, I've spent the afternoon exploring Portobello Rd Market and Nottinghill. I've started to realize that my patience for large herds of tourists wears very thin very quickly these days. But since I had nowhere particular I needed to be, I tuned out the cacophony and mooed my way along with everyone else, checking out the various antique stalls. Besides, it's the first day in months that I've been able to go out without a jacket. No way was I going to be indoors for that!!

I'm heading for one last visit with my cousins and then will hopefully get a very early night. Due to a string of bad transportation karma, tomorrow is shaping up to look like a pretty miserable morning- starting at 4 am! Final thoughts from the airport tomorrow, for now, it's tea time!