My dad and I got back to London late last night. We decided to take a father/daughter trip (for the first time!) to see Amsterdam, which neither of us had visited before. It was lovely and relaxing - we saw some sights, walked the canals and generally chilled out.

( Holiday ramblings )

Spotted! First flip-flops of the year. (Not that surprising, really, given the proliferance of rahs in Clapham, but still ... it *is* February.)

The weather's been absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Yesterday, Daddy and I went to the London Transport Museum for his Christmas treat. It was great - the museum's the perfect size to do in an afternoon and it's all laid out really well. I liked the old tickets and posters the best. "Move to Edgware, a rural paradise!" We think pink_weasel had left her knitting in one drawer, though. (I have a photo but my camera's playing up.) We had lunch at the Upper Deck, which was yummy if a little overpriced, and tried the cocktails afterwards. [They really need to update their website.] Daddy had an Anorak, which he liked very much, and I had a Metropolitan Mixture, which was ok - it was appropriately purple and tasted like Vimto. We wanted to try the Routemaster but were tired - maybe next time.

Last night, we went into Tooting to Mirch Masala, one of Tooting's many curry houses. It was great! Bustly, cheap, packed, fun and extremely yummy. We also saw several more places we'd like to try out, including a cracking-looking vegetarian place. Maybe we should walk there and back next time, though, to work off all the ghee. Mmm, dall ...

Today, we dropped Daddy off at the station and then found Balham's second-hand bookshop. Oops.

Now I'm sitting in the sunshine. It's so good to feel it warming my skin ^_^

My dad's retirement dinner was last night. It was all fine, except I pulled a couple of deadweights as table companions. On my left, the guy who spent the first 10 minutes telling me to get my dad to write down all his memories asap (implication: he's retired, ergo he'll die soon). On my right, one of those doctor/science types who deals only in facts and has no soul. Ah well. One of my dad's friends and colleagues gave a really lovely speech about him, and my dad's was really sweet, too. I felt so proud of him. We came back here and toasted him with champagne.

Yesterday, before the dinner, Ted and I went to Steyning, a really pretty Sussex village with lots of timbered buildings and a smashing Norman church. We'd been led to believe by our guidebook (Sussex Top Tens OMG They Rock!) that the carvings were pretty cool, and the guidebook was right. (Unlike the tea rooms in Ditchling a few weeks ago, which were L-A-M-E.) We had the most lovely picnic on the green, and he bought me an owl teapot in a charity shop ^_^

Today, we went for a walk in the wood, and I spotted a deer! It's the first time we've seen a deer here in daylight. The bluebells in the wood were fully out, and were breathtaking - quite literally, too, as they smell so good.

I'm sorry I'm not posting much during the week, and I'm especially sorry I'm not commenting. I don't have any Internet access aside from work, and work is really hectic. I've been doing a lot of writing about online communities, and have emails from Mahir "I Kiss You!" Cagir and Peter Pan Man to show for it. They both sound very nice, if a little scary. But I'd rather be talking to you. ^_^ I'm really hoping to sort something out so I can at least catch up on your posts during the week.

Anyway, I hope you all had nice weekends too - and I kiss you. xoxoxox