We have paid 30 GBP for a two for one pass covering the rest of our stay in England. This means that we can have transport options, such as a day trav el pass in London a bit more cheaply. Stephen found that we could take advantage of the pass to access river cruises up and down the Thames all day, getting on and off as we wished. It still wasn’t cheap – travel expenses for the whole day came to about $70.

Riding the river ‘buses’ gave us quite a different perspective on London. It was a mostly grey day, with sunshine later in the day. I took lots of photos of the different places we saw, both on land and from the boat, but none of them stand out as special. However, it is good to have a visual record of what we did.

Because of the long days we came home in daylight even though it was about 7.00 p.m. by the time we got back. The featured photo shows the light in the sky when I was getting ready for bed. It was great having the hot meal waiting for us and with just a small amount of preparation dinner was ready.

We bought sandwiches and had muesli bars, bananas and other snacks on hand during the day. We also had a flapjack and cheese twist with our afternoon tea in Greenwich. Not exactly going hungry during the day.

Walking around the University of Greenwich was one of the highlights of the day. Not just because the buildings are graceful, but because it is a living building. As we walked around we could hear students practising music. The nearby Cutty Sark exhibition was interesting as well. We didn’t actually go in, just looked at the outside and read the information.

The boats we travelled on were catamarangs able to reach quite a good speed once we were on a part of the river where speed was allowed. Our last journey on board was to Battersea. We walked over the bridge, caught a couple of buses, one to Sloan Square, then from there a bus to Victoria Station. Although we didn’t feel that we had walked a great deal, we did 10, 753 steps, about 8 kms. Good exercise for the day.

I’d had back pain for the last few days for which I blame the uncomfortable lounge chairs here in the flat. We spent a good deal of time sitting around in the first few days when we were recovering from colds and jet lag. It’s one of those modular settings that provide a good deal of seating space, but don’t provide any sort of back support. I may have initially injured my back when we were getting here with our cases and bags, doing some heavy lifting at times, especially in the last stages of arriving here at Turnpike Link. Panadol works, though I’d prefer not to be taking four to six tablets a day.

I’ve made a little slideshow of some of the photos from our outing on Sunday.

This morning we woke up fairly early. We have some leftover food from other people who have stayed here, but none recent enough to leave us some milk. We went out for breakfast and had to wait until 8.00 a.m. for a cafe to open. We had rather stale looking buns, which we enjoyed because we were hungry. Stephen had the cafe’s ‘Times’ newspaper to read.

We stayed there until about 9.00 when the shops would be open. We went to a little Vodafone shop and bought local SIMs for our phones. It was much more expensive than China, with less data, but enough for our needs whilst we are here. We have unlimited wireless internet at the apartment.

We went to a chemist where Stephen bought Vitamin D with calcium and I was able to get some special soap (I come out in a rash using normal soap and although it is temporary it can feel quite uncomfortable). We then did some grocery shopping. We caught the tram both ways today, Stephen hates that every time we use the Oyster cards it costs the same amount, whether we go a long distance or a short distance. But, having jet lag and being unwell was our excuse. The apartment has a shopping trolly which is very convenient.

I’ve really been feeling the effects of the cold this afternoon. Nevertheless, we found out how to play youtube videos on the TV using the little hub that Gary has attached to his TV. Unfortunately, it only works for youtube, I will have to link my ipad with cables to play movies. I’ve processed some photos and set up an account for Stephen on my laptop. Last time we were here Stephen had access to an iMac, but that has gone.

Stephen cooked spaghetti bolognese for tea, plus made up a small salad. He is feeling a bit better than I am, but still has a cough. It’s 7.23 p.m. and still quite light outside, which feels odd to us. The day has been cool, but the apartment attracts heat. There is a system for circulating air, which we put on last night to help us sleep and today I have been opening windows and sliding doors to let in more air.

Of course, a couple of loads of washing have happened. I made a patchwork cushion to take with me to use in hotel rooms. It has worked very well and the stuffing became flatter and flatter as I used it. Today I put it in the washing machine. There are a couple of clothes airers upstairs and with the landing sliding door open all of the washing has become almost completely dry over the afternoon.

We are trying to get ourselves into a normal routine and will try to stay awake as long as possible this evening, even though or us it is really 2.00 a.m. in the morning. We are on daylight savings, which means there is only a 7 hour time difference instead of 8 hours.