Five Friday Favourites :: August 24

I read, or rather listened to, 'Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine'. I can very much recommend it if you're looking for a read where the protagonist is completely fine in the end. She seems kinda crazy to start with but it turns out she's just human with a tragic past. Interactions with kind people help her turn her life around.

I've never really been into audio books, but after listening to a few recently, I may be a bit of a convert. Especially when the narrator is Scottish. I find it very pleasing to listen to a story read by Scots! :-)

It was Tony's birthday last week and we went in to London to see Into the Unkown, an exhibition about science fiction at the Barbican. It was interesting, but at the same time it felt like whole swathes of sci-fi was left out. Tony is more into sci-fi than I am, so it was more obvious to him.

Anyway, the exhibition isn't the thing I wanted to mention. Afterwards, we walked down to St Paul's and grabbed lunch at Leon. Their sweet potato falafel wrap is delicious (and vegan) and I could happily eat that again. Along with their baked fries. Yum!

The NHS is one of my favourites this week. I had to visit our local Minor Injuries unit on Wednesday because an insect bite from last week was starting to swell up and it was red and itchy. Everyone there was very friendly and helpful. Turns out the bite had become infected, so I'm really glad I had it checked out! Hurray for the NHS.

There are flowers growing in out garden, on purpose! I planted these anemones in May, but then nothing happened for ages. I had kinda given up on them (the other two pots I planted, only have weeds in them!), but then a white flower appeared and then another. And now there are three red ones at once (a bit like London buses!)

My mum has been visiting this past week. Last Friday, we went to see the Palace of Westminster. Tony works for the Houses of Commons so we could access areas off limit to other tourists. We had refreshments on the terrace by the Thames! And we saw the chapel there, St Mary Undercroft.

Overseas tourists have to pay to visit Westminster. But did you know that UK residents can get tours there for free by arranging it through their MP? I don't think it's terribly well publicized, maybe to keep numbers down! Check it out here if you fancy a free tour of Westminster.

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