I've Got My Eye On You,

well may be later on,

but first to Waterloo,

then a short walk to the London Eye,

the skies were very cloudy, a storm is brewing, I am afraid of heights and what are the chances we will have another one in a million chance and our gondolier get hit by lighting? but before that now included in the price of the ticket there is a 4D experience, OK with 3D things appear to float near to you with the aid of special glasses, but 4D?

well I will not spoil it for you, but I will say that the experience was great, also having seen 3D with heavy glasses with a battery in them the specs here are just two thin plastic lenses, no batteries and they weigh next to nothing, I also guess they are pretty cheap,

after a bit of queuing we are up and away,

to take my mind away from what was happening I got Diana to pose in front of the mechanics of the eye,

but it was no good I just had to look down,

slowly we gained height,

but we still had a long way to go up,

Diana was completely unfazed by it all,

I have to admit the view great, I wonder if any of those people down there know we had a eye on them?

getting to the top now,

that is where we will be in a few moments,

made it!

we are at the top of the circle and will shortly be on our way down,

terrific view along the river,

pity about the repairs to the houses of Parliament, but I guess it has to be done,

Diana not troubled at all,

I feel lot happy now we are nearing the ground, the ride takes about 20 minutes or so, but in truth I much preferred the 4D experience before you go on the eye,

then back to Waterloo station,

a great building, then by tube to Charing Cross,

Charing Cross is one of only three crosses of the 12 to survive till this day, Charing Cross was one of 12 "Eleanor Crosses" erected by a disconsolate Edward I when his wife Queen Eleanor of Castile died in 1290, Eleanor bore Edward 16 children in an unusually happy union for that period of arranged marriages,

we were going to visit Davenports, I have already been here twice to pick up magic books for Joe, this time it was for a couple of Magazines,

there you go Joe waiting for you at home! Davenports were established in 1898 by Lewis Davenport, and are the oldest family run magic business in the world, both times I have been there I have watch the talented assistant perform a trick to a customer who was interested in buying it, today was no excepting, both Diana and myself watched spellbound as the floating matchstick on a card was performed, flawlessly, great trick, great staff,

outside Diana wanted to buy the 'put your head in the box trick', where swords are then place through the box hopefully missing your head, it took less that one millionth of a nano second for me to say no!

the outside of Charing Cross station, we were both a bit thirsty and hungry so we looked for a place to eat,

just opposite the station down a small road we found this pub, the Harp, we wandered in,

the decoration consisted of beer mats stapled to the bar,

with lots of mirrors along the walls, we thought the flowers were fake, until Diana touched one of them,

same decoration at the other end of the bar,

we settled on two enormous hot dogs, mainly because that was all they did, just different types/flavors of sausages in them, but they were delicious and filling, reasonably priced as well,

nearby there was a post office, so Diana bought a card to send it to her Mum, it arrived in 7 days or so,

I had heard that the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields on the corner of Trafalgar Square had live music at lunch times, but not today, but there are often evening concerts, if you look at the link you can find out when,

what to do next? well the national gallery was beckoning,

so long as we got there before it started to rain,

just time for a quick picture of the square,

then shiver me timbers! we ran into Captain Jack Sparrow,

made it before the rain started we looked at the paintings for a few hours for me the one that stole the show was An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, by Joseph Wright in 1768, the character slightly off center seems to look straight at you no matter where you are and bears an uncanny likeness to Frank Finley in Bouquets of Barbed Wire,

after we had finished there it was make our way across the square and go to The Imperial War Museum,

the skies were clearing so hopefully some sun this afternoon,

a giant ship in a bottle was on display on one of the plinths in the square,

as we went by an impromptu dance routine was taking place out side the museum,

we were going past Her Majesty’s Theater, such a lovely building,

then to Piccadilly Circus, which was unfortunately being cleaned today,

I hope Eros is not pointing that arrow at me!

but we had to stop for a bite to eat, bring on the pizza!

I settled for a beer and ate some of Diana's chips,

'Cheers!'

then on to the tube station,

we caught a tube from Leicester Square,

to Kennington where I thought the museum was, but it was not,

so over to the Elephant and Castle,

to get a tube to Lambeth North where the museum actually is, strangely enough the lady on the barrier at Kennington said a lot of people thought it was there, so there you have it, it was not me they moved the museum,

there it is in sight, two massive guns guarding the entrance,

blue skies at last,

the shell Diana is standing beside and the one of the barrels are from one of the 15" guns that was mounted on H.M.S Roberts,

the breech is in a word massive,

there is one main hall with other rooms leading off, in it's history the The Imperial War Museum was before it became a museum, a hospital for the physically and mentally insane, named Bedlam, there was at one time a plaque in the entrance hall, mentioning this, also that it had been hit three time by bombs dropped from Zeppelins in the Great War, but all traces of its past for some reason been remove, so the buildings history starts from when it became a museum, I wonder why?

Diana beside a Panzer,

the Gustav Gun—named in honor of family patriarch Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, is the biggest gun ever built and fired, it weighed a crushing 1,344 tons, including its railway carriage, Diana is standing by the shell it fired, the Gustav could strike targets up to 29 miles away,

and a jeep for Mick and Mr. Tony,

look out Diana is trying to sink a ship from a submarine,

and keep it level,

a Sherman tank,

a first world war British Mark V,

life in the trenches, then back home to Steve's after an exhausting day,

it must have been one of these two foxes I was trying to photograph the other night,

Steve belongs to a cricket club in the running section, it has become a tradition to pop in on your birthday, or near to it to buy friends a drink, so here we are,

one for Steve, one for me, what are the others going to drink? then home to bed.