Flew over to London with three of my cousins on Wednesday. Went to see Spurs play their first home game in the Champions League (or European Cup as it used to be known) since the 1961/62 season. We had lost the away leg 3-2, but put on a roaring display at home to win the second leg 4-0! Sweet!!! That means we now qualify for the group stage, where we will be playing Inter Milan, Werder Bremen and FC Twente. Exciting times at White Hart Lane!!!

On Thursday we played a couple of games of bowling in County Hall -- I haven't bowled for quite a while, and enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. We then went to a thing called "Passage of Terror" in the Trocadero -- bascially a glorified haunted house that you walk through, with actors trying to make you jump. The house itself was well done, but there was a silly, pointless 3D film that you had to sit through at the start, and then we had to wait in a stuffy corridor for ages while they led groups through very slowly. Not impressed with the overall set-up, and won't be going back in a hurry. After that we had a bite to eat, then went to see "Ghost Stories" at the theatre. It's a brilliantly executed new play, designed to send shivers down your spine! It's hard to be really creepy with a stage play, but they pulled this one off with great aplomb. We all loved it, especially the clever way it all came together at the end. Highly recommended for fans of the macabre!!

On Friday we went to see "Scott Pilgrim vs the World" in the morning, which we all enjoyed. I'm probably 18 or so years older than its intended audience, but I liked it all the same -- I'm young at heart, I guess!! After that we went on a RIB voyages sppedboat down the Thames to the Thames Barrier. Very fast and informative. I love seeing London from the river -- it offers up a whole side of the city that I normally never think about. We had Mexican food for dinner, then went to see an old favourite, "Avenue Q" at the theatre. I saw the first preview in London when it originally opened here, and I've been back several times. It always puts a smile on my face and a bounce in my step. It's due to close soon (October 30th) and I'll miss it like a friend once it's gone.

One bit of the day I didn't enjoy was when I visited the Ben Sherman store in Covent Garden. I was with my three teenage cousins -- they were wearing jeans and trainers, but were smartly turned out. I saw a sweater which I wished to try on. There were a few of them on a shelf. I unfolded a couple until I found my size, tried it on, then replaced both unfolded sweaters back on the shelf. One of the members of staff then very rudely picked them up and flounced by me, pointedly brushing me with the sweaters, as if I had inconvenienced him by unfolding the two sweaters to try one on. I could have overlooked that -- but he then very loudly sneered to one of his colleagues, "Have you seen Shameless?" For those who don't know, "Shameless" is a show about a dysfunctional working-class family living on a council estate -- a family of "ne'er do wells" as they might have phrased it in the olds days! This was obviously a very blatant criticism of myself and my cousins. I have never been so rudely and openly insulted in a store before -- I was rather gobsmacked by it. My first instinct was to square up to the insulter and bring him to book -- but in my experience there's no point locking horns with people like that. Better to simply walk away, lodge an official complaint with the management (for whatever good it might do) and take your custom elsewhere. Having said that, I will never be buying anything from a Ben Sherman store again -- the boycott starts here!!!!