(More than just) water under the bridge

One of those days that seemed to contain at least forty eight hours of living. Got up at 6.30 and did my yoga, a pale pink sunrise pushing over the horizon to remind me that after today there was a forecast of five days of rains: it whispered "make the most of me". We did, but not until we had had a relatively lazy morning of tea and lying in bed chatting. TSM made me draw the curtains to conceal the mass of blood where a bird had flown into the window, so that helped to delay the start to the day. After a brunch of poached eggs and wilted parsley on toast (Yotam Ottolenghi's idea, not mine) with shitake mushrooms we did a few domestics then headed up to London on the train around noon.

Our aim was to do a couple of the properties in the Open House London list, which takes place every year at about this time. Lots of buildings you can't normally get into or have to pay for. So we changed at Clapham Junction for Battersea Park, and took a walk up to the river at Chelsea Reach. Battersea Park itself is uninspiring but there is one of those huge wooden Victorian gas holders near the east gates which I had to photograph, it was so impressive, and I love the duck egg blue colour. And there is also the unnervingly impressive Battersea Peace Pagoda which is nothing if not - well, big with a fat gold bloke in it ...

Crossing the Albert Bridge - one of London's most attractive bridges and therefore blipworthy on a day of blue skies and scudding clouds - we headed into Chelsea, with the stuffed shirts, pencil skirts, toy dogs and moody superiority of the filthy rich everywhere in evidence. You may not like them but they make interesting people watching. Had some late lunch in Le Pain Quotidien on the King's Road - Avocado Tatine with lemon hummus and white beans, and some smoked salmon - oh and I confess - a bakewell tart. I had put myself on the scales in the morning and despite eating like a pig at the moment my weight hasn't gone up at all (this is I think a curious metabolic effect of the steroids; I now have a hearty appetite and seem to be able to eat without consequence).

Just across the Road was Chelsea Farmer's Market which is nothing of the sort and is in fact a trendy little enclave of designer shops and places to eat with a lovely garden centre for the local rich and healthy. I'm not knocking it, it's lovely, but you will need to take out a second mortgage if you want to buy anything.

Next stop was St Luke's Church in Sydney Street which is where Charles Dickens got married. Lovely place with modern stained glass and magnificent organ pipes.

A meandering walk found us walking past the Marsden Hospital where I have to be honest I started crying, unexpectedly. Six years ago my ex-wife had died there and it bought back some sad memories, particularly for my two oldest children who were only 16 and 13 at the time. This poignancy continued in the Brompton cemetery where we went to see the chapel as part of the Open house program; one of the graves was in the cemetery guide with the following words: "Miss me for ever but let me go". The words stayed with me for the rest of the day.

After the cemetery - which is well worth a visit, having been used for filming in the first of the two Robert Downey Junior Sherlock Holmes films. It includes a remarkable carved tombstone which proves that the Victorians did in fact invent the mobile phone. We then got the tube to High Street Kensington and walked around the corner to Holland Park Road for the home of Frederic Leighton, the artist, whose house is a stunning monument to the Victorian era (a curious mixture of gentility, curiosity, rich colours and stuffiness). This is open all year 'round if you can spare a fiver, and I would recommend it - quite beautiful rooms including the studio where he worked.

Stoped for a drink in a nice little bar / restaurant called The Abingdon where we found ourselves in conversation with a Californian couple and their ten month old baby (okay the baby didn't talk much - but you get the idea). He was a lawyer and she was a Hollywood writer and studio adviser so we were a bit out of our league as a couple of NHS managers racking up their credit card bill; but they were a pleasant couple, and she did hand over her new Nikon D7000 in return for a few tips on how to use it, and we talked about a lot of mutual travel experiences.

We started walking down High Street Kensington and were then gobsmacked to find a branch of Whole Foods. We had fallen in love with this place in New York and had no idea they had branches over here. If you are in the area try them, it's a huge shop full of gorgeous foods, many of them (like nuts and spices) sold loose, and some lovely US imported veggie and health foods. I can't do it justice, just go along and fill your lungs with the heady aromas then start shopping ...

Took the bus to Trafalgar Square then walked up through Chinatown and Soho to The Star and Garter pub, a strangely empty but (we thought) really nice little boozer which wasn't full and spilling out on to the pavement and gave you a chance to have a drink in relative peace and quiet. It has lots of atmosphere but probably isn't trendy enough to attract decent reviews on pub web sites.

Then on to Mildred's Vegetarian Restaurant which you really must try if you are within a hundred miles - superb food, so I let the steroid munchies out of the cage again (my appetite at the moment is like the incredible hulk and can devour anything put in front of it once unleashed). The starters in particular were superb - griddled artichokes and lovely hummus and aubergine dip with flatbread.

Walked all the way down Regent Street and back to Trafalgar Square, along Northumberland Avenue, over the Thames to Waterloo and the train home. The Dizzle had been to the local Steam fair and taken himself off to bed early; Top Gun had had a dozen friends over for movies and pizza; and The Girl Racer got home after midnight from the TV studio in London where she had been in the audience for Britain Unzipped. So a good day all round for this family.

I haven't really done the day justice despite all these words. It was simply wonderful and seemed to go on forever. I have to let it go now; but the memories are rich and as I write this at half past one in the morning, I'm still smiling ...