Urban Blues

Last night we enjoyed the drinks reception at Lambeth Palace, and we also got a chance to see the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who is also a Skinner and whose official London residence is at Lambeth Palace. We left the reception quite early as Luke and Adam were hungry and so we went to Wagamama for supper - Meriel joined us there as it was walking distance from where her and Luke live.

Adam came home with Gavin and I last night as he had taken today off. This morning he was going to London to meet a university friend who is back from working on the oil rigs (as an engineer) off Saudia Arabia, not an easy life for him. I also had to go to London so Adam and I travelled up together by train - see extra for my charming travel companion!

The reason I had to go to London was I have a problem with one of my lenses - it started a few weeks ago and I thought it was the camera playing up but then worked out it was my 24-70mm lens, which is giving an ERR message which could mean one of two problems and needs attention. I dropped it off at Fixation and they will let me know what the problem is after they have assessed it. I meant to take it there last week but was too busy so it means I won't have it for my trip to Switzerland but hopefully will have it back before we go to Alaska next month. I took this photo of the SIS Building - more commonly known as the headquarters of MI6 - from Vauxhall Bridge as the blues really appealed to me.

In this very hot weather I am loving drinking iced coffees - the proper type, made with a double espresso poured over ice and then topped up with (in my case) ice cold oat milk - delicious! I make them myself and they are very good.

A national emergency has been declared for the red heat warning that is expected next week - it will be another very hot weekend but on Monday and Tuesday it is predicted we will get temps in our area of 40C which is unheard of in England - we cannot cope with such heat and I bet the trains won't be running.