Merry at Midnight.

I've spent a lot of time up in London over the last few days, mostly to remind myself what a great place it is.

From the University it only takes half an hour to be in Waterloo and with things winding down a bit at work I'm finding every excuse to escape for the afternoon and catch an exhibition, re visit a museum or see a show. With a bit of planning it's cheap as well.

On Thursday I spent some time looking round the beautiful Ramayana exhibition of 17th century Indian cartoons at the British Library and then wandered into the newly renovated St.Pancras station to have a look round.

On Friday I went over to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and ended up with friends via Brick Lane at The Globe for a £5 midnight matinee of The Merry Wives of Windsor, which was terrific fun, particularly as Andrew Harvill, the actor playing Ford, was attending the birth of his first child, so the director, Chris Luscombe, had to read the part, script in hand. The late hour, the fact that many of the groundlings arrived, raucous fresh, from the pub and the irresistible mischief the actors had at the directors expense (to his horror grabbing the script and throwing round the stage like a rugby ball at one point) made for a heady evening. It's a great idea to roll out on a summer's night.

Home via night bus in time for the dawn chorus and breakfast before bed!