London!

sunny, mild, temps 14

The very hot spell seems to be over, but it is still lovely and mild. Trees are just beginning to move from bud to leaf. That really wondrous few days when there seems a cloud of bright green around each tree.

We've moved from the cotswolds into London - renting a flat on Basil Street, between Harrods and Harvey Nichols...a shoppers paradise. But since I'm not much of a shopper, it is also a foodie paradise. The photos you see are from yesterday. I wrote in the morning, trying to get back into the story...It's really a matter of submerging again into the world. Seeing and feeling it. When that happens, it's more like transcribing than writing. Absolute bliss. But having been out of it for a week, it does take some fighting to get back....like hitting a soft wall, over and over, trying to break through to the other side.

All this to say, I spent Saturday, Sunday and this morning writing. Some great periods and some pretty difficult ones, when I felt I was just meandering around Three Pines, trying to find the plot! Happily, it's a fun place to just wander....and my books really do come together in the second and third and fourth drafts. I keep telling myself not to worry....that long passage I wrote about Eggs Benedict probably won't make the final cut - but just savour the breakfast and move on.

So - did that yesterday, then Michael and I headed out. Walked to Walton Street and stopped for lunch at Scalini's - one of our favorite italian restaurants in the world. It was bedlam...it being sunday there were loads of families...but lots of fun and life - and great food. I had the chef's special spaghetti - simple sauteed vegetables with a tomato sauce. Michael had spaghetti and lobster.

Then we walked to Chelsea green, and back up to the old brompton road....that photo with the gray church is of the Brompton Oratory....a block or so behind it is Hyde Park. From there we headed to the right. The other photo is of Harrods. You can see how empty the streets were yesterday. Not sure I'd ever seen London so quiet. I guess people took off to the country.

We picked up some pastries and sunday papers and headed home for tea and a read.

Finished writing for today - off to Harrods to check out afternoon tea.

Tomorrow we have breakfast at the Wolseley Hotel, then run across Picadilly to the Royal Academy where we have tickets for the David Hockney show. Then I'm having lunch with my literary agent, Teresa Chris. She's made reservations at Kensington Garden Hotel - which apparently has a spectacular view over the gardens and to Kensington Palace.

Dinner tomorrow night with Michael's sister Carol and her husband David, who live in London.

Wednesday I'm having lunch with Dan Mallory, my UK editor at Little, Brown/Sphere.

It's a good thing we do so much walking here - you can't imagine the food intake! Well, off we go again....