Blackberry Juice: Out with the new, in with the old

What a contrast. Singapore may have the gleaming technological facade of the new world economy, but London has the beating heart of a city that has weathered centuries of bloodshed, famine, torture and annoying busloads of tourists to earn its place amongst the truely great cities of the world. The legendary Lord Byron himself (or at least the underscore NZ version) summed it up best when he commented that London has the soul that Singapore lacks. Rock's counter was that Singapore has the cheap noodles that London lacks.

Where to begin? That's precisely the question your explorers asked as they marched forth armed only with an all day tube ticket. Which brings us to the then-we-did-this-and-then-we-did-that postcard section of this blog. First stop (I lie, first stop I'm ashamed to say was starbucks) was Trafalgar Square and Lord Nelson perched on his column.

Mei didn't know who Nelson was, but seeing as he didn't invent a new technique for stewing pork legs, felt him wholly unworthy of such a lofty accolade. From there a quick dash through the regal streets of Covent Garden before heading for the requisite photo ops in front of the towering Big Ben and parliament house on the banks of the Thames. Next it was Rock's turn to admire the monumental facade of the Bank of England and make a few supposedly learned remarks on the course of monetary policy. From there a temporary break from the gargoyles and tweed of the old city to the towering skyscapers of canary wharf.

Then we went to tower bridge.

Then we went to westminster abby. Then I got sick of pounding this out on a blackberry.

But what a city! The amazing thing is how much history is concentrated in one day's worth of walking. And that's before we event start on the museums. But enough fun and games, its time to get down to business - next stop Belfast. In fact I'm typing this standing in the stanstead airport bookshop waiting for the flight. Which doesn't make very exciting reading so you can get back to work and I'll get back to the page three girls in the Sun...