Day 07 - Thursday 19th May

We probably slept better last night but Suzy got up at 5:15am. I can't remember any time she has got up this early. She did some accommodation research on the laptop for the weekend while I went for an early morning walk and got some coffee.

We got to Nicky's apartment at 10am - because that's when Nicky expected Amelia to wake up from her mid-morning sleep. She must have been tired because she slept until close to 11am.

Nicky has been keen to take Amelia to London Zoo for some time and today was to be the day. I wasn't sure where the zoo was and so I followed along as Nicky led the way. We walked past the bus stop and then past the railway station. In fact, we walked all the way. It took almost an hour. Lots of good exercise.

The zoo is near Regents Park. It has a variety of interesting animals but is not a patch on other zoos I've been to such as Taronga Park Zoo, the Western Plains Zoo (Dubbo) or Singapore Zoo.

By the time we were ready to leave, Amelia was ready for a sleep. Nicky put her in the pram and said we should walk until Amelia fell asleep and then get a taxi. I couldn't understand how this would work because I thought Amelia would wake when we put her in the taxi. Besides what was the chance of finding a taxi with a baby car seat.

Once we crossed to the other side of Regents Park, Nicky hailed a taxi. I'd forgotten how much space there is in a London taxi between the driver and the passenger seat. Nicky just wheeled the pram into the taxi and the three of us sat behind her in the passenger seat.

Nicky got the taxi driver to drop us at the Hampstead shops so we could get something for dinner at the butcher shop. Then we stopped in a laneway cafe for a coffee.

Nicky went to several other shops while Suzy and I walked Amelia home in the pram. She was awake and restless by the time we got to the top of the hill.

At about 5pm, Nicky went to an exercise class in the Heath leaving Suzy and me to babysit. By the time Nicky got home just after 7pm, Amelia was bathed and fed and ready for bed. Mission accomplished.

John was working back again tonight and so Nicky put some of the meat in the freezer. The original plan was to do a barbecue but I couldn't see how the barbecue connected to the gas bottle. Judging by the amount of dust on the barbecue, I suspect that nobody else in the apartments had been able to figure it out either for many months. Instead, the girls cooked the meat on the griller in the kitchen.

We caught the bus back to Golders Green. This time it was still light (9pm) when we got there.