For my birthday this year, Mel and Ben gave me a puzzleball. "What on earth?!" I hear you ironically proclaim! Well, it's a puzzle, but each piece is curved such that the end product is a ball! And, fittingly, this one builds into a globe!

I was rather intimidated by this at first, and thought it would be well out of my league; however, with the help of a few trusty flatmates, we got it all together in no-time flat (actually about three hours, but still faster than I had thought we would be). We cheated a little bit for some of the ocean, but otherwise we were rather proud of our efforts.

And, as a reward, we now have a lovely globe in our lounge! It's quite striking actually. I love it! What a great gift! Thanks very much, Mel and Ben!

Kristy came home late tonight. Upon arriving, she informed us that her yoga class (at work) had started late, because the room that they usually use was booked late for a meeting. Because of the late start, only five people showed up.

"Were the people who didn't turn up too inflexible with their times?" Julian enquired.

"I'm just surprised they let the meeting run so late instead of bending the rules this once." I remarked.

"Come on," Julian replied, "that's a bit of a stretch."

It's just a pity that Seinfeld isn't running any longer, or we could clearly apply to be writers for them.

This week feels like it was long, tiring, and busy, and yet on reflection it was actually one of the more quiet weeks that we've had for a long time.

We met up with Pat for breakfast at Roast, which overlooks Borough Market. Apparently they won "Best Brunch venue of the year" at some point, so we figured we couldn't go too far wrong.

Sure enough, the meal was fantastic! Each of us had something different and each of us said afterwards how much we all enjoyed it. My three-egg omelette with smoked trout, mushrooms, cheese and herbs was amazing (though could have done with some bread or something on the side). Kristy and I both thought the orange juice was some of the nicest we've ever had.

What's more, the view from the restaurant back out over the Markets is fantastic. This has shot up into the top 5 things to do when visitors come!

Of course, a Monmouth coffee is mandatory when visiting Borough markets, so we each grabbed one and had a wander around the stalls whilst we sipped. It was so quiet there - amazing the difference that going early in the morning makes, compared to around lunch time! We stocked up on some beautiful fruit and veges at very reasonable prices before leaving.

We finished our morning up by meandering along the South Bank, eventually back to Waterloo. We popped in to Tate Modern on our way past - the first time I've been there, no less. I'll never understand why a grid of empty bunk beds is considered "artistic".

Anyway, I thought this pub's name was funny given Julian's and my recent mudlarking experience. We'll have to come back here and try their fish and chips; though I hope their name doesn't suggest the way they source their food.

I have three weather widgets on my dashboard - one for London (obviously), one for Brisbane, and one for Fort Lauderdale. The London one is good for telling me how many layers to apply before leaving the house; the Brisbane and Fort Lauderdale ones are for telling me how many layers everyone else won't be applying before leaving the house.

I also like comparing them to work out which would be the best place for enjoying the weather. I'm not sure that London has ever won in this category.

Fort Lauderdale is today's easy winner!

Yes, we succumed to the temptations of Europe's largest inner city shopping centre by heading to Westfield at White City yesterday. But I assure you that our intentions were pure - we were trying to finish all our Christmas shopping in one day, and after scouring Oxford street and Regent street all morning, we were still coming up short. So, we sucked it up and headed out to Shey-bu with the one million or so other Londoners that were doing the same thing.

And, I have to say, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. If you could go there, say, on a weekday morning when all good boys and girls are at work, it would actually be a great place to shop. They have literally everything there, from M&S to Prada, and pretty much everything in between, including The Apple Store, Oakley, House of Fraser, Nike, The Gap, and plenty more. Actually it was ironic looking at the things that we'd bought from all the stores in the city, and then seeing them all there in the same complex.

Still, for all that praise there was definitely one major downside: the crowds. Oh my goodness, there were people everywhere, and all in that fairly uncontrollable frenzy that seems to descend on people when they're in a crowded indoor space. Why people suddenly forget how to walk in straight lines, or even just watch where they're going is beyond me!

Anyway, I think if you had a whole lot of stuff you needed from a variety of stores, it's a great place to go shopping, but for the most part, I'll be sticking to the high roads.