I went to the Tate Modern the other day, to finish looking at the Gauguin exhibition. Afterwards, to refresh myself and recover from Museum Fatigue (honestly, it exists) I like a to sip my tea looking out at this slightly famous vista. Sadly the Gauguin exhibition is now closed. However there are still loads of fabulous things to see... Currently one of the exhibitions at the Tate Modern is The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei . On until 2 May 2011. Sunflower Seeds Individual, hand-crafted porcelain sunflower seeds. When this exhibition first opened the public were allowed to walk on, and interact with the piece. However Health And Safety piped up - illegibly porcelain dust can damage health. Across the river this exhibition should be worth an afternoon meander at the Tate Britain . Lucky

I don't think anyone minds a picturesque day drawing to a close when this is how it does it: Bright red sun, good bit of view and the odd stripe in the sky. Definitely worth going outside for! Need I say any more? Lucky

It was such a lovely day - everybody seemed to be out flying their planes and leaving stripes in the sky, letting their dogs walk them, stretching their legs with an amiable companion or, if you're me, getting a little lost jogging along the village lanes. The sun determinedly gave us a lovely afternoon in Berkshire The hum and buzz of the engines, like a motorised swarm of bees, ebbs and flows as the planes fly up and down the sky. While the rustle of leaves will have you wondering whether the breeze has picked up again or if a stream is nearby. Planes leaving stripes in the sky. Choosing a path and deciding whether to follow it, or just admiring it and wondering where it leads to... The path less followed... leads to? On days like these I want to wear shorts and a t-shirt or a floaty summer dress. I want to forget my shoes and spend the afternoon staring at the sky, high above me, while I stretch out on a comfy blanket, ensuring that as much skin as possible is exposed to the sun...

The tranquil Thames... Lucky

I love the mud (so long as you have the right shoes on) and the rickety fences that you have to clamber over, passing from one field to the next. I even love getting a little lost - an excuse to be outside for longer. I love discovering a river or stream - I'm drawn to water - listening to it trickle, meander or gush along. I want to follow it, stick my feet in and splash in it. To throw in sticks and leaves and watch them float along... To imagine floating in there myself, wondering if I could get away with pretending to fall in? To be surrounded by views of patchworks of fields, loosely fenced off by hedgerows and knitted together by the branches of the towering trees. Birds sing, squawk and hauntingly cry before hustling along with the breeze to the next branch of call. Little towns that dedicate themselves to tea. Warm, fresh scones, bursting and erupting from their baking trays, just waiting to be lathered in fresh butter, home-made jam and lashings of cream. Tea, refreshing ...

Today started at 6 am. That's early for me. I usually only contemplate the snooze button at 6.45. Anyway, no point reminiscing, about waking up or the hours spent trying to decipher the East Coast Trains website last night - yesterday a giant icicle caused one of the overhead lines to fall down, so my trip up to Yorkshire today was a bit touch and go... I'm here now (at King's X) and have successfully - so far - lugged 1 x suit case (size: same as those used to travel overseas. weight: don't know, couldn't lift onto scales.) 1 x large bag (size: big. weight: lots.) 1 x Waitrose bag with Christmas Cake (size: normal. weight: not much, just awkward really.) As usual I panicked a bit about getting here on time - although given the current adverse weather conditions, I think I probably took the 'elf & safety option. What I didn't reckon on having to do was entertain myself for 2 hours... The central heating isn't really very apparent where I'm sittin...

I went to the MasterChef Live / The Wine Show at Olympia on Friday and came across these awesome finds... Wine Tourism UK Did you even know there were wine farms in the UK? Well there are - a lot actually. This fab guide will get you there and give you loads of other useful info! www.winetourismuk.co.uk Sipsmith London Dry Gin Fabulous gin, and it's made locally in Hammersmith! www.sipsmith.com Royal Berkshire Pork Happy, free-range bacon and sausages. This is some of the most delicious bacon - and they make sausages! And the best part is that the pigs have had a great life: treat it with respect, eat it with respect! www.royalberkshirepork.co.uk Curry Tree Making proper curries accessible and easy. Seriously good and seriously popular visit www.currytree.co.uk to see all the different products available. I spent about 15 minutes at least at this stand chatting away, tasting different curries, spices etc and apart from being delicious, they don't contain any junk! Pixley Berri...

Today I dealt with The Situation. I bought The Solution. The Situation reared it's head the other day, scuttling from behind one sofa to the next. At one point it was on top of one of the sofas. I'm told that it also makes use of the kitchen and basement. Unlike Mrs Baxter (dog / speaker of Spanish / eater of whole wheels of cheese) I didn't think I'd be able to teach The Situation not to eat from my plate if, for example, I were to leave it on the floor. It had to go. Hence The Solution. I've been distracted from buying it by boots, dresses and other accessories over the past few days, but en-route to the gym this morning I spotted a hardware-store. And it's with a bit of regret that this afternoon (with the courage of G&T&elderflower-and-pomegranate-cordial x 2) I scooped out a minuscule amount of peanut butter and placed it strategically on The Solution. I'll say no more. Lucky

I have to say I'm a little jealous of the students who went out to protest today. I never protested for anything while at varsity (uni) - apartheid was over and really it was mainly the grown-ups who ended up reading us the riot act. But today students descended on London to protest against potential fee increases. I have to admit that it was a little annoying - I had to divert my route (I'll leave out the slightly-lost-anyway part cause that would just ruin the story). Roads were closed, scruffy people with placards walked to and fro and the police were out in force. They swarmed to the scene wearing their high-vis-vests, visors at the ready. The students turned the music up and rolled another smoke. The action. I guess I was just happy to smile and walk on. However, let me know if there were ever to be a snip-someones-ponytail-off moment (another something I didn't take part in when younger.) Lucky

This afternoon I went to look at the Gauguin exhibition at the Tate Modern . I got almost half-way through before Museum Fatigue took over (this genuinely exists!) But I wasn't worried, because earlier this very same day I'd become a member of the Tates - convenient. I can now return whenever my heart desires to peruse the paintings. I can also take my tea in the members lounge (when the restaurant on the floor above is too full or, maybe, too noisy?) This is an average picture of the view. It misses out most of the buildings, doesn't include the river and, if I'm honest, had to be severely cropped because I couldn't have been bothered to actually stand up and take the photo, so got to include the woman sitting at the table next to the window! But it does give you an idea - ish. St. Pauls features quite prominently in this image, as it should. Actually at night / 4ish when it gets dark, and all the lights come on, the view from up here is quite magical. My scone ...