Day 12 - Tuesday 7th August

Today is Nicky's birthday. The main purpose of our trip to London is to be here for the birth of the baby and we timed our arrival in London yesterday to be here in time for Nicky's birthday.

Last night, I didn't sleep well but we managed to sleep in until 8:15am. It might take a while to adjust to the new time zone.

Nicky was due to visit the mid-wife at Portland Hospital this morning. On the way, we stopped at the dry cleaner in East Finchley to get shirts and trousers cleaned. The hospital is near Regents Park and Nicky found a parking spot right opposite the entrance near the playground. Apparently the mid-wife said everything was going well.

After the appointment, we took Amelia to the playground. Regents Park was very pleasant with large grassed areas, fountains and beautiful flowers.

On that way back home, we stopped for lunch at Hampstead at one of Nicky's favourite cafes. This cafe seems to cater for families - most customers were mothers and their kids.

When we got home, Alan the cleaner was there. Although I'd never met him before, he said he'd met Suzy. Before I left, I'd put on a load of washing and he'd neatly folded all my clothes for me and left them on our bed. Suzy and got some groceries in East Finchley for lunch.

Amelia normally has a nap after lunch and Nicky often takes the opportunity to have a nap too so she'd better able to cope with going out this evening.

Nicky had booked for us all to go to a live show tonight - War Horse at the New London Theatre in Drury Lane. We caught a train on the underground Northern Line to Leicester Square.

Leicester square is the theatre and cinema heart of London. It was very busy with theatre goers, tourists and people finishing work for the day.

We met John at 6pm at the restaurant, Wahaca Mexican Restaurant - a walk of about 10 minutes from the station. We told them we were in a rush because we needed to get to the theatre by 7pm and so there we quick with bringing our food, wine and beers. It was a very nice meal. It was just as well we got there by 6pm because by the time we left there was a long line of people waiting.

The theatre was about 10 minutes walk from the restaurant and we got there just in time. Also it had started to rain lightly as we got to the theatre. The theatre was smaller than I'd expected. Every seat was taken and it was quite warm - it felt as though the air-conditioning wasn't coping with the capacity audience.

The show was very impressive. It was clever the way they represented the horses on the stage.

After the show, we caught a taxi home. The rain had become steadier. Half-way home, John realised he'd forgotten to pick up his bag from the theatre cloak room after the show - including his iPad. He rang them and arranged to pick them up tomorrow.