h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just got back from a day in London. The whole place seems to be being dug up, presumably in preparation for the Olympics - made me feel very glad not to live there, and also determined to avoid it like the plague next summer!

The occasion for the visit was an invitation to lunch at the Athenaeum (http://www.athenaeumclub.co.uk/) by an old boyfriend from student days. We had a delicious lunch, sitting out on the terrace, and he also gave me a tour of the club, which is absolutely beautiful - reminiscent of a college Senior Common Room in many ways, but on a much grander scale. We hadn't seen each other for about 9 years, so it was good to catch up.

In the afternoon I paid a quick visit to Stanford's, the travel bookshop in Covent Garden (one of my favourite shops), and then went on to the British Museum for the Afghanistan exhibition. It was quite a small exhibition, but very interesting, with some fabulous gold jewellery from the 1st century AD, including a 'travelling' crown, which could be taken to pieces for ease of packing!

Had to wait for the 7.15pm train to come back (that's the first one you can get with an off-peak ticket), so had a glass of wine at one of the French-style cafes at St Pancras International - not French-style prices, unfortunately!

Sounds like an enviable weekend of grand luxe, Annie.

Saw the Afghan treasures exhibition just after it opened. Didn't spend too long in there because it was crowded but it has stayed with me. Usually I'm slightly irritated by the glister of gold objects in museums, but these were so fragile, so evocative of leaves and petals. The travelling crown made me think immediately of the aspen in Autumn in the Rockies, brilliant yellow and trembling. Loved the story of how the objects were hidden. Sorry, Dan Brown truth is richer and stranger than fiction

Last time I was in town I took the bus along Oxford St.. Big mistake. Don't suppose you come in at London Bridge - that's currently two astonishingly large craters linked together by tracks and tunnels. And no ladies loos left anywhere.

Oh don't get me started on ladies' loos - at King's Cross they have moved to right over the other side of the station, and I forget every time and have to look for the signs!

After a year of eating very sparingly I have lost my appetite for lots of food. I am slimmer than I have been for many years and want to keep it that way, so I plan to continue the sparing diet I've become accustomed to.