Seachain an duine a bhíonn ina thost

Then there was today. The day didn't start all that well with an awful visit to HSBC in Wimbledon. We got there at 10.20 and were presented with a ticket saying there was a 38 to 52 minute wait. We asked if we could go away for a few minutes and come back and were assured that we could but advised to be back within half an hour just in case.

So we went and bought a few sandwiches and admired some crockery (one of our main occupations now we've finished flat-hunting) and got back at about 10.40 at the latest. And we waited and waited and after about half an hour I asked someone what was happening. Turns out they called for us whilst we were out (so within twenty minutes) and since we weren't there we'd been wiped from the list. So if I hadn't asked, we could have gone on waiting all day.

But did they bump us up to the top of the queue to make up for this? Nope. Right back to the start again. Eventually we got to see someone. She was very nice, but when I mentioned my paying-in book was out of date because my graduate one hadn't arrived yet she told me I still had a student account. So that visit to HSBC in Brighouse was a complete waste of time, she hadn't converted my account to a graduate account after all, apparently because I need to show them my graduation certificate (first I've heard of it).

So I feel fed up with HSBC and tempted to change my account, but the whole point of my visit was to open a joint account for convenience, so I just don't know what to do at all.

Well, then we went to a different sort of bank, the South Bank, for the Mayor's Thames Festival. It was really very lovely, there were performers and food stalls and the Co-operative Bank was there so I got a leaflet. If you've read about yesterday's walk you'll know my feet are blistered, and my back ached today too. So I didn't really want to walk very much at all, but everything was so exciting that I had to.

And we went to Southwark Bridge to the Feast on the Bridge which was absolutely wonderful, it reminded me of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party with its lovely golden chairs. There were two huge tables the length of the bridge with these seats all along each side, and everyone was eating the food they'd bought at the lovely food stalls beside the bridge. I had a falafel wrap, it was deelicious. And a woman was selling strawberries and cream but I was too full.

It was only one o'clock by this stage and the Great River Race wasn't due to pass until about four so we decided to go to Oxford Street to see what that was like. And to go to John Lewis to look at some crockery we'd seen on their website. So we did. It was very bustly and the John Lewis crockery wasn't all that nice but we found some very nice stuff in Selfridge's, quite pricey as you'd expect but ticked all the boxes so maybe we'll just splash out, and Andy got the iPod dock he's been going on about for ages.

Then we walked down Regent Street and went to Hamley's to look at the Lego and I found a bright red Mary Poppins coat which was very nice but quite expensive so maybe I'll wait til I get paid to buy that. But our poor little legs and feet were sore and tired so we gave in and went home. And I comPLETEly forgot about the Great River Race until we were all the way home which I was very disappointed about since I'd been looking forward to it for weeks. Oh well, these things happen.

Oh but I missed a bit: when we got to Wimbledon we walked around Centre Court (which is a shopping centre, not a tennis court) and guess what they've got? A Hawkin's Bazaar shop! Oh it's so exciting, it's like Christmas a million times over. What a lovely day.