Taking in the Thames

London is scorching right now. It's been a hot week, that for once lasted through into the weekend so it's out of the office and into summer mode.

With another day scheduled to get up to around 27 degrees it was a chance to get outside and take Sophie around our old haunts along the Thames in Rotherhithe.

It's a nice walk if you get the chance. Take the Jubilee line to Canada Water, walk around to Greenland Dock and follow the Thames back up to London Bridge station, or if you're feeling energetic (which we definitely weren't) go on to Waterloo or until you just can't walk any more.

To make the walking easier, there are also some great pubs like The Angel (where Captain Cook drank and with some fantastic views of Tower Bridge, well away from the stress of the tourists and the "look at me" clan further up the river) and The Mayflower (where the pilgrims set sail) - these pubs are only to be visited for historical purposes, of course, but after a couple of hours walking in the sun, I told myself I deserved a drink!

I think this was our first hot outing, and being a true red blooded male, I never had a doll, but I will quietly admit it's great fun getting Sophie all dressed up.

It never fails to surprise me all the things that need to be remembered, it's definitely not just a case of grab the baby and walk on out the door. Not sure if it's a girl thing? My wife has long and painful sounding preparations before we go out too, so now with two girls in the house maybe I deserve that drink even more ...

In her defence, my wife has inherited what seems like an endless supply of clothes and is always up for an excuse to get a new outfit together.

My own sense of things like what hat goes with what shirt needs a lot of work and I think I might be given up for a lost cause. Heck, sometimes I'm just happy to get the clothes on the right way around.

So faced with the choice of trying to make sense of my wife's stack of fashion magazines and fetching, wiping and carrying as directed, I think I'll stick to the latter. London right now is too hot to argue, I'll just do what I'm told.