Believe it or not, I was up by 8:15 this morning. It's after 11 PM now and I really don't feel so bad considering I had less than five hours sleep last night.

Okay, it's official. We spent all of our money! Well, the money we had in the bank account here that is. We went out to breakfast and then Gord went to the post office while I went over to the Kensington Town Hall to the London Christmas Fair 2007 that was held in support of the British Red Cross. These fairs are interesting in that they not only charge the vendors but they charge admission as well. But I'm off topic. I made a purchase with my debit card at one stall and when I tried to make a purchase at another stall the card was declined. Later we looked online to see what happened. When Gord went to the post office, he also stopped at the ATM machine (Barclay's Bank actually calls it the "hole in the wall") and withdrew 30 pounds. My purchase was 34.44 pounds. We are left with, get this, 18 pence! Can't cut it much closer than that! So now we'll have to use the ATM card from our bank at home. No problem (unless we go through that money too!). Fortunately our rent is paid in full and we just made a utility payment. But maybe we should try to eat out a little less. . . . Nah.

After the fair, Gord and I (and about twenty other people) finally did the Old Kensington Walk, one of the famous London Walks. The two-hour walk took us to places and streets in Kensington that were new to us and we learned quite a bit from our knowledgeable guide about how the city grew and why. But I have a dilemma. There were so many blue plaques on the tour that I can't possibly decide on a favourite. So I will narrow it down as best I can and then I am calling an election. You can vote any time between now and Sunday, November 25.

So here they are, in random order:






























Forgive me if they don't line up exactly. It's not that easy, especially since they're not all the same size, and they don't line up the same in the draft version as they do when I post it.

Now on to the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle--I hope it's an easy one. I'll check back in tomorrow.