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The exhibition of the Heart is on at the Wellcome collection here in London. An eccentric millionaire, who James hopes one day to emulate, collected thousands of medical curios and some of Sir Henry Wellcome's collections are on permanent display here in the Galleries on Euston Road.

Last Sunday, James and I took a break from the thunderstorms of the current English summer to have a nose. And it was well worth the look. The 'Heart' exhibition was a collection of all sorts of things, brought together as they had something to do with that organ. From early Greek teachings that the heart and lungs were separate, to a film about open heart surgery (I didn't manage that one for too long.)

There were Arabic and chinese teachings from the dark ages in the same room as films of MRI scans showing a healthy and diseased heart beating away. It wasn't all about teaching though. This guy had managed to collect an original Aztec knife and alter used for their human sacrifices. These were displayed opposite a 1960's newsreel about the first heart transplant and the South African doctor - oddly it fitted.

Aside from the operation video, set to bloody ranting of some American evangelist, the other other object to give me a turn was also fascinatingly grotesque. They were two large tables from northern Italy circa 15th century. The veins of an unnamed person had been painstakingly extracted and laid out on the table in position before being varnished down. That these men had done this to further their understanding at a time when the all-powerful church condemned dissection was admirable, the result was fascinating and disturbing all at once.

Upstairs, the random collection continued, from torture masks and chairs to models used to teach early obstetrics. There were shoes for people with bound feet next to scarifying kits and Victorian snuff boxes hiding erotic scenes.

An odd and fascinating collecting, well worth a look on these damp, Sunday afternoons.

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Today I was a happy cyclist. My rides to work and back felt the safest and fastest yet. This is because I rode in the middle of the road and made drivers think about me. The fact I was there and made myself an issue on the road meant they had to allow for me as they drove.

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With James needing to take some holiday before the end of March, we each took a week off work to see what mischief we could get up to. The plan for a tour of the battlefields of northern France was out, partly because we'd need to hire a car but mostly because neither of us could work up the energy to look into and book it.

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And fears that London will grind to a halt. Certainly when less than an inch fell two weeks ago the tube was a nightmare with passengars stuck for hours on trains due to frozen points. Being the pessimistic old bird that I am I checked the web at 7.30 expecting the worst. But none of the train services pages would load. The local BBC radio station travel report was so packed reporting on the chaos that the forgot to mention South West trains which serves Vauxhall station.

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The two do go together, but they could go together much better if a few simple things were changed.

1. Drivers realise that cyclists are a vehicle using the road and give them due space and respect. This applies to motorbikes too - give me back my space at the lights!

2. Cyclists realise that they are vehicles and thus obey the road rules and share the road too. (To those bastards who run red lights on their bikes - This means you!)

3. Livingstone puts his money where his mouth is and extends cycling routes to give cyclists the space and encourage more cycling commuters.

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The HMNZS Canterbury is following the HMNZS Tui and Waikato to her final resting place as a dive wreck in Northland. While the other two navy wrecks are off Tutukaka and the Poor Knights islands, the Canterbury will be in the Bay of Islands. Having dived the Rainbow Warrior in the Bay, a fantastic experience, this is one more reason for a holiday back home soon......

More on this Stuff.co.nz link.

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Yes now that I've been a lady of leisure for a few days its time to write an update at last. I finished working at Vinopolis last Friday and ended up celebrating in fine style in the local pub. 'Twas a good night - even if Saturday was spent on the couch watching Star Trek re-runs.

On Monday though I was up at the crack of dawn and up to Glasgow for a belated reunion with the family. It was a great few days. I got off the train straight into the arms of my Gran and Aunt Susan and had a whirlwind of a time.

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In other news, my 4 weeks notice are up on Friday when I'll be saying 'Cheerio' to the good people of Vinopolis. Then I'll be a lady of leisure on a warm, care-free summer break.... well for 2 weeks at any rate. Then it'll be back to work again, this time for Howard Ripley, out in Earlsfield. That means the commute will be on the train (not tube) or biking across and beyond Clapham Common. Its very exciting and I'm really looking forward to it.

I won't pretend I wasn't looking forward to it lots and lots and LOTS! Dad flew in to London on the Saturday the 11th of March after a marathon flight from Kerikeri to Heathrow via Hong Kong. Mum was unfortunately unable to come as she was only 5 weeks post-op after her hip operation. So she was at home in Paihia with Tony looking after her (also post-op after his second hip operation in November).

It was the first time dad had been back in the UK since his brother Hugh's wedding in 1987, 19 years ago! The reason for this visit was my cousins wedding in Scotland which would be a great chance to see most of the family again. But before we headed up to 'Och-aye-the-noo land', we spent a few days showing dad round London, somewhere he hadn't been for about 30 years.

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I have a bike!

I didn't even plan it. We headed in to the shop to pick up James' bike and to get him locks and pumps and all the other things I've just realised one needs when you own a bike. We meandered in, James hassled the shop assistants while I meandered round before blind siding him by heading out on a 'trial ride'.

A couple of fun frolics up and down the pavements round the block and I decided take it up and had set on a bike. And then we were off out of the safety of the back streets and into London to find our way home.

I have biked round Trafalgar Square in London, through traffic and (even more dangerous) the tonnes of Sunday afternoon tourists. Then we made it to Westminster bridge and the safety of the river embankment where it was just gorgeous. It was a crisp, freezing day over here and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful, biking along in the sunshine looking across the Thames at the Houses of Parliament.