Stella

We followed our noses on a London adventure, first on a bus route we don't normally take, which led us to Clapham. Walking a route I hadn't taken for nigh on twenty years saw us pass a friend's old digs, the site of many memorable parties when she'd moved to London and I to Brighton. Scots girls in the south (and we both still here, except I'm in London and my friend's in Brighton!) The once large shared house now seems to have been split into many flats.

Onwards we walked passing all the new builds towering above the few old properties around Nine Elms. I'm most probably going to be working in this area next year and it is somewhat Bladerunner-esque – soul-less and all height and glass and not much green. We were curious about an old, distinctive building, Lassco. We will go in the next time we pass.

Stopping for refreshments at Tate Britain, I bumped into a work colleague (I always find it so strange bumping into someone I know in London) who told us that Lassco was a salvo company and she'd been there on the way here. She thought the Nine Elms area was "dystopian". Great minds...

Our walk continued down Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, which led to us popping into the Algerian Coffee Store to try a new bag of coffee (hazelnut, mmm) then on past Christmas lights to Green Park. We didn't mean to flit by the poshest shops in the city, but there you go. Stella's shop on Old Bond Street was quite the display!