Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

It's Mum's birthday today and I'd planned a day of surprises and treats for her. I started the day making her cake look pretty awesome, despite the sticking-in-the-tin problems, before she came over for a breakfast of melon and croissants. I'd bought her a ticket to the Tower of London, as she'd never seen the crown jewels and wanted to see the poppies.

We caught the train, and spent ages walking round the outside looking at the incredible poppies. The installation commemorates the First World War, and sees thousands of ceramic poppies planted each day. By 11th November there will be 888,246 poppies, each representing a British military fatality during the war. It was such a powerful sight, and Mum was quite overwhelmed when I told her I'd bought her one for her birthday!

We did a full loop round the outside of the Tower, and had a look round St Katherine's Docks; a place that Mum and Dad would drive up to on Sunday's. They'd park in a free underground car park, then wander round the docks, or round Hyde Park. It had changed a lot in 35 years! It was such a gorgeous day; we sat with a M&S picnic on a bench overlooked by Tower Bridge, then eventually made it into the Tower itself. It wasn't anything like I'd expected, but we enjoyed wandering round.

After a rush back to Liv St, and missing the train by two minutes, we caught a fast train back to Colch and splashed out on a cab home, randomly driving past and picking G up on the way! When we got back, there was just about time for tea and birthday cake before dinner at the local Italian. It's been such a lovely day, and Mum really enjoyed herself.