Long lazy summer afternoons ....

... in London are for riding the ...


Tube

to your favourite site ...


My friend Ben

... and strolling along the Thames with good friends.


Trudy and Cathryn, my London girls!

AND best of all, perfect summer afternoons in London are simply made for ...


Afternoon tea


With champagne of course, darhling!

We spent an evening doing some research into the history of afternoon tea and were determined to be traditional - at least in as much as choosing to go to a central London hotel (the Savoy is closed for renovations, and the Ritz requires advance bookings, Browns well, we couldn't get in there either) - but the sandwich and petits fours selection at the Four Seasons had the non-traditional twist we antipodean chicks love! And they had a spot for us at just the right time.


Three-tier platter of delights

After the vine-ripened tomato and goat's cheese tart(lette) this amazing array arrived - just gorgeous, sandwiches galore and a liberal dose of scones under the big silver dome. Honestly, it took us a good hour to get through it all, thank heavens for the tea and piano music to keep us soothed during proceedings.

And that was just the beginning! We then had a selection of cakes to choose from - we all went for the peach and pistachio roulade, and varied between Eaton crumble cake or cherry and chocolate cake with tonka bean mousse (how about that Kylie? Tonka beans again!)


Apricot palate cleanser

As if that wasn't enough, the final final round was this absolutely delightful Pim's stewed apricot with yoghurt sorbet and mint syrup - to cleanse the palate and prepare you for dinner!!!

And as we stepped back out into the late summer twilight they had the red carpet waiting ... No, not for us sadly (we didn't have the right shoes on!) - some premiere or benefit or something at the swish hotel across the road. But what a fitting reminder to us that here we were, in one of the world's most fabulous cities!