Sometimes the nicest thing about my kind of work is that I can just stop and really look at the flowers.

It doesn't happen often. It's so easy to get bogged down in deadlines and to forget to let go. I don't remember what it's like to work in an office and to take lunch breaks. Working for yourself brings with it a lot of challenges and commitments.

But every now and then something happens that forces you to stop just for a few minutes.

Luckily for me, I had a good "let go" moment this week: my very close friend Richard came to visit from South Africa. I took some time off work to go have breakfast with him, and to catch up on how we've all grown and become people.






















Richard and I have been friends forever. We met in primary school, I can't remember exactly when, and we've stayed friends for - oh, about 17 years. He'd probably correct me on that number, and he'd be able to pinpoint it to the correct date and possibly even the correct class. He is now a computer programmer.

Many of our friends are now married and have careers and families - there was no way that my ten-year old self would be able to imagine us here. Isn't it strange to consider how people just grow up?

















We went out and had breakfast at Bill's, in Covent Garden. Bill's is meant to have the finest breakfasts in London and I firmly believe that you can judge the quality of a restaurant based on its vegetarian breakfast options.

You can see mine above: two slices of toast with guacamole, hummus, mushrooms, poached eggs, tomatoes and sweet chilli sauce. Yum. The coffee was cold, as it usually is at Bill's, but we both enjoyed sitting outside and enjoying a bit of sunshine with our mid-morning natter. Sunshine seems to be a bit of an indulgence this summer in London, so we took full advantage of it!






















I love Covent Garden. It's one of my most favourite London places: filled with tiny boutique shops, huge glamorous stores and knick-knack-y markets. And the window displays. Ah. They invite you in, as a window display should, and ask you to pick everything up. I love this little doorway: it leads into the Covent Garden Academy of Flowers.

Richard has lived on and off in London before I moved here, so it's wonderful to be able to take all the back roads as we walk - and we both know where we're going. Isn't it wonderful how people be so far away, yet so close in just a few hours by 'plane? I miss my family - and my friends who have all scattered to the corners of the globe - and visits like these just make the world seem so much closer than it was before.