So the recruitment process has started at the hotel.

And the applicants are a mixed bag.

Mature women returning to work, people wanting a change of direction,youngsters looking for heir first job.

I sat down with one young chap;

''So tell me'' I say ''Why have you applied to work in the hotel?''

''It's local'' he replies ''I ain't never gonna be no late.''

Hmmmm.

REGRET!

The last two episodes of Doctor Who have been some of the best the programme has ever produced.

Heck, this is some of the best Sci-Fi that television has ever produced.

John Simm is brilliant as the Master, he has a dark, insane glint in his eye.

Watching him assume the Premiership of England and then begin his domination of the world, Simm treats us to a performance that is equally menacing and humorous.

There are few moments during the episode that are bound to induce some multiple fangasms - heck I had a couple myself- such as The Master offering his companion a jelly baby as they watch the President of the United States address the world.

But the best, the best was the Doctor telling the prigin of the Master and seeing flashbacks to Gallifrey.

This is how we have all imagined Gallifrey to be, a huge domed city of high towers and surrounded by wasteland.

We got to see the Time Lords of old, complete with their traditional robes.

This episode was better than last week's, and last week's was outstanding.

Next Saturday cnnot come quickly enough.

So I sat in the Surgery of the Doctor's, waiting not so patiently.

My appointment had been for 9.40, I was still sitting there at 10.30.

And as I watched the previous patient come out and go to the Reception to make another appointment,after being with the Doctor for nearly thirty minutes, I couldn't help thinking...

I couldn't help thinking that she better be seriously frickin' ill to have kept me waiting so long.

And then I calmed down as I took my turn and entered the small and cluttered office.

The Doctor himself was personable and nice and when I mentioned that another patient of his was my partner G, he tripped over himself talking about how tolerant people are in this area and how far the East End had come in terms of attitudes...

He should have just worn a badge saying ''Gay is Cool''

Anyway.

The results were fine.

Liver-fine.

Kidney - fine.

Cholestrol - fine.

I was suprised about the cholesterol and Liver.

The Liver should have been pickled at this stage - or why had I put so much effort in to the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol over the years??

And the cholesterol too - I guess it hadn't been one cheeseburger too many.....

He prescribed some alpha blockers to bring the BP under control.

I was in and out in fifteen or so minutes.

No drama with me.

So I'm a little nervous.

To say the least.

I went to the Doctor's about two weeks ago, they took a blood sample to test the kidney's, the liver in order to try and find a cause for my high blood pressure.

It's high.

When I first got tested it was 220/140, recently I have tested it at 180/125.

Very, very high.

I'm not afraid of going on med's in order to bring the BP under control.

So I'll have to sacrifice the odd whiff poppers.

Big deal.

What scares me is if there is something else there.

Y'see, I think G is a great photographer.

He takes his time to compose a shot, he selects that defining image to communicate what he is seeing with others.

The image below, that he snapped when we were out exploring Paris is the defining image of the whole trip.

The food was good.

Really,really good.

We had debated whether to actually use our reservation at The Narrow - Gorden Ramsey's restaurant close by in Limehouse.

The only thing that stopped us was, well me.

I pointed out to G that we had done so well on our diets - him more than me- and we had a good weekend in Paris and enjoyed some lovely meals, I was a little afraid that we were falling off the wagon.

He pointed out, quite rightly, that all the walking we had done in Paris would offset any....indulgences.

And boy did we walk a lot!!

So when it came to the Narrow we had offered the reservation to several friends but they had declined so we decided to go.

And I'm glad we did,

The food was uncomplicated , tasty and flavoursome.

I started with the Roast Sussex Tomato Soup, G had the Pork Pie.

Followed by Fish and Chips for G and a Pea,Leek and Morel flan with a poached egg and chips.

Dessert was a baked egg custard for me and an Eve's pudding for G.

It was fantastic.

And reasonable, about 25 quid ahead.

Check it out, if you are so inclined.

I had a moment to myself.

I stood at the front of the hotel amid the landscaped gardens and underneath the neon 'light wands' and looked across the Thames to the Dome.

The sun as beating down, it was a hot day and there was a moment of calm as the gentle breeze stopped blowing.

I slowly turned around and looked at the hotel, at the gleaming metal, the shiny glass and the polished glass.

Ontario tower rises twenty eight floors skyward, a huge oval shaped building that houses two hundred and twenty privately owned apartments. It joins the smaller seven story building that is the hotel by the means of a glass atrium.

I was escorting members of our PR company and a journalist from a local Canary Wharf paper.

They had moved on ahead of me and I stood there for a second, looking at the hotel in all it's completed but yet to be used glory.

And it looked beautiful.

Truly special.

And I was there, at the beginning.

Cool.

Getting to Paris, that was the easy part.

Finding the hotel was a little trickier.

And I need to hold my hands up,I need to 'fess up..

I could have organized it a little better.

I could have actually written down the address of the hotel, or printed a street map or something....

But in my own defence, we were giving incorrect information from the local Holiday Inn and a sign detailing the hotel was also misleading.

Still, we found it in the end.

But as we walked along a boulevard in search of our temporary nirvana, G turned to me and asked, in good humour,thankfully;

''Have we learnt anything from today?''

Oh boy, had I.

I was running late.

I had had a relatively quiet day at the site of the hotel - one showround with one of our Sales guys in the morning and then just tying up paperwork in the afternoon.

I had left just after lunch to go home and do more work before heading into Central London at about 4pm with the intention of getting my weekly comic fix at the Forbidden Planet, so to have a couple of things to read on the Eurostar to Paris on Friday.

But I Was running late.

G and I had arranged to meet a bunch of friend's at Vertigo - the champagne bar on the 42nd floor of the NatWest building.

It was some late Birthday drinks for him and Karen was treating her parent's who were returning to Australia on Sunday.

I got to Holborn tube for 6.35 with plenty of time to make it to Liverpool Street.

Or so I thought.

There wee 'severe delays' on the Central Line and the crowd was at least five deep waiting for the next train so I elected to get the bus.

I left the station and plodded along in the warm evening sun in search of a suitable bus.

I eventually arrived 20 minutes late.

Much to the amusement of the others.

But the bar.

The views are unparalleled in London, the bar is almost 360o and you can see everything, looking down on the sprawling metropolis from on high.

Like Olympian gods with a splash of champers.

The only real way to appreciate the grand architecture of London is to look down upon it and see how it all interconnects in various ways.

And we had a great night.

As we were leaving, G summed it up best;

''We are very lucky'' he said as we exited onto the street ''we have such good friends.''

And we do.