Went to see "Knocked Up" at the cinema yesterday. It was quite good, but it went on WAY too long -- by the end I felt it had long outstayed its welcome, which was a pity, as I did enjoy much of it. Alas, that's a modern curse of the cinema -- as with many plays, the people involved seem to think that longer is better. But the trouble is, it almost never is.

Went to see the "Star Wars" exhibition in County Hall with my brother Declan after the film. It features lots of sets and costumes from the film. Very entertaining, though at £16, ridiculously over-priced -- very poor value for money. The best part was going to a Jedi training school, where I got to have a light-sabre duel with Darth Vader -- COOL!!!!!!

Met Maiko again after that and we went to see "Billy Elliot". This is one of the best musicals in London at the moment -- strong story, a nice mix of politics and the personal, good songs, great dancing. Only complaint (no surprise!) is that it runs a bit on the long side. Otherwise you won't get much better than this on the West End stage right now.

This morning I pottered around the flat for a while, then got the tube out to Heathrow to spring a surprise on Bas! She's been away in Bali for a couple of weeks on work, and flew back to London today. I'd told her I was going to be in Ireland, so she thought she was coming home to an empty flat. Instead, up I popped in Heathrow to give her a nice shock and escort her home. I'm just a soppy old romantic at heart!!!!! We went for a nice meal in the Skylon restaurant on the South Bank later, and now we're going to watch the Jonathan Ross show before hitting the sack. I hope you all have a fab weekend, Shansters. I'm going to be heading home on Saturday, then working hard on Sunday and the rest of the week, before I start into my "D6" tour!!!