This is a very self indulgent post. I don’t do many of these, but this week has been a strange one… because on Tuesday I went to Buckingham Palace. No, really.

Sometime in January, I had an email from the Society of Authors asking if I’d been to a Royal Garden Party before and if not, if I’d like to go (you’re supposed to go only once). The answer was a resounding ‘yes’ (obviously).

I’d heard about Royal Garden parties, but I had never entertained the possibility of going to one. Well, you don’t, do you? It turns out that the Soc of Authors was offered some tickets which they could offer and my name came out of the ballot. [I volunteer on their Authors North Events committee – which is tremendous fun and I’ve met some lovely people through the events]. Thank you Society of Authors!

I caught the train down on Tuesday morning (Hull Trains do a direct service to King’s Cross) and got there at lunchtime. I had plenty of time to get changed and get across to Victoria Station, where I met my friend who was my plus. I couldn’t take my husband because he was needed at home for babysitting duty. So my friend and I both had an afternoon off while our husbands were left at home looking after the children.

We queued – very British – and went through the grand entrance to the Palace, which meant we got to walk through a small section of the Palace (under the famous balcony where they wave from) to get to the gardens.

The Queen has beautiful gardens. You could forget you were in London if it weren’t for the skyscrapers in the distance and the sirens. It was a nice, warm day and it didn’t rain, so I didn’t need the umbrella or the pashmina that I’d crammed into my handbag. The tea itself was lovely. There were lots of little cakes and, of course, cucumber sandwiches. All the staff (both the Palace staff and the catering folk) were very smiley and very helpful, which was nice.

I didn’t get to see the Queen (only a glimpse at a vast distance) because I’m a short person and short people don’t get to see things when in a crowd. I did see the Queen through the screen on the phone of the person in front of me, but I’m not sure that counts as actually seeing her. I did get to see the Duke of Edinburgh, but not to ‘meet’ him as such. My friend and I gave us trying to spot the royals after a bit and went back for a second cup of tea instead (there was no queue this time!).

Afterwards, my friend and I went out for a curry, because it seemed like the right thing to do when wearing an outfit posh enough to require a hat.

The next morning, I had an hour to kill before my train, so I went to see the Wellcome Collection. It was fascinating (and free). I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the collection of erotic/phallic objects was a bit of a surprise. The things that intrigued me most were the mummified man and the wood and leather prosthetic legs. Oh, and the

human genome in book form. It always amazes me that everything that we are is coded for by combinations of just four base pairs. From that arises infinite variety.

If you are ever at a loose end near Euston, I do recommend the Wellcome Collection. The cafe does excellent cakes and the shop is full of all sorts of geeky science gifts. Incidentally, if you have luggage, they have a cloakroom, so you don’t have to drag your suitcase around the exhibitions.

So there you have my exciting week. How was your week? Any exciting news?