If ever I coveted anything......

.... it is the Millennium Star! What the most beautiful thing in the world, over 203 carats of flawless sparkling stone, perfectly cut from a rough stone of originally 777 carats and sending a kaleidoscope of rainbow light to every corner of the room in which it is currently displayed within the Natural History museum. Worth over £200 million and at about 2 inches high by an inch in width it is one of the largest cut diamonds in existence and a thing of utter and beauty and perfection.

It is of course displayed along with hundreds of other stones and design pieces of particular note, an extremely rare red diamond, an even rarer orange diamond, blue diamonds and brown diamonds but none come anywhere near the breathtakingspectaclee of themillenniumm stone.

Security in gaining entry into this exhibition is understandably tight, the usual scanning with a detection device and emptying of pockets is obligatory but to be allowed access to this display it is also obligatory to 'hand over' ones handbag, mobile phone, PDA, camera etc. etc. for the duration of the visit, something I felt a little uncomfortable about but was in the end well worth any risk of loss. Hell, they could have had the whole shebang for good, just to be allowed the pleasure of being so close to that magical stone for a few minutes!

So what next on the agenda.Today'ss planned trip to one of my favourite places, Kew Gardens, has been postponed until tomorrow, PG having unfortunately fallen victim to some nasty bug that has caused havoc with his gastro-intestinal system.....the less details here the better...... and so this morning I am lazing in 27 degrees in the garden, will partake of a little retail therapy this afternoon and then this evening it's off on a 'girls night out' with friends and colleagues from my place of work when I last lived here. I can't wait, I haven't seen any of them for almost four years and there is a distinct possibility that things could become a little wild! :o)