Ghost stairs, vegan donuts, and waiting at the Waiting Room

Look, more pictures from the outside world - proof exam season really is over. Hooray!

First up, check out these stairs:

These stairs are stairs in the Queen's House, part of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. I had to go down to the museum at the weekend to look at some artefacts for an article I was working on. When I got there, one of the guides told me the stuff I was after had been archived while they do some refurbishment work. Which will be done in 2018. Ouch.

So, while I didn't get to see the objects I wanted to, we went for a wander around the museum anyway. And we saw those stairs.

To me and you, they might look like just stairs. But you and me clearly haven't paid enough attention. These are special, spooky stairs. These stairs are known as the Tulip Stairs, and the site of an apparently well-known ghost photo.

While I tend to believe all such things are cobblers, the photo hasn't been debunked, so we went walking in the footsteps of the apparition and took a photo to see if we could snap the spectre. As you can see above, we kind of missed it.

No ghost, no artefacts. Does that mean it was a waste of time? Not a bit of it. Greenwich is a hot bed of vegan tastiness.

If you pop down to Greenwich market, there's at least four vegan stalls there: vegan Ethiopian, falafel, and a big salad bar. I only had eyes for the fourth though: the vegan bakery wonder that is Ruby's of London.

I can't say enough nice things about this stall, so I'll keep my flapping trap shut and recommend you get down there and pick up some vegan, gluten free, or sugar free treats.

I restrained myself to this rather pretty donut:

It looked a lot nicer than that when I bought it, but it had been rolling around in my bag for  a few hours by that point.

If you're wondering how I managed to keep my hands off this donut for so long, there's one simple answer: I was pretty stuffed.

Being in Greenwich, it was a wee stroll down to Deptford to visit the Waiting Room. I guess it's called the Waiting Room as it's opposite the station, but it's an appropriate name for another reason - it takes an age to get a seat. The place is tiny. Like the size of my bathroom tiny. Alright, maybe not that small, but there's only two or three tables and a couple of benches to settle on and, because it's such a popular place, you end up having to wait for ages if you want to get a seat.

Despite the fact that we turned up at 2.30, it was still humming. Mr Flicking the Vs was getting hangry, but we persevered and eventually swooped in to get a tiny place to sit.

Mr FtVs got a falafel wrap, and I opted for a vegan Luchador, a burger with guac and lettuce and some other stuff I forget. It was really, really good. The vegan banana milkshake I had with it was even better. I'm slightly drooling thinking about the milkshake. *wipes away stray dribble*

While I was pretty full after the burger, I couldn't resit getting some dessert. An amazing vegan brownie and two scoops of vanilla ice cream (Swedish Glace, if I was a betting person) went into my face. I'm also driblling about the brownie too. Had me and Mr FtVs not said we'd share, I would have happily eaten the whole thing on my own, burger or no burger.

Just in case you were worrying I wasn't getting my veggies and it was all cake and eating out, I have proof to the contrary. Look, a salad:

How fancy does that beetroot look? How good is that colour? Beetroot in mustard mayonnaise is my new favourite thing, I think in part because it just makes anything look beautiful and taste good.