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Driving lesson. Near the beginning I had my introduction to reversing round a corner, and apparently did OK for my first try - my only problem was a couple of dead stops caused by trying to use both clutch and brake to keep the speed dead slow. Unfortunately that was the only good bit, as, for the first time in months, I repeatedly stalled trying to come out of junctions (not to mention two moments of kerb-mounting). The worst moment followed when, about to execute a right turn, Peter said something about 'the lady on her bike' so I slowed down to let the female cyclist pass, only for the car to keep going forward enough to carry me past the point of turn.

"You've missed your point of turn now, haven't you?" said Peter, "Cancel signal." Of course, with traffic behind me, the next thing I did was stall.

"Fucking shit," I said out loud, starting the car up again, prompting Peter to tell me not to get angry and to pull over. He instructed me to take a breather for two minutes, then to go into the next street, a quiet cul-de-sac, turn around with reversing at the circular end of the road, then we went back onto the main roads where the rest of the lesson was incident-free.

At the end Peter said everyone makes mistakes when they're learning; I replied that it's when I commit half a dozen howlers all in one day that I get depressed. He just said it does happen, told me tales of other students and said that overall I was improving.

And so to London for Eurobeat.

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Just back from Eurobeat in London. Two girls were standing just inside the theatre door inviting everyone to pick a country. After a look at the basket held by one of them I asked her if she had a German badge; she obligingly pointed one out to me. My decision to go on the German jury was a tactical one; I thought that as Germany wasn't likely to receive many points, being on their jury should give my votes more weight. Inside the foyer, the souvenir girl recognised me from Southampton, and was impressed when I explained that after the show there I'd signed up as a Eurobeat Cousin, entitling me to a cheap ticket for today. After I bought a German flag, she asked whether she could tempt me with a horn for £2. I succumbed, glad to join in the party a bit more than last time; she didn't try and sell me the clackers as well, so I was happy to give them a miss. My Cousinship had got me a voucher with my ticket which I now exchanged for a promotional poster signed by all the cast.

While the essentials of the show were the same as at Southampton, they've added some extra banter to Sergei and Boyka's script for the West End production. Among the new jokes were a reference to the UK receiving nul points for "their 2003 musical equivalent of the bombing of Hiroshima" and Boyka observing that "thanks to their vast musical talent and the Trans-Siberian pipeline, Russia have become a Eurovision power". Les Dennis was hilarious as Sergei and Mel Giedroyc was wonderful as Boyka; she was worth the trip to London on her own, delivering all her script perfectly and lacing her performance with lots of sexy moves! Another new innovation for London was that she changed her costume twice during the show. The first time came halfway through the songs, when she appeared in a lush purple dress, the skirt of which she later discarded during her and Sergei's discussion of the Greek 'reveal'. For the second half she came on in a gorgeous red number.

All the singers performed their acts to perfection once again. Toomas Jerkoff from Estonia, as he was at Southampton, was here changed to Tomas Dzerka from Poland, though his song and performance were exactly the same. I wonder whether he's usually Poland, and was just changed to Estonia for Southampton to avoid offending that city's large Polish community. Wherever he was supposed to be from, his act clearly has wide appeal to audiences, as tonight he won again. My wangling my way onto the German jury didn't do poor old Italy any favours as they only garnered three points, none of them from Germany. Despite an early strong showing from Greece the voting soon became a two horse race between Poland and Russia, with the Poles a point ahead going into the last jury, Sweden, then gaining a maximum five from the Swedes to Russia's four.

This time, when Tomas and his two chums had been celebrating with the cup a little while, Boyka didn't bother with an explanation, she just took it away - though she did it so sexily. Tomas stepped down into the front row of the audience to sing the last verse of the reprise, till he realised he was needed to pull the trousers off his two hand-standing colleagues and rushed back on stage.

When I exited the theatre it was still only 7.38; my train didn't leave Waterloo until 9 pm (I was on a Megatrain ticket so couldn't take an earlier one). Waterloo Bridge was right in front of me, so rather than walk all the way down the Strand to take a tube I took a leisurely walk across the bridge, taking in the sight of so many London landmarks to each side of me - St Paul's, Big Ben, the London Eye... As I passed over the Embankment, looking down I saw the Queen Mary boat-bar, with a party taking place on board. Then on the South Bank there was the National Theatre, and the Royal Festival Hall which brought back memories of the Kirsty MacColl tribute concert in 2002. Having spent 14 mostly happy years in London, I'm still very fond of the old girl. Arrived at Waterloo just before 8; time for a relaxing drink in the station's bar.