Raisin bread and sausage rolls; plus madeleines, palmiers, financiers, croissants, and cinnamon buns for breakfast with a Parisian jazz soundtrack

Sometimes when I wake up it feels like I am at sea watching a big ocean liner pass by. It is the view from my home in one of the two stepped concrete apartment blocks that make up the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury. When you visit skip the chain stores of the shopping centre below (except for the excellent Renoir Cinema) and instead get an invitation to one of the small but gorgeous flats with their winter gardens or just wander through the spectacular concrete A frames and across the vast sun drenched terraces on podium level.

Whipps Cross flats next to Hollow Pond boating lake is where I run. A perfect antidote to the chaos in the city.

Greatest "free" bar view over London. The Heron Tower is a commercial skyscraper in London. It stands 230 metres tall including its 28-metre mast making it the tallest building in the City of London financial district and the third tallest in the UK.

Great little cinema, hidden away in the basement of Aubin & Wills, London. Not exactly a fan of the brand but the cinema is pretty awesome. They show a variety of interesting films and have probably the comfiest seats including armchairs and sofas. Bit dear, but one of the best cinemas I've come across.