This second-storey room at St Mary’s Hospital is where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin on 3rd September 1928 – arguably one of the greatest discoveries ever, and certainly one that has transformed the course of human history.

It took the Scot about a year to come up with the name “penicillin”, referring to it in the interim as “mould juice” – which is certainly a more entertaining name, and one which I think the WHO should consider introducing as it’s recommended international nonproprietary name. “500mg mould juice stat” has a certain ring to it…!

The serendipity of his discovery is sometimes exaggerated: Fleming had dedicated much of his life to finding anti-bacterial agents after watching so many soldiers die of infection during the First World War, during which he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. In fact, he wrote an important paper for The Lancet during the war explaining that applying antiseptic to deep wounds was probably counterproductive. Unfortunately, nobody listened, and it’s likely that countless unnecessary deaths resulted.

I was surprised to discover that Fleming was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. The reputation surgeons carry with regards to antibiotic knowledge is not one that suggests that the father of microbiology is one of theirs…!

As I’ve logged on to post today’s picture, I’ve realised that I forgot to post anything yesterday… so, as recompense, here’s a picture I took last week of the Thames Barrier. It should also serve as a reminder of what the sky looks like when it isn’t bucketing – something we all need after a day like today!

I’m cheating a bit today, because I actually took this picture earlier in the week. It’s Britain’s quintessential derelict building, Millennium Mills. It’s on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock in London, just across from the ExCel exhibition centre.

The building has played the role of “derelict building” in any number of TV shows, films and music videos, from Ashes to Ashes to Green Zone. It’s one of those buildings that, when I walk past it, makes me desperate to explore inside. Of course, the law-abiding and safety-conscious side of my brain ensures that the nearest thing to urban exploration that I ever do is logging on to 28 Days Later and looking at others’ fascinating photographs.

In this case, it’s probably a good job: the place is full of asbestos, floors which are decayed to the point of collapse, and nine storey drops. It’s definitely not a good place to go exploring!

The future of Millennium Mills looks uncertain at the moment: many plans have been made, from converting the building to luxury flats, to demolishing it and building an aquarium. All have fallen through. So who knows what’s next for this beguiling building?

This is a memorial fountain designed by James Woodford in 1954. It stands in the courtyard at BMA House, commemorating doctors killed during the Second World War.

James Woodford served in both World Wars, with the the 11th Battalion Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment (Sherwood Foresters) in the First, and with the Air Ministry in the Second. He won the Prix de Rome for Sculpture in 1922, and went on to create his best known work in 1953: ten heraldic beasts which stood at the entrance to Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s coronation.

Now, I’m sure we’ve all experienced one of those awkward moments after a big party when you suddenly think, “Damn, what on Earth am I going to do with all these decorative heraldic beasts?” I know I have!

Well, luckily, Woodford had the foresight to plan for that moment, and made them only out of plaster so that they could be easily thrown away. But – shock horror – the beasts turned out to be very popular. So popular, in fact, that he had to do a nifty bit of negotiation with the Home Office to get a 50:50 split on the takings from the rights to copying them.

And to this day, you can see a complete set in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew.

So I’m more than fashionably late to this particular party…!

I didn’t really appreciated the scale of the Olympic Park until I saw it “in the flesh”… maybe that just means I need a bigger TV. I was slightly amused as a fairly elderly couple told me they were standing and waiting to see the Orbit move: it seems a policeman had told them that it had been lifted while onto the back of a huge lorry yesterday, and that the lorry was setting off for Glasgow later this afternoon. I wonder how long they waited?

This is a tiny bit of the Royal Society of Medicine’s incredible library, which is one of the biggest medical libraries in Europe. It’s spread over four floors, holding over half a million volumes – with around a thousand new ones added each year. It holds books dating back to the 1400s – when the occasional outbreak of Black Death was still claiming the lives of young Londoners. Even I couldn’t resist pulling a book off the shelf and reading for a while.

I think bringing Wendy here would be dangerous: she’s can easily spend an hour looking at the fairly pitiful selection of medical books in our local Blackwell’s, and has even taken her mum to the BMA library when on holiday! If I brought her here, she might move in… especially if she knew there’s a Mango nearby!

No prizes for guessing where I’ve been tonight… The Millennium Dome, now the O2, Richard Rogers’s homage to the Festival of Britain’s Dome of Discovery. Its time-obsessed dimensions reflect the reason for its construction: 12 pillars, one pillar for each month of the year; 52m high, one metre for each week of the year; a diameter of 365m, one metre for each day of the year. And there’s that remarkable statistic that the 1mm-thick glass-fibre fabric of the roof weighs less than than the air contained within the dome itself, yet could support the weight of a jumbo jet.

In the furore over the Dome’s innards, it’s often forgotten that the building itself was constructed in just 15 months, and – at £43m – substantially under-budget.

It’s hard to believe that it’s twelve years since my family and I first visited the site, to see the much-maligned (though highly rated by 85% of actual visitors) Millennium Experience. We had a great time, though I recall that we were really rather baffled over what the unifying theme of the attractions was supposed to be.

I’ve returned quite a few times since, usually just to grab dinner when in London and nearby… which is exactly why I was there tonight!

I forgot my photo-a-day yesterday – oops – so here’s a picture of The Shard that I took earlier in the week. Little-known facts about The Shard include the fact that it’s tall, it’s located in London, and it has a lot of glass on it.

This is a bit of water shining in the morning sun in Hyde Park. I think it’s the Serpentine, but it might be Long Water – my understanding of the divisions of Hyde Park’s waterways would be exaggerated by calling it limited.

Anyway, something else has occurred to me as I’ve wandered round London these past few days – with so many sealed post boxes, where are our Olympic visitors supposed to post their official London 2012 postcards? Are there special boxes inside the venues?

This is my contribution to the internet’s wide collection of touristy photos of the Jubilympic Rings on Tower Bridge. They’re roughly the same size as those on the Tyne Bridge, but with five-times the price tag (true story!)

Since that’s a boring choice, here’s a sign that made both Wendy and I wince:

It’s actually a logo for a risk management firm, but immediately made Wendy and I think of diarrhoea and vomiting, outbreaks of which consume fair portions of both of our working lives!

Both of today’s photos come courtesy of suggestions from Wendy… so if you don’t like them, don’t blame me!