Out And About , Slowly

Sonata :
It's my last day in London , so I'm off to have a wander .
I've got a bruise the size of a demi-tasse saucer on my right foot , where I stubbed my toe last week , so I'm positively ambling along at the moment . But it's quite handy really . It makes people watching better .
Yesterday , on my way to the bus , I was overtaken by a tartan shopping trolley , pulled by an extremely elderly woman in an outsize t-shirt with " Don't call me John . I'm Juan " printed on the front . She'd got it tucked into skin tight jeans pulled up to her armpits and she was wearing lime green baseball boots with no laces . I suddenly felt dowdy .
A young woman in wooly hat and pixie boots zig-zagged past with a huge pink wheelie suitcase . She was carrying an empty white ornamental bird cage , holding it on high like Florence Nightingale's lamp .
I had lunch in El Rincon Quiteno ( sorry about the missing tilde , can't find it ) in the Holloway Road and , while I enjoy their delicious vegetable soup and chargrilled pork chops , shamelessly listen to the other customers . Two men nearby are having the usual "Take the A4 as far as ... " conversation . " Well " , said one , " I won't be doing that again . I ended up going faster and faster , like a bear running down a hill ."
An expansive chap rushed in for a sandwich . He looked round at us all . " I've been all around the world . Greenwich . The West End ..." . The Ecuadorian owner looked unimpressed .
The discussion at the next table trickles ever onwards , " I don't get it , we started off with ten each . Then Kiesha gave me back that £2 , then we got chips and Taylor wanted a drink , and I only fancied a coffee and you had an ice cream , but it costs £4 to get into the pool so Kiesha needed a pound and .... Anyway , where's that 10 p. come from , then? " Friend looks as lost as me .
So now I'm off to Hampstead . I think . Or Notting Hill . I want to see "Arriety" later .
Anyway I'll decide at the bus stop .
P.S. The rioting stopped by the middle of last week , fortunately . Now it's the cleanup and people are being urged to shop in affected areas to support local businesses. There do seem to be more police about , though . Not necessarily a bad thing .

Not The Day Anybody'd Planned

Sonata:

London seems to have decided to become wildly exciting, just as I arrived for a few days .
There's a new buzzword suddenly . On Sunday night Smitonius's local MP , hastily shoved in front of a BBC news studio camera , talked about the looting and disorder kicking off ...... today we're all saying it . The very nice young woman in the mobile shop in Islington asked us , as we paid , whether we were going straight home , " Because we'll be closing at 4 . It'll be kicking off then , we've been told . "
Having seen an exhibition at the Brunei Gallery advertised , I went off to see that , leaving my trip to the bookshop till another day . And loved it . It's only tiny but the jewellery exhibits are exquisite and the photographs fascinating . I ordered the catalogue , so will show you a couple of pictures when it arrives ( had it posted straight to Holland . It weighs a ton !)
Leaving and fancying a coffee and bun , I tried to go to the Brunswick Center , only to find that it was all closing down too . Police were urging people to go home early . The buzzword was used again .
And then I suddenly entered the Modern World .
My pocket started to play a perky little tune . I looked round , mildly surprised , and realised . I Had A Mobile .... and this was My First Call!
Fumbling madly through a pocketful of Oyster card , various cards , more cards , even more cards and a ballpoint .... Oh , that's where that was ..... I found it and answered . It was Smitonius and we met up and went home . Safe and sound and listening to helicopters circling nearby . It's kicked off somewhere else instead .
And , of course , despite the air of unreality , this is horribly real .Small family run businesses will be protecting themselves as best they can from groups of masked yobbos on the rampage , acting as though they're on Supermarket Sweep .
I wish everyone a safe and happy evening , wherever they are .

Zoo late

Smitonius:

Last week we attended one of London zoo's late evening openings. For adults only, with bars open across the zoo and pop-up food village plus animals on parade, what is not to like? We were among the relatively few people over 40 present, as the place was packed with 20-something's drinking cocktails, some with painted faces (tigers were popular) others in full animal costume, partying away. I think the animals must have been a bit bemused!

We saw the new penguin enclosure, which is a definite improvement, and admired their looks (they seem to love the attention), and were amazed by the corals in the aquarium, as well as visited some nocturnals like the armadillo (faster than you would imagine).

We, by the way, did not wear animal costumes....

First Week Of The Holidays

Sonata:
In true holiday spirit , I left my old self behind and rushed blindly into new adventures . So no Weetabix or porridge for me . Oh no ! A colleague of mine is , as I write , wandering about the Andes ( yes , the same one that was wandering up and down The Great Wall of China last year ) , so I thought why not ? I'll venture off myself , albeit vicariously . Quinoa porridge ! After all , millions of South Americans and blogging vegetarians thrive on it . So 1 cup quinoa flakes , 1 cup water , 1/2 cup milk later and



If you've only ever eaten it as a grain , tasty with mushrooms and leeks for instance , you might be surprised by the dried pea/school soup porridgy version . I was . Oatmeal porridge or a boiled egg and soldiers in future , I think .
But I must say quinoa porridge is rib-sticking . And not just rib-sticking .... later on , I found a blob that had escaped and firmly glued itself to a kitchen cupboard door . And it did give me super-human strength later when investigating a strange smell round the 'fridge , that turned out to be coffee milk that Husband could vaguely remember having mislaid a while ago ( I do sometimes wonder if Husband's ever really going to get the hang of this living indoors business ) .
I can rest my chin on the top of our 'fridge but , well nourished, I manhandled it out of the corner and scraped and scrubbed underneath , before I manhandled it back . And was rewarded by finding a twenty Euro note wedged by the wall . Plus this old sketch of Juf Geraldine by a three year old girl with a talent for flattery.

The quilt fabric choice is nearly definite , after a request for more "things" . So I added fish and koalas to the birds and boats

At this rate he'll turn into Captain Cook .

A spot of archeology

Smitonius:

Spotted a fun and free activity in London over the weekend: a bit of archeology on the Thames foreshore courtesy of Thames Discovery. We joined a very long queue of children and adults, but saw we weren't that prepared (forgot Wellington boots!), though we had remembered a trowel and aplastic bag for finds. It was a hot day and some canoeists had already landed on the foreshore ahead of us.

As we waited to be allowed down the steps, slipping on the obligatory gloves as the Thames is polluted, we heard that yesterday someone found a Georgian coin. What would we find?

Trying to find a free bit of foreshore was challenging enough. But we were soon picking up bits of pottery, bones, oyster shells and, even, an old and interesting bottle top: a company called Brooke and Prudencio who bottled ginger beer and lemonade from 1890 to 1960s.

The tide was rising fast, so we had about an hour trawling under the Traitors Gate:

Someone found an old pilgrim badge and one woman did find another coin, because we saw her declare her treasure afterwards. Although we found nothing of value, and some distinctly spooky bones (that is an inside of a cow's leg, said the expert, and that is a sheep's tooth), we did collect some old pipe stems, and pits of pottery that ranged from the 16th century to the Victorian period (or so we were told and I will go along with that!)

Madrid again

Smitonius:

That time of year again, when a quick trip to Madrid is needed: officially to visit library and buy books and DVDs (work related I hasten to add), but the library now closes at 6 in the hot afternoon so plenty of time to window shop. I think these sandals would go with a toga?

And, if one needed to make lots of classic references, how about This accessory? Worthy of any Madrileñan Minerva out on the town.

Of course, eating also had to be done... And this Salpicon de Mariscos was so tasty !

We admired amazing street art, like this Monroe:

And this Mexican masked fighter:

Whilst we were there, the Murdoch scandal was in full flow, so couldn't resist this postcard: doesn't she look a little a certain person who recently resigned at News International?

Greenery-Yallery , Flame Red ... Or Something In Between ?

Sonata:

What colour was your weekend ?

Last weekend here was a muted tasteful blue-grey with flecks of rust and the odd blush of old apricot .

But the weatherman seemed mildly optimistic about this weekend , so I hoped for something a bit jollier .

It started off well enough .


On Friday , after work , a wander through the local ceramic museum to look at the Chinese porcelain exhibition "10,000 x Happiness !" and a little detour to my favourite treasure , the C17 Spanish tiles , had just the warm glow I needed . And a pepper and tomato salad followed by strawberries completed the job .

On Saturday I'd wanted to visit a tiny house in a village nearby , filled with Ruurd Wiersmas's naive paintings but the clouds massed till the drizzle was unremitting . Not a day to cycle anywhere . Never mind . The term finally ends on Friday and it can't rain all summer , can it ? There'll be another chance to go .

Luckily all this rain is , at least , making the herbs grow in the back yard ..... though the tomatoes won't ripen till 2012 , at this rate .

So today I just listened to "The Wind In The Willows" being read by Derek Jacobi and assembled a stack of fabric for a quilt I'm planning for a little boy . I blame Mr. Jacobi for the Irish flag-ness of the final choice .... why did he give the otter an Irish accent ?