Well, a belated Happy New Year to everyone. I can't believe that we're near the end of January already. Christmas came and went and as a special little gift, our eldest gave us ....... Covid!
We went to London for Christmas - we get to be the ones who travel these days , owing to the lack of pets. We arrived early on Christmas Eve and L suggested that we visit a small, local cinema that evening to watch one of their Christmas screenings. The choice was: 'It's a Wonderful Life' or 'Die Hard' ....... well, of course, we went for 'Die Hard'! :O) I do like 'It's a Wonderful Life' but it doesn't have Alan Rickman, complete with dodgy accent, falling from a building! For those not in the know, they apparently told him they would film him drop (onto a crash mat) on the count of 3. They dropped him on 1, so the look of surprise and horror is entirely genuine.
Listening to the parakeets on Clapham Common on the way to the cinema:
By the end of the film, L was starting to feel a bit unwell. To be honest, that's something we are used to. Growing up, she would struggle to the end of the Autumn term with people dropping like flies from some virus or other, then on the first day of the holidays her immune system would relax and she would invariably come down with it. Consequently, we just thought 'Of course you're ill, it's Christmas'!
We had planned to eat out, I suggested we go straight back to her flat and I would cook supper. R suggested a takeaway, so we popped into a local Indian restaurant. At the smell of the yummy food, L rallied slightly and said she felt up to eating out, so we did. Christmas Day saw us going for a walk in Regent's Park. It was overcast but dry and the highlight was seeing the giraffes at the back of London Zoo.
L had carved us a wooden spoon as a gift. Made with wood from our pruned eucalyptus tree, it is apparently one of a set of salad servers, with the 2nd one to come next year. I love it and have named it 'Figgy Dong'! I'm not that eccentric (almost but not quite!), those were the 2 words visible on the wrapping paper - from 'Figgy Pudding' and 'Ding Dong Merrily on High'!
After our walk, we returned to the flat for Christmas lunch and an evening of jigsaw puzzling and neighbour watching. I love to nosy into other people's houses when the curtains are open and the lights are on. They look so cosy. Opposite L's flat, a lady sat in her window doing what we eventually worked out to be some sort of tapestry under a desk lamp. For some reason I was fascinated and spent more time watching her than doing the puzzle - probably unsurprisingly, as I am hopeless at jigsaws. It worked both ways - she was probably looking at us too!
On Boxing Day, wanting some more fresh air, I suggested a walk round the streets, calling at 2 houses, a sort of pilgrimage if you will. The first was to a flat at number 40 Stansfield Road in Brixton, birthplace of one David Robert Jones aka David Bowie. I was a big fan in my teens and can still be found bopping in the kitchen to 'The Jean Genie' when the mood takes me and there is no-one around to see. Here we had a heated discussion over the term 'humble'. A 'humble abode' is how the house is described online and I thought it was a beautiful Victorian terraced house in London (probably worth a fortune) and just because he grew up to be a superstar, it didn't make it humble. Others disagreed, but I still think I was right! Rather surprisingly, there was no blue plaque. Cue another discussion on whether you would want one if it meant that oiks like us would be goggling at your house every day. I said it would depend on who the plaque was commemorating and surely having a David Bowie plaque could only add to the value of the property. Again, I think I was right! :O)
House number 2 was the birthplace of poet Edward Thomas. Found at 14, Lansdowne Gardens in Stockwell, Lambeth. This one did have a blue plaque:
By this time, L was beginning to feel decidedly under par and we returned to the flat for dinner and more puzzling.
Now, the plan had been for us to spend Christmas in London and then return home on the 27th with L in tow and her friends, who had now returned from visiting family for Christmas, doing a bit of rabbit sitting. E and her boyfriend, L, were to join us on the 27th for a belated Christmas and to stay for my birthday on the 28th (yes, I know, it's a sucky time to have a birthday). Sadly, that night, L was awake coughing and decided to do one of the dreaded tests. She had Covid and the chances were that we had caught it too. We cancelled with E and returned home alone, making sure that L was fine and had enough food and cold meds. R came down with it on the 29th and I caught it from him and tested positive on January 3rd. To be fair, it was just like a cold. I didn't even lose my sense of smell this time.
Apart from the disappointment of not seeing E, it was quite a cosy week. We pottered indoors, doing the charity shop jigsaw that was a Christmas present from R (I had walked him round some charity shops on the 23rd and pointed out some books and puzzles that I liked the look of and he went from there). Despite being tragically bad at puzzles, I really enjoyed this one. I would sit there with my morning smoothie, having a jigsaw moment, and was quite disappointed when it was finished. R suggested that we do another one, but I think part of what made it special was the Christmas tradition of doing one; also, I quite wanted my dining room table back!
As well as the puzzling and lots of reading, I cast on for my Felix Cardigan with yarn bought at the Southern Wool Show in September:
All recovered and into the New Year and we went to the Corn Exchange to see comedian Miles Jupp. We have a history of being a tad disappointed seeing comedians, the late Jeremy Hardy being one such example where I found myself looking at my watch every 5 minutes, hoping that it would soon be over. Miles Jupp, however, was excellent. He was hilariously funny, despite half of his show being about the discovery of his brain tumour (thankfully benign). He also came across as a really nice bloke.
Saturday saw me popping on the train to London to see 'The King and I' - a birthday present from L, starring Helen George from 'Call the Midwife'. I loved every moment and have found myself humming 'Shall we Dance?' since leaving the theatre. After catching up over a very nice flat white at Paddington, we pottered round Soho (I stocked up on GF gochujang paste, tofu puffs and crispy chillies in oil) and had lunch at Sagar before the show. The dosa were delicious and wafer thin. In the interval, we enjoyed our customary cocktail (one cocktail, 2 straws!). There was only one on offer (apart from the non-vegan espresso martini) and that was an Aperitivo Spritz. It was orangey and initially rather unpleasant but we find the tradition rather fun. It grew on us, especially when paired with some salted fava beans (feel free to make Hannibal Lecter noises as required) that L had in her bag.
Lastly, this month, was the RSPB Garden Bird Watch 2024. I did it on Sunday and sat for an hour with a cup of tea, looking at the feeders. I was very excited when 2 jays visited the garden (yes, count them, 2!) as normally anything out of the ordinary waits until the hour is up before making an appearance. They made it in time, so too did the flock of long tailed tits, which always make me think of our old next door neighbour, as they were her favourite bird. Needless to say, Mr. Chubbington, our friendly squirrel, also made an appearance, trying to prise the apple off its hook, before clearing the bird table.
That's all for this month. Soon it will be February, when a girl's thoughts turn to all things veggie patch related. Now, where did I put those seeds?
Toodle pip for now. xx
