Autumn Ramblings

I have great sympathy for Brenda from Bristol. We're only one week into the election campaign and I'm already fed up to the back teeth with it all. Any day now I'm expecting a knock on the door from our MP, asking if we will be supporting him in the forthcoming vote. I might be less cynical if we saw him at any time other than a looming election. I find myself irresistibly drawn to programmes like the Andrew Marr and Andrew Neil shows, but then have to fight the urge to throw things at the screen. It's bad for my blood pressure, so here are my recent attempts to distract myself from politics and find some inner calm. 

A trip to Oxford to meet L's boyfriend's mum, J. They recently sold their house and are renting nearby whilst house hunting. As we haven't seen each other in a while, I suggested that we meet in Oxford for a catch up over coffee and a cake in Blackwell's.  Here are the photos I took walking from the park and ride bus stop.  

Christchurch College looking picturesque in the sunshine:

 .........but my heart belongs to Merton:

 A trip to the Chiltern Open Air Museum. My favourite building was the prefab shown below - because my grandmother lived in an identical one! 

 This is an exact replica of her kitchen - I think the green was compulsory. They were designed as a quick to erect form of housing following the bombings of the war. I was impressed with the amount of storage, the electric fridge and the adjoining vegetable patch. Residents were given ration coupons to buy curtain fabric and furniture. They were poorly insulated though and terribly cold in the winter.

 I always find kitchens one of the most interesting bits of old houses - here's another one from a cottage at the museum:

 There's been a lot of knitting going on:

 

Trying my hand at upholstery with fabric from the Knitting and Stitching Show and footstools from a charity shop and a car boot sale. There's just enough fabric left over to recover the piano stool, but I need some upholstery tacks first. 

Painting a shelving unit found at a yard sale:

 

Using our English Heritage cards to visit Stonehenge:

 Enjoying my 'Christmas' cactus - this is the first one I've had, so I don't know if it's supposed to flower now or if it's a little premature!

Loving the early morning mists:

 

 L had a free day, so I took the train into London for hugs and fun. Every year since she moved there we have bought her a membership for the British Museum as part of her birthday present. She can take a guest, so we popped along for the current exhibition. I felt very smug as we bypassed the queues to use the Members' entrance, cloakroom and restaurant! :0) 

 This was the exhibition. It was lovely and we had fun choosing which piece of art we would have on our wall!

 Then we walked to Trafalgar Square and popped into the National Portrait Gallery, before meeting up with R and J for pizza at Purezza in Camden.

Having fun at Hallowe'en:

 

Pumpkin stitch marker to go with the roasted pumpkin seeds:

  Taking a birthday photo of Hamish to send to E. Our little devil bunny is 8 years old and looks mightily unimpressed with his hat!

 A trip to the Haymarket Theatre to see this. A play about the friendship between Agatha Christie and Margaret Rutherford, who played Jane Marple in many of the films. We enjoyed it despite one of the cast being ill at the last moment. The understudy performed the whole thing reading from a script, but it was good nonetheless.

 Finally, a trip to Old Wardour Castle near Salisbury (English Heritage again!):

Most of the damage was done during the English Civil War when the original owners tried to take the castle back from the Parliamentarians. They did this by mining under the castle, filling the tunnel with gunpowder and then threatening to blow it up unless they surrendered - not really intending to do it.  Sadly, the guns in the castle above caused vibrations below and a lit match was accidentally dropped onto the gunpowder causing a huge explosion. There is now a new castle and the old one is maintained as a romantic folly in the grounds.

Well, that's all for this week. Now that the clocks have gone back in the UK, may I wish you many cosy evenings, hopefully unsullied by the warring factions at Westminster!

Toodle pip for now. x

Feeling Cosy

There's more than a whiff of hygge in the air at the moment. Autumn is my favourite season - not the constant rain that we've had this week, but the cool, crisp mornings with a hint of mist or frost. The changing leaves, the darkening evenings and the feeling of hunkering down for the colder weather to come. We lit the stove for the first time last weekend and I sat knitting whilst R and I listened to 'War of the Worlds' on Audible; it was bliss. Admittedly it was short lived - after a while I pointed out to R the number of times that the words 'tumultuous' and 'multitude' were used and the spell was broken. Apparently, I was spoiling one of his favourite books! We've finished it now and the jury's still out on our next choice.

Here then are a few photos of my October so far:

A trip to the cinema to see this. It's the one woman show, first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, that inspired the television series. R was underwhelmed and I, having seen the TV series, was a little disappointed. I think I missed the asides and knowing glances to the audience, as well as the all star cast playing the other characters. 

 A walk up Beacon Hill to pick blackberries:

 The view from half way:

 Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey) in the distamce:

A bit of paper crafting for Christmas - this year we are having a low waste affair, with everything being either homemade or second hand. I'm a regular at the local charity shops at the moment!

 Burnham beeches when I went for lunch and a walk with my friend C:

 At the Southern Wool Show a few weeks ago, R chose some yarn for a hat. This is the finished article, although he won't be receiving it until Christmas. (Homemade!)

 It might be Christmas knitting, but it has a definite autumnal feel:

There is currently a Ladybird Books exhibition at The Base in Greenham Common. R and I went along and spent a merry couple of hours lost in nostalgia. I used to collect these when I was pregnant and then when the girls were small. Judging by how much they were charging to buy old copies, I must have a fortune stashed away in the loft!

 The appley jamboree that is our local Apple Day!

This time last year R, E and I bought tickets to see The Great Britain in Bristol. The tickets were valid for a year and, as they were close to expiring, we decided to pay another visit.

 

Lunch at the Calypso Kitchen:

 I quite liked R's jerk 'chick'n' but my vegetable gumbo with ackee and plantain was delicious:

A trip to the Ally Pally to see this:

 

I'm a bit snowed under with Christmas knitting at the moment, so went with sewing in mind. I needed some fabric for a dress pattern that I have, and also some upholstery fabric to cover the footstool that I bought at a car boot sale earlier in the year. I managed to find some acrylic yarn for a hat for E - despite following a plant-based diet, I have no problem with wool. Not so E, she takes it all very seriously.

Look what I saw at the Stylecraft stand: Josie Kitten's 'Good Striations' blanket. To be honest, I had to visit the stand twice to get near this feast for the eyes - the first time I couldn't get near it as it was so popular. Second time round, and with tactical use of the elbows, I managed to get close enough to have a squish. It was heavenly; just the thing for snuggling under on the sofa or adding as an extra layer on the bed. The waves represent bundles of striated muscle fibres and, if you fancy knitting your own blanket, more information and details about the pattern and yarn packs can be found here. There are also patterns for a cushion and some snugly socks. There is 25% off the price of the pattern throughout October and Helen will be donating a % of the money raised from the patterns to Myositis UK. 

Attending a calligraphy workshop at our local cafe. My handwriting is appalling so I went along with slight trepidation, but Milly, the tutor, assured us that the process is more like drawing the letters than writing. We spent a couple of hours practising shapes, then letters and finally words in the notebooks, using the special pens provided. It was great fun and I'm hoping to find time between my Christmas knitting to fit in a bit of practice.

 Finally, R and I attended a 'fire garden' to celebrate 10 years of outdoor events in our town. There were displays in the market square, in the church and on the canal. I just wonder how they got permission on health and safety grounds, as there were a lot of children around the ground level fire pits which were spitting and showering sparks in the drizzle. I hate to think what it would have been like had it been windy. Having said that it was a lovely evening, with a real sense of community spirit.

Well, that's it for this week. Wishing you all a cosy October. I'm just off for a hot chocolate!
Toodle pip for now. x

Cambodia

Hello there! Well, it's over - the holiday that I had dreaded and built up into such a scary event is but a distant memory and ......... it was all rather lovely!

Apart from the odd upset tummy (mostly stress related in my case) it all passed relatively smoothly. We even mostly stuck to L's rules that she laid down before we set off: no one will moan and say they didn't want to come in the first place (R!); there will be no shouting, whatever the provocation (R again!); no-one will get overly stressed pre and during flights (definitely me ............and I failed dismally!);  and finally, there will be no discussion of politics of any kind, but especially the 'B' word (probably both R and me for this one!).

Cambodia was a bit of a last minute destination for us. I have a friend who has her year planned out holiday-wise the second the wrapper is taken off the new calendar. Us...........not so much! It's usually all a bit frantic and this time was no different. Various destinations were suggested and vetoed: Japan (rugby world cup. Also typhoon, although we weren't to know this at the time!); Borneo (rabies, malaria and leeches!); Singapore (expensive). Eventually, I looked at our vaccination history - needless to say we had left it too late to get the rabies jabs - and Cambodia was chosen. L had been before but she didn't mind going again and, in my state of pre-holiday anxiety, I found it reassuring that she had some knowledge of the place.

We had left it rather late to get direct flights, so we flew Swiss Air with an hour's stop in Zurich and then landed in Bangkok, where we had a day at each end of the holiday.

Here then are a few photos to remind me of our family holiday 2019:

The first of many 'drinky coconuts' from a street vendor in Bangkok:

Vegan coconut tarts. L had seen these being made in London and knew them to be delicious. We shared a batch and, for something vegan, they were remarkably egg-like in consistency:

They were available with sweetcorn or spring onion:

On the outward journey, rather than fly, we decided to take the 8 hour bus ride to Cambodia. This had 3 benefits: we got to see the lovely scenery; we had the excitement of disembarking and walking across the border between the 2 countries; and  I didn't have to go on another aeroplane! I can't recommend the Giant Ibis buses enough. Air-conditioned and comfortable, the seats reclined properly (not like an airline 'recline' that gives you about an inch!), there were frequent toilet breaks and they kept you supplied with water, food and tins of iced coffee - sadly, the latter 2 weren't vegan so we kept them and donated them to various children and tuk-tuk drivers.

Our destination in Cambodia was Siem Reap and Angkor Wat was first on the list. We splashed out on a 3 day pass so that we could spread it all out and avoid temple overload. The largest, and best preserved, of the monuments at Angkor, Angkor Wat is believed to be the largest religious structure in the world. You can go on a trip to see it at sunrise, but with E that was never a possibility!

It may have been the largest, but there were others that we preferred. Banteay Kdei which we saw later the same day caught our attention much more. Possibly because it was getting towards dusk and was cooler and less crowded.

Look at the size of that snail shell!

We had lots of delicious food in Cambodia. 'Happy Cow' directed us to a surprising number of veggie restaurants. When there were none available, L used her phone to translate the fact that we are vegan, along with a list of things that we don't eat, which we showed whenever needed. Here is just a small selection of the food - it was a real shock to the system when we came home and I had to cook again!

Aloe juice, freshly picked from the garden:

R's mushroom pot at 'Chamkar' restaurant, where we ate to a chorus of frogs croaking!

My stuffed tofu:

E's savoury vegan pancake at The Peace Cafe:

Vegan chocolate and mango 'cheesecake' at the 'Green Go Garden' restaurant:

Fried tofu with chilli sauce at 'May Kaidee's' :

Sweet and sour mixed veg:

My favourite restaurant was the Peace Cafe:

It was delicious, filling and cheap. L did a cookery class here last time she visited.

There was some swimming in the pool. At dusk it was illuminated which attracted insects and it was fun watching the bats swooping low to catch their supper:

More 'not so mini-beasts':

Ta Prohm Temple: This was my favourite and was apparently the set of 'Lara Croft:Tomb Raider'. I'm trying to sound knowledgeable here ...I've never actually seen the film!

Getting soaked at the night market:

The 'circus' was brilliant. Performed by young people from deprived backgrounds, it combined live music, theatre, dance and circus arts to tell Cambodian stories:

I loved the cows and buffaloes that seemed to be everywhere - we bought a bronze statue of one as a memento:

Banteay Srei or the ladies' temple. This one was relatively small and unassuming; it was L's favourite:

There was an orchestra of musicians that had been injured by land mines:

More drinky coconuts!

Banyon Temple in Angkor Thom:

The Elephant Terrace:

Rice and beans cooked in bamboo:

Sugar cane:

 We signed up for a pottery class. The classes were taught by 2 deaf girls and so the instructions were all given in sign language - they did a fine line in eye rolling whenever they had to rescue our attempts! We made 5 pots each - 3 with help from the girls and then 2 solo. We then decorated them all and got to choose 1 to fire. Actually, L and E chose 2 and we paid a little extra!

 Durian in the market:

 On our last day in Siem Reap, we went on a boat to the floating village of Chong Kneas. Set around Tonle Sap Lake, it had all the usual things you would expect in a village -  houses, a village shop, a school and a church. The girls got to steer the boat and we didn't crash! :0)

 The lake was vast:

 The local children were, unsurprisingly, very skillful on the water:

 

Unfortunately, our guide took us to a floating cafe/gift shop/crocodile farm - we were decidedly unimpressed!

 

From Siem Reap, we took a sleeper bus to Phnom Penh. It was a bit of a last minute booking, so the choice of seats was limited. Arranged like bunk beds, our seats were situated by the toilet, with R and I cramped over the wheel arch. You'd be amazed at how frequently people need the loo during the night. R kept me giggling with his comments on our weak-bladdered neighbours! E was kept awake by the people behind snoring and loudly using their phones. Despite all this, it was rather fun in a Harry Potter Knight Bus kind of way!

 Having loved Siem Reap, Phnom Penh was slightly disappointing as it's basically a big city. We went mostly for the history:

The museum was both fascinating and heartbreaking. It all seemed so horrifyingly recent - R and I were both doing 'O' levels when it occurred. You could also take a trip to see the 'Killing Fields' of Choeung Ek but we had probably learned about as much as we could at the museum, L had been before, and neither R nor (surprisingly for an historian) E were keen.

Wat Phnom : According to legend, a woman named Penh discovered 4 statues of Buddha in the Mekong River nearby and the first pagoda was erected here in 1373 to house them . The site is on a hill and Phnom Penh means 'Penh's Hill'.

Bats in a nearby tree:

 After walking along the banks of the Mekong to see the Royal Palace, we ended up at the National Museum:

 Killing time before seeing a traditional dance show at the museum, we discovered a 'cat cafe'. This one, Jasmine, was my favourite:

 I was less keen on this one (Bred) and dreaded it coming for a cuddle!

 Enjoying the dance show:

Finally, we flew back to Bangkok for a day before our flight home. Our apartment was on the 26th floor and we had spectacular thunderstorms on our last night.

 

L, who we had dubbed 'iron-stomach', managed to go the whole of the holiday with no problems at all ............until the flight home. On the way to the airport she said that she felt achy all over and once we had boarded the plane, her temperature shot up. She spent 3 days at home with abdominal pains and diarrhoea and had to call the clerks and cancel a session in court. I drove her slowly back to London on Monday (stopping at the services en route!) before she dragged herself in on Tuesday - it was pouring down and she got soaked! Aside from all that, I hope she would agree that it was worth it. Cambodia was beautiful, the food was yummy, the people were a delight (apart from the tuk-tuk driver on the way to the airport who sped off without giving us our change! I keep telling myself that he needed it more.) and more family memories were made. Our 'Generation Game' attempts at using the foot operated potters' wheel will keep me giggling well into the cold winter months.

Toodle Pip for now. x