Covid for Christmas

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

Ramblings

Well, no-one is more surprised than me that I've managed to upload another post before Christmas! It has taken a while this morning - technical difficulties that I struggled to fix on my own as R has gone into London today (the shared drive can sense my fear and incompetence), combined with fatigue following a busy weekend and a general feeling of 'Blah!'. Nevertheless, here it is ..... and there is only one photo that I forgot to rotate clockwise, so I'm taking that as a win.

Over the past month or so, there have been a few walks, a few crafty bits, some yummy food, a couple of concerts, a theatre trip and a weekend away. All in all, not a bad month considering. It's quite dark outside today and I'm sitting typing this at the dining room table, surrounded by washing festooned on a clothes horse - it being too damp outside to be bothered pegging it out, only to have to bring it in hours later just as wet and colder than before. We do have a tumble dryer but owing to energy prices, I try to use it sparingly, so the clothes horse it is. If you haven't got one, I would recommend it. Mine was a street find in Bristol on a visit to see E. You can find some real gems on the pavement there when students can't be bothered to take stuff home at the end of the year. I honestly don't know how I managed without mine. Anyway, you don't really need to know about my laundry arrangements, so let's crack on ...

A visit to Blenheim Park  to walk round the lake - here you can see the Palace from the end of the drive:

The 'Harry Potter Tree' - used in a film flashback when James Potter suspends Severus Snape from its branches:

A trip here. We actually popped in on the way back from somewhere but I can't for the life of me remember where that was at the moment!

The mosaics looked very impressive. Sadly, we couldn't get up close to see them properly. They were in a locked room and are only open to the public on special days. We had to be content peering through the window.

A concert at St. John's Church. It was excellent and the solo violinist was spectacular. I have to admit that I sat through most Of Schubert's Mass in G agog at the height of the baritone. He was really very tall!

Another New Era production. L and E's old (as in she used to teach them, not a reflection of her age!) English teacher played the part of Ruth and was very good indeed.

Spending a happy morning making a Christmas wreath at my neighbour's house. Whilst great fun, it did mean that I had a decoration on my door in November though. Can you see my eye twitching?!

An annual highlight of my December is my yarny advent calendar from Barbara at Coastal Ripples

I love opening the daily bag and adding the yarn to my Cosy Memory Blanket.

Here is the blanket before I started adding this year's yarns. I work mainly on this during the winter months as it is very warm to have on your lap. I'm hoping that it will soon be big enough to stay out all year on a single bed. Then I can continue to add to it to make it fit a double.

Lighting the advent candle that we bought at Canterbury Cathedral earlier in the year. I confess to forgetting that I had lit it a few days ago and burning through several dates!

A trip to London to celebrate L's birthday. We pottered around Brick Lane - sadly the beautiful plant shop is now a cafe. I was very disappointed but I feel that R was relieved; it's like Kew Gardens round here already!

We had lunch here:

I told you that I forgot to rotate one!

R had a major birthday last week. I asked if he would like to go away to celebrate and was met with a very sad lack of enthusiasm. I managed to drag him away for a weekend to Dorchester - upon- Thames. To be honest, it's only about 20 miles away, but we had a lovely time and it felt as if we had been away longer. Saturday started with a trip to Harcourt Arboretum. As well as all the lovely trees, they are home to a number of extremely tame peacocks:

We ate our packed lunch under the gazebo:

Admired the fairy ring:

Then drove to nearby Dorchester to book into our hotel for the night. The George is a 15th Century coaching inn, situated immediately opposite Dorchester Abbey. Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming were frequent visitors and the Agatha Christie room and the Aston Martin room are dedicated to them. I'm not a huge James Bond fan but R tells me that he actually drove a Bentley in the books. It was a glorious 2 days. Being both vegan and gluten free (me), we are not the easiest guests, but they accommodated us magnificently and I would heartily recommend them if you are staying in the area. After checking in, we set off for the first of 2 walks that I had downloaded: a ramble around the historic buildings of the area.

View from the car park of The George with Dorchester Abbey peaking over the roof. Our room was situated just over the balcony on the right hand side:

The room was beautiful and, once we had turned the radiator off (I think we are acclimatised to our arctic house!), it was very comfortable.

After an early dinner, we popped across to the Abbey for a performance of Handel's 'Messiah'. It was excellent and the bonus of having nearby accommodation was made clear during the interval when, instead of joining the long queue for the loo, we nipped back to our hotel room instead!

Despite it only being 20 miles from home, it was lovely to just walk across the street to bed at the end of the concert. The following day, after a yummy breakfast, we checked out and, leaving Bridget in the car park, set off on our 2nd walk entitled 'Wanders towards the Wittenhams'.

The Dyke Hills and a double rampart of earthworks that once protected a late Iron Age settlement:

A bridge near Day's Lock where the Annual International Pooh Sticks Championships are held. Taking place in March, it has raised money for the RNLI and local charities for over 25 years. I suppose it is bigger than the actual Pooh Sticks Bridge in the Ashdown Forest.

Our picnic view from the top of the Wittenham Clumps; it was quite a climb:

We were home by early evening, just in time for dinner and a catch up of the Strictly Come Dancing final!

Well, that's me all caught up. Anything exciting happening at your end? I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and best wishes for 2024.

Toodle pip for now. x

Gratitude

After the terrorist events in Israel at the beginning of the month, it seems a tad tasteless to be posting about my usual irrelevant trivia. How can I witter on about knitting and days out when people have lost their lives, their loved ones and live in constant fear? Even in my country, the repercussions of the events of October 7th are still very much resounding: Weekly marches on Whitehall continue, not all the protesters showing peaceful intentions; posters of kidnapped Jewish children are torn down; Jewish children are being advised to remove the badges from their school blazers for fear that they will be targeted, and the Metropolitan Police have come under fire for apparently turning a blind eye to blatant acts of antisemitism. Can this really be happening in 2023? I thought we had come further than this.

I don't usually discuss any political opinions on this blog - trying to focus instead on the lovelier aspects of life. Having said that, my heart bleeds for those involved and so, I have added my name to the October Declaration, condemning antisemitism and expressing support for British Jews. It also calls on the media to condemn Hamas for what it is: a terrorist organisation. I'm looking at you BBC!

As I've said many times, however, this blog serves as my diary and the content reflects the ordinary day to day things that I want to recall. I try very hard not to take my life for granted. Sometimes it's tricky - day to day stresses, worries and irritations affect us all - but, as recent events have highlighted for me, I am one lucky, lucky girl and I should try to remember that more often. 

Here then, are some happies from the last month. They may be mundane, they may be trivial, but they represent my life at the moment, and I am indeed blessed.

Some of my pumpkin harvest. I didn't grow the huge carving pumpkins this year, opting instead for a smaller, supposedly tastier variety. To be honest though, apart from the size, they didn't seem much different:

Making kimchi. Here it is fermenting quietly, wrapped up snug in a fleece. It is also sitting on a hot water bottle as my kitchen is so cold - I'm still holding out against putting the heating on!

A trip to Arlington Arts to see a one woman show about Agatha Christie's missing days. I really enjoyed it, it was just a shame that the audience was quite small:

Meeting my friend, C, at Batsford Arboretum. We took a picnic and it was lovely. Autumn seems a little delayed in our parts this year, so we were hoping that there would be a bit more colour. According to Alexander Armstrong on Classic FM, it's because the summer was so wet. My favourite tree was a cypress, grown from a cone that fell off the Duke of Wellington's coffin during his funeral parade. 

A day trip to Turville in the Chiltern Hills. This picturesque village has been used as a set in many films and TV programmes including 'The Vicar of Dibley', 'Goodnight Mr. Tom' and 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'.

The climb up the hill to the windmill is tiring but well worth it for the view. We recuperated with our picnic and a wee dram at the local pub afterwards:

I woke up one Sunday with a need to see the sea. The weather was fine, so we set off for Christchurch in Dorset for the day. 

Vegan 'fish' and chips on the beach. It was nice that the cafe had a vegan, GF option, but it would have benefited from a bit of lemon, caper juice and nori:

For £2.50, we took the ferry across to Hengistbury Head. Here we took the coastal footpath and blew away the cobwebs with the glorious sea breezes, enjoying our flask of tea on a conveniently placed bench on the headland.

Visiting E and L in Bristol. We went out for mezze at KooCha and jolly nice it was too!

A literary walk honouring war poet Edward Thomas in Steep in Hampshire. He lived in several houses in the village and is commemorated on the war memorial. Given that several of his poems describe the beautiful, local scenery, the residents have dedicated the hillside to him: 

The place wasn't called Steep for nothing! The path up the hill had us making several stops to catch our breath. The view from the top of 'Shoulder of Mutton Hill' was heavenly and a fitting tribute.

A memorial window to Thomas in the local church:

A local monument to 3 villagers - Edward Thomas, John Wyndham and Sir Alec Guinness. We were just admiring it when we fell into conversation with a local gentleman, who stopped to admire Bridget.  Apparently, he lived nearby and washes the stone when it gets too green with algae.

A trip to Shaftesbury in Dorset. This is the view from Gold Hill, famous from the Hovis advert if you are old enough to remember it!

Shaftesbury was very pretty, with lovely views from Park Walk and the interesting ruins of Shaftesbury Abbey:

 We had just found out that it was 'International Curry Week', so we stopped off in Salisbury on the way home. Sadly, our favourite Indian street food place was closed, so we nipped into one in Andover instead. This was slightly disappointing as it smelled much better than it tasted.

Playing with clay. The 'martian skulls' are each dedicated to a weed and imprinted with the name, leaf and flower. The quotation at the base is by A.A.Milne and states that 'Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them'. Very fitting for my garden!

Blobs made from leftover clay:

Christmas knitting. These are 'Hermione's Everyday Mitts' and despite what it looks like, the 2 pairs are actually made out of different yarns. The top ones are made from a wool called 'There be dragons' and the second pair are made from acrylic for my more strictly vegan daughter!

Our local Apple Day, where you can take your apples to be juiced:

A visit to Tyntesfield (a Victorian Gothic house and garden near Bristol) with my friend, S. I set off in glorious sunshine, only to hit a thick bank of fog on the way. It took me a while to locate the fog lights on our 'new' car! Luckily, it had cleared by the time we met up.

They had a fantastic selection of pumpkins in their greenhouse:

A trip to the American Museum in Bath. We have been here before, but it was well worth a return visit.

My favourite quilts in the exhibition:

An example of Grandma Moses' work in the folk art section:

We spent ages watching this dragonfly laying her eggs in the garden pond:

Lastly, a trip to the one man show 'Haunted'. He acted out F. Marion Crawford's 'The Upper Berth' and 'The Monkey's Paw' by W.W. Jacobs.  It was excellent.

Well, that's all for this month. Anything exciting going on at your end? I'm hoping to get another post in before Christmas, but with my current rate of posting, I wouldn't put money on it. 

For now, Toodle pip.

 

Am Yisrael Chai.