Anniversary Plus One

This was our last day in London and on the agenda was a trip to the famous Camden market.  On Friday I had spoken to Kim and we had arranged to meet up for some lunch today.  We made contact with her at around midday and she promptly told us that she was dead after getting in at 8am.  Even the offer of a free lunch couldn't rouse her so we didn't get to see her this time round.

We checked out of the hotel and dropped off our luggage at Euston before going to the market.  Not sure what was going on but there seemed to be a few people in fancy dress.  Passed a superman, two farm animals and a girl dressed as a Grecian.

Let me say right now that Camden market is amazing and enormous.  The Stables market used to be where they stabled the horses that pulled barges on the nearby canal.  There are so many turns and round every corner was another section with all sorts of stalls.  A lot of them are built into the old bridge arches and are really quite large inside.  It's hard to describe as there was so much to it.  I bought a silver ring from the first stall we stopped at and the stall holder re-sized it for me while we waited.

One very small part of the stables market

We met a lady who had a second hand clothes stall who seemed intent on telling us her life story.  Although it sounded interesting, I was afraid to ask her any questions as if I had I think we would have been there all day.

I had to photograph this stall because the colours were amazing.

Loved this stall

I was on a mission to find some vintage clothing because Katy needed a hippy style outfit for her show in May.  I wasn't sure what number it was for so we had to text her to check I was looking for the right style.  I found a few stalls and outfits but until she got back to me I wasn't sure if they would be right.  When she finally replied she told me it was for the Sweet Charity number.  By the time I got the answer we had wandered quite a way round the market.  Good job I have a decent sense of direction as I found my way back to he stall with the best outfits quite easily and managed to get two from a sale rail.  Perfect original sixties clothing.  However, because Katy hadn't answered straight away, we had also texted her dance teacher, and much later that night she got back to me and told me it needed to be seventies kaftan hippy style.  Hmm, that's not Sweet Charity.

There were some wonderful smells coming from all the food stalls.  Every time we went past one selling Chinese food they were offering samples.  We had resisted all afternoon until nearly tea time when we were both hungry.  We gave in and took a sample and we were hooked.  Noodles and three different toppings for four pounds, and it was totally yum.  Practically next door was a stall selling crepes so that was dessert taken care of.  Unfortunately the toppings I had asked for made it very difficult and messy to eat.  The chocolate and coconut were fine, it was the cream that caused the problem. 

By this time we had wandered as far as Camden lock and the crowds were getting thicker.  

Can't really see it on the photo but this tree is covered in blue fairy lights

We arrived at the lock just as a barge was approaching, so we got to see it in action.

Camden lock in action

Time to make our way back to Euston for the train home.  It was only three stops on the tube, which isn't very far so I had the idea to walk.  Glad we did because it was a lovely day.  We saw some proper punks, with all the gear and hair.  Drain pipes, studs, lots of black, very large spiky hair and piercings.  Would love to have got a photo but thought it best not to try and photograph proper punks as I don't think they would have been too pleased.

By the time we got to Euston we found we actually had an hour to wait for our train so we took advantage of the first class lounge as we'd paid for a first class weekend upgrade for the journey home.  The lounge is split into two sections, one of which is a quiet zone.  I now know I'm turning into a grumpy old woman because I don't think it's appropriate to take your snotty nosed toddler who just wants to run around and slap the glass tables, into the quiet zone.  I also don't think it's appropriate to get out your Ipad and watch a football match without earphones in the quiet zone.  It's called a quiet zone for a reason people who either can't read signs or have no regard for them.

The rest of the journey home was quieter, and I beat Robert at Scrabble again.

 

Anniversary

I can't remember what time we woke up this morning, but as this was our actual anniversary day we were both eager to open the presents we had been hiding from each other in our luggage.  My present included chocolate so I was happy.

The plan for today was to go to London Zoo because neither of us had been before and in recent years we had done a lot of the other touristy things so we thought this would be something different. Rain was forecast so I made sure I had a brolly with me. We got off the tube at Regent's Park and according to the announcement on the train we should look for bus stand C for buses to the zoo.  After walking up and down the road we couldn't find stand C, and neither could other people who had been on the same train as us.  We even asked a bus driver, who didn't seem to understand the question and then pointed us in totally the wrong direction.  At this point we opted for walking through Regent's Park as the zoo was only at the other side and wasn't that far.

There was quite a lot going on in the park with dog walkers and joggers, people playing football, parents with kids and my particular favourite, a group of people doing Thai Chi. I wasn't brave enough to take a photo of them, but it just reminded me of a film.

London zoo is quite small, and I have to say, it's not as good as Chester zoo but there were a few highlights.  There was a little display going on with some of the smaller animals and I loved having the owls fly right over my head.

Bob the burrowing owl

One of my favourite places was the butterfly house.  They were just flying around all over the place.  Some of them were huge and very beautiful.  There was one particular blue variety that took a liking to my colourful coat and kept landing on me.

The blue one that liked my coat

This is the coat they liked.

My colourful butterfly attracting coat

We are totally on the penguin band wagon and arrived at their enclosure just before feeding time.  Here is my favourite character from our zoo day.  He is called Ricky the Rock-hopper.  We failed to get a video of him doing this but Robert was bending down by the glass and moving his finger around.  Ricky followed its movements intently just like a cat would.  We found it highly amusing.  He has his own Facebook page.

Ricky the Rock-hopper

By this time it had started to rain. I was fine under by brolly but Robert was getting wet, so he stopped at one of the little shops and bought himself a penguin umbrella.  It was bigger than mine and I thought about asking him to swap, but decided to be nice and let him have the big umbrella.  After all, he'd need it for his sticky out ears.

It was late afternoon and we were getting pretty hungry, so we left the zoo and walked back through the park in the rain.  It wasn't too heavy or cold and the walk was quite pleasant.  Just before we reached the other end Robert made a school boy error.  "At least it's not been torrential rain" he said.  About five minutes later, guess what.  That's right, an absolute downpour.  Luckily we were fairly near the tube station, but we still got substantially wetter.

We had booked to go and see The Ladykillers in the evening, and after a nice leisurely dinner we made our way to the theatre.

The Gielgud Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue

Our seats were in the dress circle and were very good.  Two ladies came to sit next to me with anoraks and humbugs.  After much fussing with coats and bags and elbow banging (my elbow) they settled down for a nice chatter which I thought wasn't going to stop even when the play started, but they did eventually behave themselves, apart from the very noisy humbug sharing about two thirds of the way through the first half.  They went out at the interval and didn't bother coming back for the second half which was fine by me but I don't understand how you can pay so much for a ticket and then not bother to get your monies worth. 

The theatre is just round the corner from the tube station we needed at Piccadilly, and also just round the corner is a Cinnabon shop.  I'd heard about these but never had one, so as this was an "anything goes" kind of weekend, we bought four bite size ones, and took them back to the hotel.  There were very nice indeed and definitely lived up to their reputation.

Anniversary Minus One

If I had had my way and a bit more money to spend, we would have been going to Paris for our wedding anniversary this year, but alas it was not to be, so instead we organised a weekend in London.  It was the end of the half term holidays so Katy went to stay with her grandma, and after dropping her off in Leyland we went to Preston to catch the train.  After arriving at the station a bit early, we found we had time for a nice hot chocolate in the cafe.  There was a group of men chattering and drinking coffee, and after a bit more sneaky looking, we decided they were definitely train spotters.  Bobble hats, anoraks, note books and coffee, all sure giveaways, and also the fact they there was a bit more chatter and some quick note taking when a particular train went past.

Couldn't afford first class on the way down, so the next best thing was the quiet carriage.  Soon after we set off, a mobile phone rang and a young man began a relatively noisy conversation.  He didn't seem to notice that the lady sitting next to him was glaring at him (I wasn't the lady).  The guard on the train was also fairly noisy as he came through checking tickets.  He was trying to be a bit of a comedian and was whistling.  I have to use quite a lot of self control when I hear people whistling because it makes me want to rip their heads off.

By the time I had thrashed Robert at Scrabble we were very close to London and after arriving at Euston, it was just another short ride to our hotel in Maida Vale.  The room was quite nice as we expected because we had stayed there before, but I was a little disappointed with the bathroom.  The toilet roll holder was broken, the grouting around the bath was quite dirty in places and there were buttons missing from the shower controls. Nothing drastic, but it did take the shine off it a bit.  I wouldn't have said anything, but reception rang our room to see if everything was ok, so we mentioned the bathroom, and were immediately upgraded to a room on the executive floor, which was much nicer and had a better view.

After a short rest, we ventured into town to find somewhere nice to eat in Covent Garden.  We were torn between two places we had both eaten at before, a Greek restaurant called Sofra and a bistro called Cote.  We ended up flipping a coin to decide and ate at Cote.  This turned out to be a good choice as our meal was lovely and I tried crab for the first time ever.

After the meal we walked back to Picadilly Circus to catch the tube to the hotel.  It was about a 15 minute walk, and as always it was still teeming with people even though it was around 10 o'clock.  The picture below doesn't show teeming people, but this was the quietest part of the walk.

Covent Garden

While we were walking through Covent Garden I heard what sounded like a Canadian accent behind me.  I looked round and there was a woman in a very nice gold evening dress talking with her friends who were also all dressed up.  I decided she must be Canadian because to me she sounded just like Tricia Ross.

Our route back to the tube station took us through Leicester Square which was very crowded.  I was attracted to the bright lights and colours of one particular store and wanted to go in but Robert wouldn't let me, and I'm still not sure why he didn't want to go into M&M World.  It made me a little sad.

I've walked past this statue/fountain several times, but this was the first time I had stopped to take a photo even though it always impresses me because you just come across at the corner of a normal looking building.  We had to wait quite a while for a gap in the crowds in order to get a clear view of it.  You can see a bronze plaque telling you about it but I didn't read it because it was very busy and I was rather self conscious.

Fountain near Picadilly Station

Due to the peculiarities of my teeth I sometimes have problems with food getting stuck in very small gaps that can only be got out using floss, and if I don't get it out then the pressure builds up and gives me a headache.  The one thing I forgot to pack was floss, and now I needed it.  Just down from the hotel is a Tesco Express so we hurried there, but they didn't have any, so we spent the next fifteen  minutes walking up Kilburn High Road until we found somewhere selling it.  Back at the hotel calm was restored after I flossed.

We have a bit of a tradition when we stay in hotels, and that is to find a channel showing Road Wars and watch cops catching naughty people before we go to sleep.  Luckily we found one.

The First Boo Boo

I have two daughters who are at university at the moment.  When Rebekah started at Manchester Met. she decided, during Freshers Week, to join the ladies rugby team.  I had mixed feelings about this as although I could see the fitness and social benefits of playing rugby, I was quite scared for her pretty face.   I was even more scared when after her first match she told me she got body slammed and heard all her bones crack as she went down.  Rebekah plays second row forward which requires her to wear a helmet to protect her head during the scrums.  However, I am proud that her team have won every single match they have played so far, by very large margins.  In fact you could say they slaughter any opposition.

One of the matches they played was against UCLAN where Kirsty is studying, and where this photograph was taken.

Bekah in her rugby gear

Kirsty went along to watch, and got so caught up in it all that she also decided to join her university's rugby team.  This decision did not last long however as Kirsty has problems with her spleen and with rugby being such a high contact sport it was decided that maybe this was not the best idea. When she first started at university she did think about joining the hockey team but hadn't got round to doing anything about it.  After seeing Bekah and deciding against rugby, she renewed her enthusiasm for hockey and tried out for the team.

She got into the second team and had her very first match yesterday.  I had been out during the day so hadn't been online at all, but when I checked Facebook in the evening I saw a post from Kirsty that said "I've broken it".  This of course concerned me so I made contact with her and found out that during the match she had gone to tackle a girl on the other team, and at the same time another player came to tackle her.  Kirsty got crushed between the two of them, got her legs caught up in the hockey sticks and hit the deck.  She banged her head and wasn't feeling good so she she was taken off the pitch.

While she was sitting on the sidelines she noticed that her hand was hurting rather a lot and then it started to swell up quite badly.  There was a physio person around who took a look at it for her and sent her packing off to hospital to get it checked out.  When I spoke to her she was still at the hospital waiting to have an x-ray.

I got an update a few hours later to let me know that she had broken a bone on the right side of her middle knuckle on her right hand.  The doctor said that it was a weird break and had no idea how she had managed to do it.

Kirsty's broken finger

Kirsty is doing a foundation course in art and design and is right handed, so this is going to be a bit of a problem for her.  She has a life drawing class this morning, which will be impossible and she has a project due in on Friday that she was supposed to be doing a photo shoot for today, which is also not going to happen.  Her tutor will hopefully give her an extension on this.

Kirsty is weirdly proud of her injury as she is the first of my daughters to break a bone.  If I was a betting person I would have put money on it being Bekah playing rugby, but it turns out that hockey has proved more dangerous.

Valentines Day

Today is the day to celebrate love.  I'm very fortunate to be married to a man who likes to be romantic, so I got to go to lunch with my fella.  Katy was at home baking cookies for Youth tonight and after the second text telling us she was missing some important ingredient or piece of equipment, we sent her a message to leave us alone unless it was an absolute emergency.  She duly obliged, but we then got interrupted by more texts and a phone call from other people.  I think Robert got the hint from the look on my face and put his phone on silent for the rest of the meal.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen with Katy making a mess and hopefully some yummy cookies with a background of Dizzy Rascal, Billy Joel, Glee,  and Adam Lambert.  Katy was a bit surprised by the mixture of music I had on my phone.

Some of the mess we made

The sort of cookies we decided to make were the kind where you made a dough and then let it settle in the fridge for a while.  I was planning on cutting mine into heart shapes but my first batch seemed very crumbly so they had to stay in boring rounds shapes.  I thought I'd try and decorate them to look at bit more valentiney.

As you can see, I'm not very practiced at this

Katy baked her cookies and after they had cooled she tested one, screwed up her face and threw them in the bin.  It's a bit tricky when you're making gluten free baking because they don't always turn out how you expect.  However, one of the things she had asked us for while we were out was a heart shaped cookie cutter (we thought we had one but it seems we didn't), so when we went to get one we also bought her two heart shaped silicone baking molds, and after the cookies turned out wrong she went for a cake recipe that she'd had success with last week.

The mixture

My second dough attempt was a little better so I went for heart shapes and finished them off with some chocolate spread inside and raspberry buttons on top.

Katy's cake was looking quite good after baking.

She was impatient to decorate it and kept testing it every few minutes to check if it was cool enough.

The finished product

All in all it was quite an industrious afternoon.  I hope the young women enjoy them.

Rebekah's 21st Birthday part two

With Rebekah's birthday being midweek, it wasn't practical to get all the family together, so we arranged a family meal for tonight.  Kim came up from London (minus Greg), and Kirsty and Bekah came home from university.  The choosing of the restaurant had taken place some weeks ago and had been quite a task.  We knew some nice places to eat but we had to take into account the fact that we might have to pick Kirsty up from Preston, Kim from the train station in Manchester and also that they wanted to got out in town after the meal with their friends to carry on the celebrations.  It also had to be somewhere that could easily cater for Katy's coeliacs disease and Kim's dietary requirements so that she wouldn't be ill.   None of the restaurants we knew would fit all these criteria, so we had to do some research and finally settled on The Eagle at Barrow. Turned out to be a good choice.

All was going well until it started snowing.  Dressed up and looking wonderful, we opened the front door and it was pretty nasty outside.  Robert was a gentlemen and decided to bring the car round to the front door.  He stepped out and nearly slid all the way down the path. His nice shoes were not at all suitable for walking in snow and slush.  He made it to his car and drove round to the front of the house.  We were all being girlies and were scared to leave the safety of the porch.  Robert made it back up the path and brought us his big golf umbrella, and then went back to bring my car round to the front door as well (we couldn't all fit in one car).  Kirsty stepped out and immediately slipped in her high heals.  Didn't fall but was then stuck and scared to move any further.  Katy was made to help her get to the end of the path as she seemed to be the only one who was able to walk in the snow without slipping all over the place.

Robert had rung the restaurant a little earlier to check if it was snowing there and was assured it was just raining, so we set off.  About a mile down the road it became apparent that between Robert ringing and us setting off it had started to snow even more.  The roads were getting worse and we started to talk about the possibility of getting snowed in if we made it to the restaurant.  We took it nice and slowly and made it there safe and sound.

The restaurant was lovely, and the bar staff were checking out the girls.  Is it wrong that when this happens it makes me proud?  We played guess the nationality with one of the waiters. He was tall, had long hair and a deep voice and we could not work out where is accent was from, but he definitely wasn't English.  We never did find out.

The food was very nice and thanks to Greg not coming (we had budgeted for 7), Rebekah and Kim got to order pretty much the most expensive steak on the menu.  It was one of these places that serves smaller portions, and I have finally decided that this is a good thing because I managed to eat three courses instead of being full after two, and didn't feel like I was waddling out when I left.

This was my pudding.  Chocolate orange fondant with coconut ice cream.  It was very nice indeed.

I don't think I have managed to have a photo taken of myself with all of my girls, so I took the opportunity to put this right tonight.

Katy, Rebekah, me, Kim and Kirsty

Because the girls were planning to go out again after we got home, they had been getting updates all evening from their friends who were keeping them informed of how hard it was snowing and whether the taxis were running or not, so we were a bit apprehensive when we got up to leave as we weren't quite sure what it was going to be like outside.  Turns out it had stopped snowing and the roads had cleared a little, so all was well.  Although Robert did slide all the way from the car to the front door after he parked.

All in all a lovely night and definitely a restaurant I would go to again.

Rebekah's 21st Birthday

Daughter number three turned 21 today.  She came home from university last night so that she could be at home this morning with her family.  This pleases me greatly.  Of course there is always the thought that maybe she was thinking she didn't want to wait to get her presents.  Anyway, I was just glad that she was here.

As I've got older I've had a thing about putting bows and ribbons on presents and even made a trip to Manchester so that I could go to one particular shop to get just what I wanted.  Rebekah had changed her mind a few times about what she wanted for her birthday.  She finally settled on a ring as her special present.  We were very nervous as she was opening because even though we thought it was a nice ring, you never know with daughters if they are going to have the same taste as you.  Especially as my tastes change as I get older and perhaps a bit more removed from current trends.

As it turned out, we did a good job and she really liked the ring.

Please forgive the dodgy nail polish.  I tried retouching the photo but Picassa's new touch up options don't work that well.  Anyway, after the present opening it was time for cake.  Cake for breakfast is a good way to start the day.  It was only a store bought cake but I think it was pretty.

As they get older it gets harder to blow all the candles out in one go, even if you have had singing lessons and ought to have a better lung capacity.

I think Rebekah had a nice start to her birthday, and it was lovely to share that part of it with her.  The next installment will be when all the girls come home at the weekend and we go out for a family meal together.