Summer events.

This lovely table arrangement was from my cousin's daughter's wedding, held at Nonsuch Mansion at the end of June. 

Not the best photo  of Marianne and Jack, taken just after they had signed the register, the official photographer had banned other shots during the ceremony, here they are with her parents in the grounds. 

We were so fortunate with the weather, warm enough to sit out all the evening if one didn't wish to dance but not so hot that one was uncomfortable in finery. 

It was a good deal warmer the following Wednesday when I went to Town to see High Society at the Old Vic, the air conditioning  in the South West train's quiet carriage, nor the next one wasn't working, in the next one all was cool. At the end of the journey I asked a smartly dressed businessman if he put his dirty shoes on the sofa at home, he was most embarrassed, admitted doing so without thinking as he was tired, I was quite right and he wouldn't do it again. I wish SW trains would make regular announcements about feet on seats, often am scared to say anything hence mentioning it as the doors were opening so I could escape onto the platform at Waterloo. 

Just want to record something that is resonates with taking on new ideas. I came out of the Old Vic theatre with another lady who had been part of the U3A group, we needed to cross from Waterloo Road to reach Waterloo station, automatically I stopped at the first crossing at the junction of two roads. Whilst waiting a long while for the pedestrian lights, the other lady pointed out it would be quicker to use the crossing nearer the station for the lights just controlled one crossing and one line of traffic. Sounds so simple, but never occurred to me. 

Life is a bit chaotic at Pixie Towers, the kitchen cupboards are being replaced so the contents are scattered around, this is the dining table. 

Also in the dining room are the boxes containing the new cupboards and fittings, 

As usual will be recording progress, the workman arrived this morning, this is progress at the end of the day, carcasses in place, we can use the cooker if needed.

Pictures

On 16th June to celebrate our thirty sixth wedding anniversary we went to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, after lunch at Cote in St Martin's Lane. We like Cote, the lunchtime menu is good value with not enormous quantities, the food is straightforward, recognisable and seasonable, also there is fish on the menu which we enjoy, also the chocolate pots have good dark chocolate, not sweet milk flavours. 

There are still traditional secondhand book shops in the courts between Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Lane so of course we just had to have a browse, this was the result:-

Just in case it isn't clear it is Lucia van dear Post's book, William Morris and Morris & Co which was bought from Bookends for £5.00, the original was £20.00 in 2003. It is in excellent condition, hardly read, links with our visit to The Red House a week or two ago as it is featured. 

At the Royal Academy we were greeted by the much publicised, highly coloured staircase, showing signs of wear too, not sure whether I liked it but the colours reminded me of efforts to produce cheerful and bright coloured crochet throws and blankets, must be all the bright reds and yellows. 

We went round the ‘wrong’ way or backwards, don’t think it mattered, meant we weren’t with the same cohort as we moved around. Bit naughty, but sometimes the people were as fascinating as the exhibits. 

The three photos above are exhibits that had a knitting or crochet element, should have recorded the numbers. Will ask DH to look them up, he is a member and will be able to find them online.

If anyone else is going to the RA may we recommend the gluten free chocolate cake , ideal to face the journey home. Fortunately and as usual I was offered a seat straight away on the crowded Piccadilly and District lines so was able to crochet all the way home.       

Thinking about how often I am offered a seat on buses, trains and the underground, I was still bemused, and very slightly hurt when at my daughter's new home a couple of days ago, her next door neighbour asked me to pass a message on my granddaughter!  I know my daughter looks young for her age, I have done the arithmetic, if there had been teenage pregnancies if would be possible, however I was in my thirties when I had my family, as was my mother, her mother and my great grandmother was 27 when she had her first child. Anyway, I'm not even a grandmother yet, I know it is silly to find this unthinking remark ageist, instead I will delight in daughter's youthfulness. 

Saturday afternoon.

There was a choice of what to do on Saturday afternoon, we could stay home, if we went out do we jump in a car and go to a fair in Hampton or do we go one stop by train to Twickenham where there is a festival. Sounds very grand, but the festival is a series of events, including  school fetes or fairs. What is the difference between fairs and fetes?

In the end Twickenham won, no car meant no parking hassles, we would have freedom to return another way, also a chance to pop into our pharmacy to collect the corticosteroid cream to complete the prescription for medication to treat the  ezcema on my hands and to collect Ian's prescriptions too. 

Onwards towards the river and we encountered a dragon boat race, photograph taken by Ian on his phone. 

Eel Pie Island is in the background, famous in the 60s for the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds and other groups playing there, now the residence of Trevor Bayliss whom we saw with his cars on The Embankment, near where this photo was taken. 

Feeling like tourists in our own town we discovered Morris dancers outside the Barmy Arms pub. 

The sign at the back says Spring Grove of Kingston upon Thames, so a local group from across the river. 

More touristy stuff, we just had time to inspect the book stall at the church fair, I found a 1976 knitting book, The Art of Knitting by Anne Gordon.  Very interesting history of the craft at the beginning, then instructions given for adapting very old pieces of work to mid-seventies designs and materials. Some have worn better than others. The other book I found was Joanna Trollope's Daughters of Britannia so bought that too. 

One final thought, we walked further along towards Orleans House Gallery, thence to the Old Stables where there is a cafe, but there is no service after four o'clock. In such a tourist area, at Summer weekends especially why cannot cafes offer tea and cakes later in the afternoon?  This is the town that is welcoming the rugby world to its doorstep in September and October, tourism is a major industry. 

We went to The Crown, a pub/restaurant where we had a very good pot of Earl Grey tea but there were no cakes. 

At least we weren't far from home, it wasn't a long wait for  the London omnibus, not a grand vehicle, single decker,  very rattley with quite a fast driver. 

Coincidence

In my teens my father recommended I read Howard Spring's novels, it was a good suggestion I devoured them, even then aware of unlikely coincidences.  Today, maybe inspired by the six degrees of separation I am not so sure about unlikely. 

Threè recent events have brought this to mind. When in Malvern we went to the theatre, needless to say we all changed for the theatre and dinner.  It was only when M. and I had taken our coats off whilst the men went to sort out for and drink that we realised we were wearing identical cardigans from White Stuff in marina blue colour. Of course our husbands didn't notice, that gave us much amusement. 

The last weekend in May we were in East Anglia, on the Sunday we joined my cousin and her husband for lunch at their home in Suffolk. (To be strictly genealogically correct, Judy's late father was my cousin, he was the eldest of the paternal cousins, Judy is a little older than me, our fathers were more like brothers than uncle and nephew as they were close in age).  Judy's husband Dave was in the services so they moved around the country, Judy worked as a District Nurse, after discussion it turned out she had worked from the practice where my daughter has recently registered in Dorset, knew where daughter is living as this was part of her round. There was no link, daughter was 12 the one time she met Judy. 

Last Saturday daughter and I grabbed a black cab taxi to Waterloo rather than face Oxford Circus tube, the driver was delightful, chatting to us, telling us about his teenage daughters, how he and his wife were bringing the girls up, their values etc. We were asked where we live, apparently his school playing fields were nearby, I mentioned the name of his sports teacher, I was right, Patrick Cross who lived across the road from me in my teens, also his son, Martin Cross, the Olympic rower had taken his medals into taxi driver's school. Martin Cross had taught my son history.

Nothing to do with coincidence but this lovely taxi driver, who apologised for the heavy traffic as if it were his fault, also stressed the problem of non licensed minicar drivers using an app to attract passengers. Many of these undercut the professional Hackney cab drivers who still have to have The Knowledge, be insured and regulated. So if anyone who reads this and needs a cab in London please use the traditional taxis, after all there is much more passenger space, a comfortable ride plus an entertaining and interesting driver. 

No photos to show concerning these coincidences, but this is what daughter and I had been doing. 

A hen do, a first for me, it was  afternoon tea with a theme of Alice in Wonderland. 

Carry on blogging

Plenty has been happening including a discussion why so many bloggers seem to have stopped, so I have decided to make a positive effort to continue this mix of a diary, non-controversial observations and knitting record. 

So to start with knitting, here is the completed puerperium cardigan for Cygnet. This has been an exciting project, I have learnt long tail cast on and experienced top down knitting, hence the garment has no seams. 

Now for something completely different.  It is a plea to all hoteliers, B&Bs, in fact any accommodation, please provide adequate lighting so one can read in the bedroom, either in the single armchair or in bed. Far more important than a TV.  My second gripe is about taps. Please would you ensure that all taps are wrist action, these shown below are impossible to turn off with wet hands or to use with even the mildest of arthritis where it is difficult to obtain a grip. 

Back to the positive. When we moved into Pixie Towers there were two electric meters, day and night, we continued with this assuming we were thrifty is doing so, indeed the washing machine and dishwasher were set to run at night when we were a household of four. At some point earlier this year I read that we may not have been so thrifty as the day rate was considerably higher to compensate for the night rate. We checked up, calculations were done, phone calls made and our meters changed from a distance. At one point Ian was out, I took the call from our electricity supplier, even though I had the codes was not allowed to discuss the account as my name wasn't on it. That problem has now been rectified, we are checking that all our household accounts are in joint names. 

Additionally, if there was an emergency we would be priority on my health grounds, didn't know about this special scheme so felt is was considerate of BG to mention it.  

Old post.

http://pixie-mum.tumblr.com/

Last year I was struggling with Blogger on my iPad and moved across to tumblr but it didn't really work for me, so have transferred it here and hope you can read it. 

Will be back with ramblings at some point, this week has been busy with meeting up with past colleagues and friends, with lots of crochet whilst on the Underground and buses. 

May time

    Life has seen quite a whirlwind of changes since my last postings, one item on our action list that has been taking much time and thought is updating Pixie Towers so we are going ahead with replacing our kitchen units, just an L shaped run is required as we have a beautiful Tardis like dresser along one wall, another wall houses a larder and the fridge freezer. 

Our cupboards are Shaker Cream, we are keeping to the same but the new ones have so much better innards so will hold more, also instead of a Formica type top we are having real oak as we consider it fits the Art and Crafts style of our 1934 property. 

Our downstairs cloakroom is going to expand outwards to include a shower, the area is at the back of the garage so the pedestrian door will be moved to the side and the back of the utility room which will require a window to be blocked up. What has amazed me is the plethora of rules and regulations this has entailed, our property's original foundations were at most 2'6", the new foundations would have to be at least a metre of solid concrete just for five feet of single storey wall. Planning permission has been obtained, not essential but very important if we ever decided to sell, building regulations have been approved, now being changed as the building surveyor has suggested a beam across rather than the metre of concrete. This beam apparently negates the need for us to pay for a party wall surveyor for us and for our neighbours. We still have to make a decision as to which firm of builders we employ, the work must start by beginning of November. When the work is at its most dusty I shall decamp to family around the country. 

After more than two years of deliberating we have changed our car, we had experienced travelling in a Qashqai, liked the ride and the toys on the dashboard, in April we found ourselves at a local dealers, a week later we drove away a 360 in battleship grey, the colour was a compromise as I would have liked a bright cheery red, now both our cars are grey, the previous two were silvery grey. Talking of previous cars, the Citroen went to cousin who had had our previous car ten years ago, that has now gone to cousin's sister.  Nearly 30 years ago their parents had one of our cars, a bright red Ford Escort Ghia, one of those lovely cars that just go and go for ever. 

Of course when one has a new toy it has to be tried out so after voting on 7th May we drove to Malvern, meeting up with second cousins (from maternal side of my family) to visit the RHS Malvern Spring show on the Friday. Even though I had my camera and camera phone I never took any pictures, instead here is the hydrangea we bought. 

The following morning was spent around Malvern, admiring the views from the hills, lunching in the town and purchasing yarn in The Knitting Parlour, a delightful yarn shop. Had good advice and assistance, bought the pattern for Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket, this yarn to make it

My other purchase was sock yarn to make socks for Ian, here's the yarn for these:- 

In the afternoon we visited Elgar's birthplace, as seems usual for me in museums I take far too long going around especially one as interesting as this. It is not only the music but the social history behind the life, the material at the museum reflected this very well. No photos but I am sure there is plenty at the official website. The volunteers are friendly and keen to chat, I think we could have spent so much longer there but we had tickets for Rebecca at the theatre in Malvern and needed to eat beforehand. 

I have finished the Puerperium cardigan, photos will follow when I have blocked it and sewn on the buttons, meanwhile I am working on the second sock, some ripping back has been done. The photo shows the pair I made for Martha in the same yarn.

In between I have started the book group's current read, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, have just finished Part 1, so will comment later. 

As the cake I have made for a May Fair is now cooked, I will stop, prepare for an early night for tomorrow morning I am collecting for Christian Aid outside the local railway station.  When did railway station become train station?