My Little Life....

Please forgive me if I mainly write about my own little life in this blog - and I'll enjoy reading about yours, too. 

But before I tell you about my doings, I have to say how devastated I am about Ukraine. Here's the sunflower - we all know what it means to have it at the top of a post. I am contributing to help Ukrainians flee from the catastrophe, and to look after the ones that manage to make their way to safety.  I'm also doing my civic duty to pile political pressure on our government.   I am ashamed that Britain's ruling Conservative party, government ministers and even the PM, have been shown to have taken literally million of pounds worth of perks, gifts and "donations" by billionaires close to Putin, and I do think we need to know what they've given in return.   I am also thinking about the ordinary Russians, many of whom are having their lives turned upside down or ruined by this nightmare situation. 

So I've said that, because I need to, and because it needs to be said. But now I will try to stay off the subject if I can.  It is hard, but I know there is no point in worrying and fretting. We are just ordinary people and can only do what we can do.  

Since all Covid restrictions were removed here, people have started to travel again. And I do like that feeling of normality.   I've been delighted to receive gifts from returning travellers too.  This is Persian pistachio nougat, which comes from the city of Isfahan.  I've had it before and it's not sweet and sticky, but delicate and nutty. 

And here are saffron filaments in a beautiful box, also from Persia.  I'm planning to make a saffron cake for Easter. 

This is a rather trendy ginger beer concentrate from Belgium.  It's promoted as an alternative to alcoholic drinks, and since I love ginger, I'm looking forward to trying it. 

And these chocolates, also from Brussels, are beautiful.  I (almost) feel I'd be happy not to ruin the display by eating one, and just admire them for a while.   

AND (talking of travel) we've booked a short holiday abroad.   These days, I don't anticipate too much, because we've all found how things can change. But, all being well, we'll soon be heading to a village near Montpellier, in southwest France.   It's on the edge of the national park of the Haut-Languedoc, and not too far from the sea.  We're booked in an Airbnb whose main feature seems to be a very friendly dog  (the owner has included several pictures of this dog in his listing).

The twins missed their birthday party in February for a second year running, because their dad had Covid, but they feel they had a great birthday because 1. they both got watches, so they happily spent hours timing each other doing things, and 2. They had an early morning doughnut each in the old fashioned patisserie on the way to school. They're never allowed doughnuts and so this was a massive treat.  and 3. At school, they got cake and were applauded in class. And, 4. After school they went to the Community Centre playscheme and everyone gave them cake and cheered them there, too.  

This Community Centre is hugely popular.  The staff pick up children from the local primary schools and look after them till six.   All the ages mix together and are kept very busy with arts, crafts, games, music and projects, with a bit of TV to wind down.   The centre also gets donations from all the nearby fancy bakeries at the end of the day, so there are heaps of bread and cakes - what doesn't get eaten is available for parents and carers to take away. I am not kidding, i've never seen a kid there who wants to go home.     

Last weekend we had the twins to sleep over a couple of nights. It was tiring but fun.  

Both twins are in their primary school's football teams (one for boys, one for girls), so during the weekend, we spent quite a while outdoors while they kicked balls around.   

They also went to a schoolfriend's birthday party at a place called "Go Ape."   It's a sort of daredevil outdoor activity centre involving zipwires high up in the trees. Boy Twin, who swarms up trees as easily as an ape at the best of times, absolutely loved it.   Girl Twin was the opposite: "My hands were slipping, I couldn't hold on, I thought I was goanna die'"'  she reported.   She hadn't actually noticed that she'd been clipped into a harness, she'd been so scared.   But she doesn't show her fear readily, and just said she only wanted to be three metres up, and not thirty metres (like Boy Twin was aiming for). 

T and I have also been on a couple of outings, whenever we've been able to get decent weather. Last week we cycled down to the South Bank to see the exhibition of the Worshipful Company of Broderers.  It's one of the City Guilds, (also known as the Brotherhood of the Holy Ghost of the City of London) (great name I think).  It originated centuries ago as a union of embroiderers, a highly skilled trade which was, of course, much in demand in the heyday of hand-embroidered clothing for the wealthy, 

I am sure the Broiderers had a hand in the gold trim of this fellow's fine outfit, for instance, but, then as now, they did all kinds of work, ranging from delicate flower designs almost too fine to believe, to bold, intricate braiding. 

There was some remarkable work at the show, in all kinds of different styles. I think my favourite piece was the one below of night-time London from above.  The only bit of flying I like is if I approach a city by plane after dark, and we hover above while the lights spread below.   The bright twinkling of this piece against the black velvet reminded me of that.

Talking of flying, we're going to try and cut down on plane travel.  I've noticed several people are doing this now, if they can - but it's a big "IF" because it is still so much cheaper to fly.   Since Covid, European train companies have made it easier to change and cancel tickets, and I think prices have gone down a bit too.  But they are nothing like comparable to flights.  However flights to Montpellier were at extremely inconvenient hours, so it was worth factoring in the cost of train travel to avoid the misery of hanging around airports at 3 AM.  The ride city to city in 7 hours, but we decided to spend the first night in Paris. It's silly to just rush through Paris when you haven't seen it for ages. We'll catch a morning train the next day.    

Our other outing was one of our daughter V's gigs, held by candlelight in a fascinating half ruined almshouse chapel in Peckham, SE London.   It really was fun.  One of our neighbours heard about it too and turned up with his little girl, who is a friend of the twins.  Here they are playing with their umbrellas as the rain hammered down after the show. It was only about 6 PM but  they were thrilled to be out and about after dark.  I remember how big-time it seemed to me when I was a child, too.  Even to the grown ups calling back to stop fooling and keep up!

Not sure if you want an update on the bathroom.  Ah.    Since I last wrote, nearly a month ago, there's been no progress on getting it working, other than what T has done on preparation and painting, and, I'm afraid, fixing some messes. The original contractor has now left the job and we're feeling a lot more relaxed.   We think and hope it will be possible to get someone more suitable.