March Came and Went.

 So March started in the same way as February,  with the 1st seeing the pair of us on a train to London.

 This time we were having a day out together. I wanted to combine a few things; visiting a particular pub (but more on that later), showing Himself the Herd of Hope at Spitalfields, and taking him for lunch at Eataly as he is a big fan of Italian food.

So similarly, we caught the tube to Picadilly Circus but this time we both visited The Lego Store to see what was new.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we decided to walk to Spitalfields but this time via the river for as long as possible until we had to cut inland. 

By the time we got to Eataly we were more than ready for lunch. 

The concept is an Italian restaurant on the top floor and an Italian supermarket and food court on the ground floor, with the food court consisting of different counters selling freshly made pizza, pasta, and desserts. We plumped for the food court and the fresh pasta. Himself went for the bolognaise and I tried the day’s special, mushroom filled pasta with a cheese sauce.

I like the concept, I didn’t like the price so much, even with it being central London it seemed steep for what it was and sadly for that steep price my pasta was very bland. I think it would have benefited from a rich tomato sauce rather than cheese and this from the queen of cheese! So we left disappointed and I wouldn’t hurry back.

 

At least the elephants were as charming as the last time, and we enjoyed wandering round in the sunshine to spot them all. We also browsed the market where I bought a little felted tiger and a quirky postcard, and Himself somehow managed to resist the siren call of a garish 80’s style shirt.

 

We decided it was time for a drink so caught the tube to Oxford Circus and walked to Fitzrovia in search of The Ship pub, there is a story here…

 

So, a couple of years ago Himself was up in London with a friend and they found this pub full of nautical memorabilia and Himself knew this was just my kind of place me being a fan of all things pirate. He has tried to take me there since but has never been able to find it again! (much beer may have been taken on the first visit.)

Cut to me watching the latest series of Uncanny on BBC1 and Danny Robins doing various exterior shots outside a pub called ‘The Ship’ with a fab pirate ship sign, then stepping into a lovely wooden interior to meet with his expert guests to discuss the happenings in that episode. 

Could this be the mysterious pirate pub?? We googled it and it was in Fitzrovia! which is the right part of London, so we decided to check it out.

 

Reader it was not the pirate pub.

Nor was it the gorgeous wood lined interior of the TV show; they clearly filmed that somewhere else!

 

It was absolutely tiny, one of those street corner pubs that is no bigger than your Nan’s front room. Disappointed we managed to snag a table as someone left. There was sign for an upstairs space, so I checked that out when I nipped to the toilet, but it was equally as small up there, as was the toilet, which was looked like it hadn’t been refurbished, or had more than a cursory clean, since the 1970’s. 

I will say no more than that. We downed our drinks and left feeling somewhat disheartened.

We debated finding somewhere else to have a drink but, in the end, decided to catch the train home and get something to eat and drink there. All in all, a pretty disappointing day.

Very randomly everywhere we went in London we kept seeing groups of scouts, to the point that we actually started to note their different polo shirts and badges to see where they were from, it was literally the whole of the UK. We wondered if there was a jamboree on, but on checking google it turned out to be a Monopoly board treasure hunt. A very cool idea. Basically, they had to dash around as many of the locations you find on the Monopoly board in one day as they could, which seems a pretty fun but tiring way to see London!

 

Anyway, for us not the most successful of days out and the hunt for the mysterious pirate pub will continue. If it exists and is not a figment of Himself’s beer imagination….

 

The following Saturday 8th I was up early and on the train to Oxford before catching the bus to Soo’s house. We drove to pick up Melissa before heading to Burford for the day. 

We started with a browse round the huge garden centre, which is lovely but stupidly expensive. £2000 for a garish ceramic bowl with lobsters on it anyone??

We had a great time doing a mixture of if money were no object what would I buy and How Much??? before heading into Burford itself to find somewhere for lunch.

After lunch we mooched the shops before stopping for tea and cake and finally headed back to the car replete. I bought a box of local eggs of all random sizes and colours from one of those little honesty stands at the end of someone’s drive. They made a very delicious breakfast the next day before we were out for a family Sunday roast at a pub halfway between Mum’s house and ours.

One of my cousins from Germany was due to be visiting my Mum with his wife and daughter which was why the lunch was booked, but unfortunately, they had to cancel. Instead of cancelling the table Mum invited my nephew and his partner. We had a delicious roast dinner and then my brother drove us back to Mum’s where we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging about full of food.

 

I had also booked the following Tuesday and Wednesday off work to show the German contingent (as my mother calls them) around Oxford. So instead, Mum and I had a day out on Tuesday. We ended up going to 2 different garden centres and the huge Lidl at Wallingford  - we know how to live! 

The Wednesday was spent pottering at home. 

 

The following weekend was about getting some fresh air and seeing some nature. 

I have always loved being in nature but when Himself was recuperating from his surgery and I didn’t get out there for several weeks I really missed it, I also really noticed the detrimental effect it had on me. It wasn’t the best of weather, but we had a couple of long walks, and it was lovely to see the signs of Spring in the air.

 

Thursday the 20th we went to see the comedian Richard Herring in Reading. He is doing a live tour for his book ‘Can I have my Ball Back?’ which is about his experience with testicular cancer. 

Himself has long been a fan of Richard Herring and we have seen him live many times over the years, but this tour was very pertinent given his own all too recent experience. He had leant me the book to read shortly after his surgery and it lead to a good conversation after I had finished which was so helpful to me as I was able to better understand why he was saying and doing some of the things he was. 

The weekend was all about walking and enjoying the burgeoning Spring. We saw our first lamb of the year and a sun halo.

I’m trying to get my stamina back up prior to our holiday in May which has some heavy-duty walks planned into it. 

I need to get back to walking over 10 miles with ease and not feeling completely knackered after just 5!

 

Friday the 28th we were out in Oxford with friends. We spent the evening in Jericho, starting in The Bookbinders to eat and finishing in The Harcourt Arms. It was a long overdue catch up but I couldn't stay too late as I was working the next day. That involved taking a bunch of students with a offer to join our matsers programme on a bus trip around Oxford followed by a boat trip on the Thames with fish and chips provided by a local chippy. It was a fun trip though chilly, I also took the opportunity to nip round some of the shops in the city centre before and after as I don't go into Oxford that often these day.   

I wore my new All About Audrey green shirt

(not me in the picture, mine is currently in the laundry basket waiting to be washed!)

 I have dithered for a while over the shirt or dress in this design and dithered some more over the price. Then theyy had a sale with 40% off the shirts so I ended up buying it in green and orange! I've worn the green one a lot but not the orange one yet which is interesting. Maybe thatone feels a bit more summery? 

Anyway that was March and now it's May and I haven't even written April. The question is Will I ever catch up??

My February Round-up.

 A little later than I planned but here is February. 

I started the month with a trip to London, literally. 

On the 1st I headed up to London on the train with Himself. He was off to meet one of his best friends to catch up and have his first ‘I’m allowed to drink again’ beer after his surgery. Whilst I was meeting Charlotte and Alex for a post-Christmas catch up, which included a trip to Spitalfields Market, somewhere I must confess I’ve never been before!

We met Charlotte at Paddington and caught the underground together to Picaddilly Circus where we parted, Himself off to the Lego Store and Forbidden Planet, Charlotte and I to the recently reopened National Portrait Gallery to meet Alex.  

First point of call once Alex arrived was the new café at the Gallery for a hot drink, then we took ourselves to the top floor gallery and worked our way down. 

                              (one of my gardening heros here Gertrude Jekyll)

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the newly refurbished building and wonderful re-hung collections up close.

We mused on the fact there are so many people from history you recognise immediately simply because of these portraits being shared in schoolbooks or on television.

The gallery done and an obligatory browse of the gift shop over, we decided to walk to Spitalfields with the idea of getting lunch there. 

Charlotte grew up in London, and used to work there for many years (in another life working for Coutts bank) so she took a bit of a sentimental journey past old workplaces, some long gone, recounting pre-technology tales of running between buildings with with trays of paper slips for bank trading and pointing out various drinking haunts.

Unsurprisingly we all decided we were hungry long before we reached our destination, so diverted slightly to Covent Garden to find somewhere to eat. Something that proved harder than you would have thought. 

We finally found a branch of Franca Manca who managed to squeeze us in, three to a  two person table so not exactly ideal.

Thankfully the people at the table next to us left before our pizzas arrived, so we were able to pull them together and eat with elbow room. 

Full of pizza and with Christmas presents exchanged we headed out again.

I loved this astrological clock, it's amazing how you can walk past things many times then all of a suddn spot them.

Arriving at Spitalfields I was delighted to find a group of bronze elephant sculptures. On googling later I discovered they are called the Herd of Hope 

I left the others in the square whilst I walked around looking at them all. Each sculpture has the name of the animal it is modelled on and their story.

Pretty much all of the stories are incredibly harrowing, they are all orphaned elephant babies in the care of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust so it’s a pretty sobering read next to a cute sculpture.

 

We walked round the outside of the market and past the gorgeous old Huguenot houses to Brick Lane, again somewhere I have actually never been before! It was absolutely packed with people. 

We walked up one side and down the other, only stepping into the bookshop, everywhere else was just crazy busy, most shops seemed to have queues, particularly the eateries. I  feel bad saying it but I didn’t really get what the big fuss is about Brick Lane, maybe I need to see it with less people there.

From there we mooched through Spitalfields market before deciding it was time for a drink.

Again, we hit the same snag of just not finding anywhere to go, but this time it was mostly because places were closed rather than too busy. We finally found a pub and managed to snag the last free table. Charlotte and Alex went to the bar whilst I found myself called for photographer duty to a big birthday party group in the same part of the pub. I always get slightly panicky about taking pictures on other people’s phones, especially as was the case this time, where I’m given multiple phones one after another to take pictures with. Hopefully at least a couple of them will have been in focus!

 

We had a couple of beers and a good catch up before it was time to head back to our respective trains home. I arranged to meet Himself at Paddington and sort of poured him onto a train home where we shared a custard pastry Alex had kindly bought me.

 

The next couple of weeks were full on busy with work, I’m guessing I would have gone out for a walk at some point over the weekend but otherwise, same old same old.

 

Saturday 15th Soo and I had a date in the diary, we had thought either a walk or a mooch around some shops. Soo got in touch and said she really wanted to go somewhere and see swathes of snowdrops and suggested Batsford Arboretum.

Batsford Park was at one time home to the Mitford sisters and the arboretum does give a wonderful view down to the house. 

The weather was initially meant to be good but by the time Saturday came around it was raining. We decided to go anyway and had a lovely walk despite the showers. 

It was well worth it for there were indeed swathes of snowdrops.

We managed to time it so that we were heading back to the garden centre and café as the rain got very heavy. Just outside the garden centre we spotted one of the outhouses was labelled as a museum of gardening implements so we swerved in to have a look. It was actually fascinating, and as one keen gardener and one non gardener, we both thoroughly enjoyed looking round.

 

We had a browse of the shop, used the facilities, and then had a quick look at the lunch menu fancying something warming like a jacket potato or soup. We both felt that £6.95 for a bowl of soup was a bit steep so decided to drive into Morten-in-Marsh and get something there. 

As it turned out apparently that was cheap for a bowl of soup! Every eatery we passed got slightly more expensive to the point we started looking at what they were charging for a bowl of soup first, the priciest being £12 for soup and bread at Huffkins! 

The joys of being in The Cotswolds tourist territory. In the end we found a little café with homemade quiche which Soo fancied whilst I went for a cheese and mushroom omelette. We shared a slice of homemade Biscoff cake.

I had to head home fairly soon afterwards as Himself and I had a table booked for dinner in our favourite pub. My train was slightly delayed meaning I literally got in and had enough time to make a cup of tea and drink it whilst I got changed before we headed back out into the rain. Our dinner was delicious, and I ate too much so it was a good job we walked there and back. By the time we left for home it had finally stopped raining and it stayed dry the rest of the weekend so we went out for a walk on Sunday.

 

The following weekend thankfully the weather was good which was perfect as I wanted to attack the very overgrown honeysuckle & jasmine at the bottom of the garden and try and fix the broken trellis they had pulled over.  

We have a garden waste wheelie bin which we pay an annual fee for, this house also has one, so technically if we have lots of green waste, we can put out tweo bins every other week. 

As of April the 1st we are due to get a new permit that you have to stick on top of the bin. Any bin without a permit won’t be emptied. Knowing we only had a couple of collections left before this comes into play, and that hacking down the very overgrown plants was going to make loads of green waste, I wanted to take advantage of still being able to use both bins. 

It took longer than expected, but once it was cleared, we managed to get the trellis upright again and wire it onto the fence so hopefully it stays that way, I completely fill both green waste bins. It was tiring but very satisfactory work.   

 

I can’t think of anything new I have watched or off the top of my head any new purchases other than some brooches from the latest Erstwilder release. I have definitely become an unashamed Ersty collector!   

As a lifelong gardener I was hardly going to miss this amazing collection by Jocelyn Proust. I have already worn all bar the hydrangea.

I did spot this heartshaped noticeboard thing in a charity shop window when I walked into town for something. I thought I might be able to convert it into a new bigger frame to hang earrings on so bought it for the princely sum of £3. I bought a roll of mesh online for £12. 

One pair of broken wire cutters and plenty of swearing later I'm please with the result. 

I have hung all of my larger/quirky earrings on there now, having worn them all first. I decided it was a good time to sort out my earrings by wearing them and deciding if I still liked them or not. The above ones have made the grade.

I wonder how long it will take me to fill it...   

   

Now I  am wearing my way through the rest of my dangly earrings 

Is this the time to confess this isn't even all of them,

and this also doesn't include my smaller pairs of hook earrings 

or any of the stud earrings I own...

You might now understand where the name of my blog comes from, once a magpie always a magpie!

 

January Plus Fashion and Film

 Hello hello. I’m determined to get back to at the very least posting a monthly round up.

Before I plunge into January I wanted to dip back into November and the wonderful exhibition 

‘Outlaws : Fashion Renegades of 80’s London’ at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.  

My friend Charlotte and I seem to have got in the habit of doing an exhibition of some sort for her birthday (yes we already have this year’s planned for October!)  This was the exhibition of choice for 2024.

Whilst I was too young to be part of the scene to begin with, and later not into the music, I was definitely gigging and clubbing in London during the later part of the 80’s (on the Rock/Glam Metal scene.) Meaning I certainly knew of the existence of the clubs and designers this exhibition focuses on and even visited some of the shops mentioned.

Mainly focused on Taboo the club started by Leigh Bowery who’s dress code was ‘dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother’, it is small and perfectly formed exhibition and we had a wonderful time spotting outfits we had similar (probably knock off versions) of. 

It was such a trip down memory lane took me right back to the hours I spent altering, modifying, and adorning t-shirts, jackets and jeans to make them unique. 80’s clothing gets such a bad rap and to be fair a lot of it was terrible, but it does mean you do forget that it wasn’t all bad.

I had also forgotten just how creative this era could be, and how creative I was, adding embellishments, stitching, painting, and taking some of my ideas as an art student onto my clothing.

I particularly loved the part of the exhibition that had items of clothing loaned by musicians of the day displayed alongside a video screen showing clips of them in their video or on Top of The Pops wearing that item.

The exhibition was fairly busy when we were there, and we both noted with interest that there were far more men than women there! It runs until the 9th March and if of interest I strongly recommend going if you can.

 

Back to January which started wet and miserable. We had planned to go to The Fleur for their annual New Year’s Day folk musician session, Himself was just about up to walking the mile and a half there if we went at a steady pace but the torrential rain put paid to that plan, so we just chilled at home instead. I was back at work the next day anyway, with January as ever being our busiest month. A lot of my colleagues took the extra two days off work, but personally I prefer to ease back into the chaos for a couple of days before starting a whole week.

 

Luckily, I had something to look forward to on Friday the 10th, an outing to the theatre with Soo and Melissa to see Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat. 

I haven’t seen it for years now so suggested it as soon as I saw the advert.

It's such a joyful uplifting musical and just what you need in a cold and storm battered January. 

We met for a quick drink at The Grapes before heading to the fairly new restaurant 100% Pasta at Gloucester Green. Sadly they had no filled pasta that night and I couldn’t go for the aubergine dish as it has red pepper in it, but the tomato based one I settled on was delicious and we were all naughty and had a desert too!

The show was wonderful, it was a fairly small touring cast with no celebrity starring, which meant some of the cast played more than one role, but it was slickly done and the singing and dancing was fantastic. 

It’s just such a joy you can’t help but come out beaming. As we parted outside the theatre and I headed back to the train station, all the people around me were singing bits from the show and someone even sat at the piano on the station concourse playing a medley and entertained the crowd, which is of course why the piano is there. 

I must admit I love it when people start playing something on the piano, though not so much when little children just attack the keys!

This was the right in the middle of that really cold snap between the named storms, so it was absolutely Baltic walking home. I was straight in the kitchen for a cup of tea when I got in, to help me defrost. The joys of being decaf means I can now tea before bedtime without the caffeine keeping me wide eyed all night.

 

The next day was crisp and bitterly cold with freezing fog making crystals in the air and a heavy frost that had built up over a few days. I hadn’t been out for a proper walk since Himself had been in hospital so the siren call to go out with my camera proved too strong. Himself wrapped up well and came with me, his post-surgery slow pace meaning for once he wasn’t getting fed-up with me constantly slowing him down by stopping to take pictures or to look at things. 

It was gorgeous but I was very happy to get in and have a huge mug of hot chocolate. I treated myself to some 72% dark chocolate flakes from Knopps. I love hot chocolate but never buy it when I’m out and about as it is inevitably way too sweet for me, the darker the better as far as I’m concerned.

 

The next Monday I had my annual thyroid blood test and was left with a massive bruise that took 2 weeks to clear. Thankfully all is well and there is no need to increase my meds.

 

We also went to see the most recent Paddington film. Despite having enjoyed the first two films, Himself had seen the trailer before Christmas and decided he didn’t want to go because he thought it didn’t look very good. I could have gone on my own of course, but instead I just grizzled because he refused to go with me.

 It turned out they were showing it at 11.30pm one Sunday so Himself asked me if I still wanted to go “Off course!” was my reply so he booked us tickets.

I loved it. Not as much as the second one, but that would take some beating. It’s just such a joyous, funny, feel-good film. With all the horror going on in the world, it’s good to have such escapism. Himself was also pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it too.

 

The last time we had been to the cinema was when I dragged him to see Lee which he did not enjoy anywhere near as much, not knowing anything about Lee Miller. 

I have known about Lee Miller as a model turned photographer due to my interest in the 1920’s/30’s and WW2, but as soon as I saw Kate Winslet being interviewed, I was sold. She was so passionate about telling Lee’s story despite it taking her seven years and a lot of her own money to finally get the film made. 

I knew Lee Miller went to France and Germany as the war was coming to a climax, but I had somehow forgotten that she took the first powerful and harrowing pictures to be sent from the liberated concentration camps. Things this world needs to be reminded of I feel given the way we seem to be going.

 

The last week of January saw us heading back to the hospital for Himself’s follow up appointment with the consultant. The prognosis is thankfully as good as it could be, there will be follow up scans every six months for the time being, eventually going to every two years for the rest of his life, but at this point no further treatment. 

I can’t begin to tell you what an incredible relief that news was. Definitely the way I would want to start a new year that is for sure.   

 

I finished the month with a big staff event at work where I helped man the table for our staff LGBTQ+ group Iridescent. Again, in the world we seem to be living in right now it feels more and more important to support, and well, to just be kind.

I'll sign off with my January purchases. Other than undies from M&S and socks from Seasalt, I needed to replace my Clarks Orinoco boots and when I saw 50% off shoes in New Look I dived in as I had fallen for the black boots when they were in the window months before. The size six were a tad tight so I went with the seven and I have to say they are a little large but super comfortable and they were also less than half price when they went through the till = result! 

The brown pair were 50% off in the Clarks sale but it wasn't until they had an additional 20% off that I crumbled. I gave them a good eight mile outing in London on Saturday and thankfully me feet lived to tell the tale.

I bought a couple of dresses in the sales

and some brooches and earrings. The space hamster got a lot of love at work!

Finally  my new t-shirt for pilates, I could not resist it when I saw it

I'll be back soon.