TARDIS TUESDAY My favourite Romana

Had a LOVELY weekend!!! We went to Rochester on Saturday and Sunday, went over to Mum's.  All lovely. More on that anon.  For TARDIS Tuesday, I am featuring an old favourite. It was last featured in August 2023 on here.

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

You can see it in all these different images.

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

Worn by Mary Tamm playing Romana in her second story, The Stones of Blood, it's very Kate Bush!

Here's my 2025 iteration, worn on Sunday to go over to Mum's! 

I am wearing a charity-shopped burgundy top and an eBay-purchased red tier skirt.  Both are super comfy to wear and good for a warm Spring day.

They are hard to spot but I wore a thin gold chain necklace and a gold bracelet to match Romana's.  The chain was my Nan's.  The bracelet a present from a child.

I added this gorgeous jacket bought in Rochester on Saturday from the Demelza charity shop. It's from a Marbella based brand and I saw it hanging in the shop window and pounced! It's quilted on the inside and features a thick brocade material and embroidered flowers and ric-rac.  I ended up wearing it all day in Rochester as it was cold in the shade and I'd left my jacket in the car. Super pleased with the jacket as I've been wanting something like this for a while! Vix, it's your fault!

 Here's Mummy and I together. We went over to hers to see her as she wanted to give CBC his birthday presents and she's cracked a bone in her wrist.  She made a delicious crustless asparagus quiche using her home grown asparagus!  She served it with her own homegrown rocket and beetroot as well as tomatoes and Sauerkraut. Such a fresh-delicious lunch.  We took over a less-healthy chocolate cake from Waitrose.  We were both sad to leave hers!

If only weekends were longer!

xx

At the Fruit cocktail party

 The poem I wrote during my 2nd Easter holiday week was based on using the word: "Peach.".

Actually, I'd written a poem using the word "peachy" a couple of weeks ago but I didn't have it with me. Thus, my brain on days 1 of the Pennine way was filled with trying to come up with a poem using the word. I had this idea in my mind of fruits being like 'people' or beings, being somewhat anthropomorphised,  and the idea of a Fruit Cocktail and then a Cocktail party came together.  In my mind, I started pairing/pearing (ha!) fruits with actions I might say to them or do with them.  At lunchtime, I quickly put some fruits into a memo on my phone plus potential paired rhyming words or phrases.  Later on, when walking, I asked CBC if he could think of some fruits one point, he came up with Guava, Kumquat, Fig and Greengage as unique ones I hadn't thought of. I quickly abandoned any of the -berry suffixed ones as they ended up with too many syllables to maintain a nice flow. As I walked, and I pondered on rhymes for the ones CBC had suggested, I could not, for the life of me, remember what the 4th one was.  It was a good 2 hours before both he and I remembered Greengage.

When we reached our accommodation for the night, The Forest View Walkers Inn, I typed into my Memo to come up with the poem itself.  I realised that I wanted a very rhythmic poem and the refrain line of 'At the Fruit cocktail party' rather than just being the title, came to end each stanza.

My family thought this one wasn't my finest, but I quite like the weird nature on it!

Here it is:

At the Fruit Cocktail Party:

First, say "Hiya!" to Papaya, 

Pass the time with a Lime, 

Hear a speech from a Peach

At the Fruit Cocktail Party! 

Act quite mighty with a Lychee, 

Say,   "Mañana? " to Banana, 

Eat a lot with Apricot, 

At the Fruit Cocktail Party! 

Do a Tango with a Mango, 

Dance a Jig with a Fig, 

A Foxtrot with Kumquat, 

At the Fruit Cocktail Party! 

Laugh "Tee hee!" with Kiwi

And make merry with a Cherry 

Then engage with Greengage

At the Fruit Cocktail party! 

Have a grapple with an apple, 

Then escape from a grape, 

Make a scene with Nectarine, 

At the Fruit Cocktail Party!

Now, I just need to create some little cartoons showing these fruit encounters occurring!

Rage Against Beige

 Last week's poem comes from the prompt word 'Bold'

As with every week. I am flummoxed at first and feel like this is the Week I will not manage to keep the momentum going on my creative writing endeavours but each time, a little perseverance and I end up with something.

It's actually dedicated to a lot of my lovely blog friends who feel as I do about the subject of this poem. So this is for you, particularly Vix, Sheila, Ann, Ang, Ivana, Ally, Anna...

Madeira - Day 1-2

 On Saturday the 5th April, CBC and I set out for a mile trudge to our local station where we caught a train so we could then connect with the X30 bus to get to Stansted Airport to travel to Madeira. We travelled with Jet2 flights who were really good.  As I had made several bookings with Booking.com over the last 2 years, we qualified for a free private taxi to our hotel in Canico (which is good as public transport to there is a right pain, 1hour 40mins,  despite being only 7mins drive away) and arrived at our hotel, Sentido Galusol around 6.40pm. As we'd only booked 2 weeks before, there were limited choices left. 

We must have been upgraded as our hotel room seemed like a suite. It was enormous. Here was the main room. Behind me was more space with double wardrobes and then a separate entrance space with double wardrobes and console table, then a lounge with sofa, TV and coffee table as big as the bedroom, then a vast bathroom with double sinks, double shower and then a large balcony with sun loungers, table and 2 chairs with a view of the sea. 

As it was fairly late, we booked into our hotel's buffet dinner which was great. Lots of choices and tasty. I was tempted to go and use the hotel pool but decided that maybe half an hour to change, get in, get showered and dressed for dinner wasn't enough. It was a decision I'd regret... 

The next morning, we headed down for our breakfast buffet. Great choices again. Fresh fruit, breads, pastries, cooked choices, juices, cold meats and cheeses, salad, omelettes cooked to order etc. 

We decided to book a hire car as we would need it to access a lot of the walks we wanted to do. We arranged for one for Monday to Friday. As the day was Sunday, we decided we would get the bus to Funchal to explore there. The bus timetable was slightly ambiguous but suggested at least an hour wait so we decided to walk up the hill to Canico to explore. It was very hilly as all of Madeira is! 

We saw a vegetable market and people coming out of Church and then as he headed onwards, we saw a bus (more like a coach) the 2 headed to Funchal. It cost 5,50 euros for the pair of us, cash only. 

It was really quick. We arrived in Funchal and wandered around. There was some sort of Book fair on which we wandered around after a trip to the Tourist Office to pick up some walk guides and a map. 

After that, we bought an ice cream and wandered in this central park. It had beautiful plants and flowers and was teeming with tiny lizards on the warm rocks 

We decided to go and ride up the cable car to go and visit the Botanical Gardens. There was a brilliant Bohemian street where all the doors were uniquely painted

The Cable car was undeniably touristy with photos being taken of each gondola and its inhabitants but it serves a brilliant purpose of helping you to travel up high very quickly. Funchal is super steep so the walk would be simply hours. It was great to look out over houses, gardens, crevasses and all sorts. There are wild Nasturtiums growing absolutely everywhere! 

Arriving at the top, we paid to get into the Botanical gardens and were given a map. There was an art exhibition to see. 

We heard the distinct "Eeeowww!" of peacocks and soon came upon this fellow. 

The paths meandered up and down and we enjoyed all the greenery as well as flowers. 

There were several ornamental ponds. 

The gardens were divided into various zones.  We didn't explore the whole thing!

The scale of the place was amazing.

When we reached this pond, you could walk under the tunnels and walk around under the waterfalls- we got a little bit wet!

I've never seen Flamingos in real life before! It was astonishing how pink they are!

As well as this butterfly, I also saw a Swallowtail but didn't manage to photograph it!

After this, we stopped in a restaurant where CBC had a salad and beer and I had a cup of tea.   We took the cable car back down and decided we'd like to walk through Funchal to reach the seawater lido area where you can get nearer the water. We probably walked about 6 miles or so and then got a bus back

As we were walking, we'd spied a restaurant that said they served the traditional espetada skewers.  This was the food that we were most looking forward to as we used to have a wonderful Madeiran Skewer house in our local town which is much missed since it closed.  On our way back, we decided to go here for dinner.

We ordered a Bolo do Caco, the traditional yeasted flatbread made with sweet potato which was infused with garlic for Starter and then I ordered a Prawn Skewer and CBC ordered the Salmon skewer plus sides of buttery rice and garlicky fries and roasted veg.

When we had finished, we jumped on the bus back to the main area in Funchal.   Google did not have any up to date times when searching for bus times back to Canico and all the bus stops were very, very confusing.  We waited at one busstop and eventually a bus came which had been mentioned on Google. It didn't go near our hotel but went within a mile's walk so we got on. Curiously, all the bus drivers we met in Madeira sounded really British!

We got back to the hotel and had showers and went to bed ready for day 3, where we'd meet our hire car and then have some more adventures.

xx

TARDIS Tuesday A Smile Promo mix?

Hi there,

It's the eve of going back to school! We had an INSET day today. I was doing online training which was painful as everything was so slow- they were all watching videos and everything was buffering so much so it took so long! But it was still lovely not to have to get the train in so I got a bit of a lie-in (got up at 8.15am) and then got to go to my local market at lunchtime (I rarely get to go as a Tuesday and I'm usually away. I bought vegetables without plastic, fish  and prawns without plastic, samosas olives without plastic (I provided all my own containers!) and then some other products from the 'close to the sell by date (which I now realise I AM MISSING something from! Where did it go???).

Anyway, I've given TARDIS Tuesday a miss for a few weeks mainly as I was away, didn't have time to think of anything and didn't quite get around to it.

So I'm back today with an outfit from 10th Doctor Companion, Bill Potts.

It was worn in promo photos for series 10 and features 2 outfits worn in episodes but not actually worn together in the actual episode:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Potts_%28Doctor_Who%29

 

https://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2019/06/09/celebrating-bill-potts-and-doctor-who-series-10/

Image borrowed from The Gallifrey Times

I first wore this on the blog in June 2019 and then wore a variation on it in 2022 from the episode Smile.

As it was so sunny today, it was the perfect outfit for wearing at home:

And here I am:

The bodysuit and reversible jacket are both from Topshop, both purchased second hand years ago and very comfortable to wear. Are they are a weird combination?  Do they go?

I added this sari silk headband which I bought last year in Well-Next-To-The-Sea it sort of looks like Bill's now I compare it.

I also just added my Clarks Funny Dream shoes for the picture as I couldn't be bothered to search for trainers.

Hope all is well with you!

xx

 

Easter Joy and flowers!

Christ has died,

Christ is risen,

Christ will come again!

Easter Sunday is always so joyful! I didn't know if we were going to be back in time for me to attend my own church as we were in Hexham, which would still have been lovely,  but I was so happy to be at church!  Sadly, I didn't make it up for 5.30am for the Sunrise service but I was there for 9.15 service to worship and play my flute. It was a joyous occasion!!!! The entrance to the church had been set up with a line of knitted flowers of various kinds on sticks.

I came home to find CBC had not gone out cycling which I was sort of happy about as often he's out for a lot of Sunday. 

Went out into the garden to have a look at the new life outside.

There was blossom on all the trees, some of it older than others now.

The Forget-me-Nots were out in their full mist of glory.

The Viburnum is starting to form its snowballs- their time is so fleeting so it's lovely to capture them before their zenith.

The apple tree is covered in Blossom! I am so excited! Please give us lots of apples this year!

One of the blueberries has lots of flowers on it.

My garden is reflected in my outfit for church. I always wear something floral and a dress on Easter Sunday.  This year, I decided to wear the handmade vintage dress which I recently was given from my Godmother. I was a little bit concerned I looked  a bit too dressed up!

I wore it with my Monssoon velvet jacket and Florence blue leather boots.

The dress fits me exactly like it was tailored to my dimensions. I think I'd like it a tiny bit looser but it does fit well

I wore it with my bee necklace.

Later in the day, I changed as  I wanted to veg on the sofa.  Later, we wanted to go out for dinner and it was a bit chilly so here's what I wore then:

My vintage cardigan and striped top plus a M&S silk skirt, a beret and my blue Dr Martens!

We headed out for a Thai meal which was delicious.

xx

Somewhere up Pico Ruivo Mountain

I will post about my holiday in Madeira soon but am on my way to my next destination! 

Here's a little snippet from my holiday, day 4 which I wrote for weekly prompt word poem.  The word in question was 'extra'. 

Somewhere up Pico Ruivo Mountain

 

Just a few more extra steps,

Just some extra miles,

Just keep walking up this slope,

Be over in a while,

You’re almost halfway through this trek,

I know your muscles ache,

You’re closer to the end and warmth,

Each extra step you take.

Don’t like this hill, don’t like this mud,

Don’t like this constant rain.

But will the sense of pride at the end

Be worth all the pain?

That guy we met at 7K,

“10 minutes,”- what a lie!

I want this hill to bog right off,

Don’t want to slip and die!

I’ve climbed a million extra steps,

My way is truly wend,

I’m wet and weary, worn-out, wan,

THANK GOD I’VE REACHED THE END!

 

The flora and foliage of Warley Place

I shared my pictures of the beautiful daffodils of Warley Place the other day. This is an Essex Wildlife Trust site.  If you want to find it, you will need to travel from Brentwood station. It's a few miles so you can walk for about 50 minutes or drive. A bus will only take you so far.

I got a taxi from Brentwood station that cost me about £8.25 to Warley Place.  There was a volunteer tent asking for a suggested donation of £3 per person. Luckily, I scrabbled around in my purse and found the requisite amount.  

You can do a circular walk which is apparently about a mile (or a km?)

I'll share some pictures

In the rockeries and along a woodland path, there is a lot of Wild Garlic.  I was delighted to see it!

I loved this view with the different greens. You can see the woodland daffodils (not the field ones)

Here are the woodland daffodils.  So beautiful.

I spied some Turkey Fantail fungus. Not the most colourful ones I've seen but very soft and pretty.

Some beautiful Lungwort. I love the spotty leaves, the beautiful hues and the spiky sepals.

Some lingering Hellebores. i wish I had these ones in my garden. My Hellebores are more dull.

The old conservatory.

Delighted to be accompanied by this beautiful Robin.  Made me think of my Grandmother Mamgu as they lived not so far from this place.

Luscious green.

I learnt that this flower is called Scilla.

Not sure what this purple delight is but it is pretty. The leaves a gorgeous too!

Forget-Me-Nots.

Look at all that garlicky goodness!!!

The primroses remain....I think....or are they Primulas??

 Spring is the very best of seasons!

xx