Weekend

Here's my Sunday outfit.

The top is 20 years old and I bought it from a stall at Spitalfields market.  Everything on the stall was white cheesecloth with printed butterflies and flowers on.  It was my dream stall at the time! I love this top. So floaty in the Summer although I think the elastic in the hem went today as it felt saggy round the bottom when it is usually fitted! 

I teamed it with this charity-shopped Fat face skirt and Seasalt white floral sandals.

 

It was a nice outfit for a hot day!!

Ah, I had a lovely weekend! 

It didn't start or end (in a sense) great though.

On my way to school, I reached into my bag to get my lanyard out.  This houses my work ID, bank card and train ticket (not always but it did then).  It wasn't there.

I was very panicked and phoned CBC who was still at home. I had left it on the coffee table at school.

He sent me photos of them.  Luckily, they let me out at my destination station and I did manage to get home ok but it didn't set me up well for the day!

That evening, I ate leftover party food (CBC had had his annual party for his work colleagues) after watering the garden. CBC was at his school's music barbecue.

The next day, I woke up at 5.30am- was not best pleased as I'd got to bed late. Tried to sleep again but eventually gave up and got up at 6.45am. Did the watering of the garden and seemed to do other things that lasted a while! Not sure what though!

Around 11am-ish, we drove to Kent to my Dad, Stepmum and sister's house to meet them. We were going to Castle Lavender farm together which is near a place called Eynsford.

We had a 2 hour slot booked to have a picnic in their Lavender fields. It was utterly beautiful and smelt amazing! I'll share some photos soon. We ended with walk around the field and then had an ice-cream. There was a girl who was having a photoshoot in the boiling hot sun. She stood in pretty much the same pose for about 2 hours.  I told CBC he shouldn't moan about taking blog photos for 2 minutes! :-)

After that, we headed back to their house and relaxed with a cup of tea and then had some more picnic food later.  Their garden is vast and beautiful so it was lovely to be there...but under an awning!

Around 9pm, CBC drove home (he was supposed to be away at Duke of Edinburgh but it was cancelled because of the heat...and instead, one of his colleagues was having a Sunday barbecue. I'd already planned to stay at Dad's.

We did Jay's Pub quiz on Youtube and then went to bed.

This morning, I woke around 6.45am (grr) and dozed till 8.15am and got up...just as my Dad was making a cup of tea downstairs.

I went for a lovely walk around their garden in my pjs and helped my Dad with some watering. 

We had a later breakfast when everyone was up and then my sister and I headed out to the pool at the gym (we were going to go to a public swimming pool but it was heaving!).

We had such a fun time swimming together and it was really quiet at the pool.

We then headed off to Sainsbury's to get some lunch (mainly a BAGUETTE!) and as usual, ended up in Sainsbury's clothing section which we both love a mooch round! I ended up buying some lilac linen/viscose dungarees! I'm not 100% convinced since I got home but loved them there (as did my sister) so I'll share them and see what you think! 

When we got home, I saw a missed call from CBC. I tried calling back but he didn't answer.

When he eventually called back, it turned out, during his morning cycle, he'd been at a place called the Rettendon turnpike (a big roundabout) and a woman had failed to give way, not noticed him and knocked him off his bike! She'd stopped as had others (she had 2 kids in the back). He was given a lift home by a nice couple who had a Jeep with room for his bike and he surveyed his injuries. He was all scraped down one side and he had scratches all over him but his knee was really hurting. He went to the Barbecue, mainly to have company and then decided to get himself checked out at A&E.  (He got home around 9pm).

I felt sick when he told me and decided to come home immediately. My sister drove me to Ebbsfleet International and I got some trains home.  Relieved CBC is ok.  Apparently, nothing is broken or fractured, just bruising.

Tomorro and Tuesday, my school is closing at 1.30pm because of the heat which I am SO glad about. As you may remember, we are all crammed into 2 buildings and 3 portakabins and everything is very squashed. The classrooms I am supposed to be in both afternoons are absolutely intolerable in the heat. It was utterly awful teaching in them last week at a lower temperature.

Hope you are well.

xx

Weekend Wear

Hi,

Hope you are well.  I am fine- what a changeable weekend we have had.  

Yesterday was constantly wet, today, beautifully sunny and warm! Bizarre, how different the two were!

Yesterday morning, I woke up around 7.20am (so annoying that I have to drag myself out of bed during the weekend but, "PING!", I'm wide awake on a Saturday.)  I went outside to bring in our handmade stool which we'd left outside in the rain and whilst I was there, filled the myriad watering cans (ha! CBC seems to have forgotten about how annoyed he was about the watering cans) and every available receptacle with water from the water butt.  It's annoying how the waterbutt is leaking though!

Anyway, after an annoying 'waiting to do something' morning and early afternoon, I gave up on CBC who was having a nightmare trying to fit a new cog to his bike wheel and who was angrily trying to work it out after he lost an important link, I ran to the station to catch the next rail replacement bus to town...I was SO hot by the time I'd reached the station...but importantly, made my coach!

In town, I headed to the charity shop to look for something specific, which I didn't find, but I did come out with 2 lovely Ted Baker shirts for CBC and a brand new Dinosaur dress from Run&Fly which I've admired online for ages! It IS a size 14 and is thus rather baggy on me, but it feels quite comfortable!

I then headed to Mr Simm's sweet emporium to stock up on sweeties and headed to the nice greengrocer to stock up on Veg. The nice man remembered me and asked how my Mum was, last time he saw me, I was stocking up on things for for her (which I then dropped down the stairs).  Annoyingly, I had just missed the half-hourly rail replacement bus by 2 minutes after finishing here so I headed to Wilko for a look in the garden section. I came out with 3 bamboo toothbrushes, a large box of Coir compost (it's really good as you add water and it makes 40litres of rich, peat-free compost and weighs a lot less) and some seeded Desiree potatoes that were going cheap for 10p (mainly to avoid them going in the bin- there were SOOOO many though!).

When I got home, I planted out 2 of my tomato plants as well as 2 of my courgettes (please God, let them survive another night- I didn't cover them tonight and I know snails are marauding as I have removed them from several places and it is now raining!) 

Sunday morning, CBC went off to cycle 100miles (yes, that much) and I joined in with a church service online from a localish church which was lovely.  Super impressed by the vicar who played the piano AND led the worship singing- he was really good!  One of my favourite songs, which I've not sung for SUCH a long time, was part of the service, here it is below.

After that, after realising that CBC would not be getting back any time soon to go for a walk to see the Bluebells with me, I decided to go by myself.

Here's what I wore today.  This vintage Indian top was one I bought last week in the charity shop in Maldon.  Teamed with a belt (Primark-10 years ago), charity shopped Mary Jane shoes and Tescos leggings

And specially for Sheila and Vix, here's the stuff/details...

Yes, I look haggard and scruffy, but I don't care! I was happy in the sun!

I discovered that the Bluebell woods were only 2.1 miles walk from my house- the last time I'd visited them, I'd gone the long way and it was 5miles or so to the same point!! Ha, it was such an easy walk! It happily took me past the Garden centre as well and I ended up picking up some Tomato planter things as my tomatoes were SUCH a mess last year, I want something to make them neater! I also bought some raspberries and a Brownie on the way home for  a garden and tea treat for us.

I'll share some Bluebell photos soon although I left my camera at home and they are only phone ones! 

I felt so good after the sunshine and it was lovely to have a little garden time with CBC.

I harvested some salad leaves and Spinach tonight which also felt positive!

Hope your weekend was great!

xx

A lazy weekend for some!

Hi,

How are you? Well, I hope. 

Well, I spent today at school cleaning/sorting/tidying out the music room (and the cupboard of doom in the hall)- stayed for about 5.5 hours.  Was glad to get it done at the start of the holidays and indeed, I HAD to do it now as the cleaners need to do the deep clean and that frankly wasn't possible without this! 

BUT, the weekend was a nicely relaxed one!

I got up around 8.45 to water the garden and then we headed to see the piano. We met my Piano technician friend L there who gave the piano the once over and said it was a good piano so we are going ahead with buying it (Friday).

After that, CBC wanted to head to Leigh-on-Sea to go and fetch a birthday present for his sister. I had already purchased her a cute Tatty Devine notebook and a pretty Citronella candle in a teal ceramic pot but he wanted to get something.

We went into a very fancy florist where he bought her a money plant in a pretty pot (very expensive though!) The florist was arty, fun and quirky and very hip which is very Leigh-on-Sea.

After that, CBC wanted to stop somewhere for a drink/brunch so we went to our favourite cafe, Stop The World, where he had Eggs Florentine, coffee and a smoothie. I had just a smoothie because I didn't want to be spending lots of money  on the first day of the holiday.  It's a very lovely cafe though and I LOVE their veggie breakfast usually which consists of Halloumi, grilled tomatoes, tomato salsa, spinach, broccoli, asparagus oh and mushrooms but I swap those for avocado!

 After that, we headed towards home but CBC decided we should have a walk and so we went to Belfairs woods which are a very pleasant place to walk- I've walked there once before but it was very muddy that time!

We ended up walking on the golf  course as part of our walk and sat on a bench and watched someone teeing off which was hilarious from behind!

In the woods, we saw this very pretty Green man carving.

 There was also vast quantity of Speckled Wood butterflies around. There were some other varieties but they were very skittish so I didn't have the chance to identify them.

The woodland parts of the walk very pleasantly shaded.  Out in the sun wasn't soo cool as I hadn't put on any suncream as we were originally just out to see a piano!

 The grass is very parched everywhere.  Maybe just one day of rain might be ok?

 Back home, I had some leftover sandwiches from the staff tea party as my version of lunch/breakfast and watered the garden and put some washing in.
I noticed how happy my Aloe Vera is with life at the moment.  We recently bought it a new big pot to live in and it has spread out and grown profusely up and outwards.

 Plus, several babies have been born!

 After that, we headed over to CBC's Sister's house where his Mum was also. She's pregnant at the moment- due in 2 weeks and has a 23-month boy who was having a meltdown when we arrived.  Luckily, that was instantly abated as he was curious about us!  I ended up going off with him to inspect the hoovers - he likes the hoover and he seemed very happy. We gave her her presents which she seemed to like and then took his Mum out to dinner at Prezzo so they could do the Bed time routine in peace.

When we returned home, I did some more work on Another Day of Sun (part of my list) and CBC prepared for Sunday's cycling ride from London to Southend.

CBC set off at 6am to London and I slept on!
At around 11, I rode to the station on my Brompton to get the train to Southend Victoria to meet him at the finish line.

Unusually, Abellio Greater Anglia were giving away free ice-creams to everyone who travelled on the train so I had a 99 before leaving the station.  Here it is with my bike!

 I cycled down to Priory Park and waited at the Finish Line for CBC.

 There he is at 12.10ish!  I then stood around for 2 hours or so as he and his two cycling pals had some beers and chatted and tried not to get too impatient!
We rode back to Southend Victoria, irritatingly missing a train by 2 minutes which meant 28 minutes wait.

 Back home, I decided I should really tackle the bag of present from school, most of which hadn't been opened in the hurry on Friday.
18 boxes of chocolates is perhaps a bit much for one person to receive and not very healthy though I appreciate the gesture.  1 box had already been given to my piano pal.

 These were the non-chocolate gifts

 My favourite was this pair of cat-themed gifts which I DID open on Wednesday when the boy gave it to me.  I said, "Oooh, I love them! Did you choose them?" to which he replied affirmatively and when questioned how he knew to choose them, he commented, "You wear a lot of cat-themed clothing so I thought you might like them!"  How utterly thoughtful for a 9-year old boy!

Here are most of the cards minus one or two that were upstairs already.

There were three bunches of flowers. I gave one to my neighbours as I don't have enough vases for 3 and it seemed nice to share the joy (which I also intend to do with chocolates).

It's nice to be appreciated.

Later that evening, I cooked a dinner of pasta with green vegetables and passata and then finished Another Day of Sun!  

Task 1 completed!

How was your weekend?

xx

Canoeing on the Lea River

Over a week ago, on the Sunday, CBC and I had made plans with his brother to fulfil our Olympic water-based ambitions.  

So duly, on Sunday afternoon, we headed to the Olympic park to go to Moo canoes aboard the Milk Float to hire some Canoes for a few hours.

The Milk Float is a narrow boat which doubles up as a bar and eatery as well as hiring canoes.

On top of the Narrow boat, it is covered with fake grass, deck chairs and bunting so you can relax in the sun. CBC and I arrived first, so we snagged ice-creams.

Our partners in crime arrived...

We spotted the Boat's cat!

And looked out at the pretty views..

Cat began to wash its bum as they do when you watch them.

Next, we went to fetch our canoes and made our way along the Lee River until we reached the pub, the Princess of Wales in Stoke Newington where we moored up and had some lunch.

That's why they are called Moo Canoes...

The Princess of Wales was rather popular.

I dressed for the occasion and wore my Seaman's cap adored with pin badges.

I regretted wearing CBC's waterproof coat as the sun was out.

The other members of the party partook of beer.

I ordered some curly fries with pulled pork and sour cream and the veggies ordered these lentil and beetroot burgers which I ended up eating some of.

The bar had some really fun decor such as Books wallpaper, these fun typography tiles and

A fox lampshade!

Soon we realised that we would have to return back along the river as we had a deadline for returning the canoes.

I've never canoed on a river with narrow boats before (or stonking great craft like this), so I was rather disconcerted by this one arriving.  That said, I have sea-kayaked with a dirty great Ladrolinja ferry behind me in Croatia which I recall was terrifying so maybe not so bad! They have right of way so you always need to go to their right. As they were already on the right, we just stayed still...

But we had to sit in the mire...

I made sure I had my camera on me on the return journey as it spent the way there in the waterproof bucket. The journey continued pleasantly along the river and we zoomed ahead of our companions!

There were many vessels along our journey which we ogled with great interest.

Ahoy there!

We passed under several bridges.

Passed yet more narrow boats.

Many examples of of intriguing graffiti pervade the area.  These robotic owl twins seemed to fix us with beady eyes as we passed.

I enjoyed the Silmarillion- a Tolkien fan no doubt!

We loved Boaty McBoatface the second!

More graffiti adorned the underside of this bridge. I was intrigued by EdwineGums!

I'll choose to ignore the addition to the sign!

There seem to be lots of teeth in the graffiti!!!

A serpent with a Santa hat? Why not?

And here we saw the Olympic Stadium as we reached the Milk Float again.

The runners-up in the race!

After we'd returned our canoes and I'd removed my aqua shoes and donned my gold Toms shoes, I looked for CBC and found Red Riding Hood on the bench.

Next, we headed to the Crate Brewery for a drink and some food (in some people's cases) where we saw the next lot of Grafitti artists in action.

The Kashmiri Dhal pizza was really tasty although I only had one slice to try it as I was still full of curly fries. I honestly don't know where those boys put their food!

There was the finished Graffiti after we had eaten.

Next, we headed to the Olympic Aquatic Centre where we had booked for a 7pm swim.

The pool looked really big and exciting. Whilst we were there, there were some Team Life Guard competitions going on in the other half of the pool.

Unfortunately, I discovered I had left my swimming costume somewhere and ended up buying a Speedo one from the shop which I wasn't best pleased about. Idiot!
The swim was good but we all could taste Dhal pizza as we were doing it- not the best choice before swimming. The lanes are divided according to speed but I couldn't seem to find one to match me. Dead slow was too slow, but the next lane was too fast! Alas.

As we walked back through the park to reach our car, I glimpsed the Doctor Whoesque  Toclafane again above our heads

FYI, if you are interested, Moo Canoes are quite expensive and cost £50 for 4 hours each.  The Olympic swim session cost £5.  I enjoyed the canoeing but I did think it was rather overpriced. Nonetheless, I am glad we did it, seized our last bit of Summer sunshine and got out there and got active!

Have you done either of these activities?

xx