Westendmum

Cute jumper

2012-02-18T21:49:00.003Z

Image © Cath Kidston

Hacked and Flattered!

2012-02-18T21:39:00.002Z

I haven’t been here since November last year but it would appear someone else has. I guess it is quite flattering that someone is taking the time to write stuff in my name, that appears when one searchs for my blog, but really - who is going to be searching for my blog?

It’s my own fault really, my last post was about a gift for girls, that the gift was ‘pants’ and ‘13 year old’ appeared in the same sentence might have attracted 14 year old boys with a little too much computer knowledge was furthest from my mind at the time.

So I apologise if anyone has been offended and not least to the 14 year old boy looking for a 13 year old girl in pants.

Pants!

2011-11-25T22:33:00.003Z

Stuck on what to get your bestfriend’s daughter for Christmas?

How about these Juicy Couture days of the week knickers from Selfridges. A pop at £70 the set!

Tracey Emin Soap Star

2011-10-24T10:33:00.008+01:00

Liberty of London have put together a limited edition collection of items designed by Britain’s best loved national treasures ranging from our Queen Viv through to Tracey Emin. All proceeds will go to the designers chosen charity.

Tracey Emin’s is a bar of lavender soap wrapped in an original poem penned in Emin’s signature scrawl, all proceeds going to Art Against Knives. At just £10 that is what I call affordable art!

Tracey Emin Lavender Soap with Handwritten Poem Wrapper.

£10.00 from Liberty London.

Images © Liberty.co.uk

Funky Letters for Kidsrooms

2011-10-22T09:01:00.004+01:00

It’s the weekend. Thank goodness. Here are some quite nice wooden letters from the Victoria & Albert for just £2.50 each.

Images © V&A

2011-10-20T09:05:00.004+01:00

I've had a couple of days work, which means the pockets will be potentially lined, so have been doing a bit of online browsing, during which I found this adorable kids top by Stella McCartney.

Anyone who knows us proper will get it - I could have drawn this, what with bunnies AND fly agaric plus it’s called Billy. Quirky but not too sweet - love it!

Cushion the blow.

2011-10-10T10:26:00.004+01:00

Autumn is here, the leaves are coming off the trees, the temperature has dropped and the forecast across the UK is for another long hard Winter. What better way to comfort against the cold than with some new sofa ornamentation (cushions to you or I) to buoy all that extra indoor snuggling time.

These two glorious ones are by Michelle Mason, they’d make lovely Christmas presents too, or is it really too early to be thinking about that?

Cushions £45 from Michelle Mason

Hard-wearing cotton satin with pom-pom trims.

Size: 48cm x 28cm

Images: © Michelle Mason 2011

Doormats and School Admissions

2011-10-09T14:22:00.010+01:00

I have just been composing a letter to attach to the end of our choice of schools for Erbie next September.

Where we live all schools are so oversubscribed it is uncertain whether one will even get into a school within spitting distance. I was told to go with gut instinct when choosing, gut instinct didn’t like the first school we saw but very much liked the two over the road, so fingers crossed and a letter saying I will poo my pants if I have to walk Erbie too far to school in the morning.

Keep Calm and Come In from Graham & Green

I've also been looking at doormats from the plain to the sublime why not make a statement before even stepping over the threshold. Wiping ones wellies need never be tedious again.

Ikea heart doormat £9.99

Union Jack doormat Debenhams £22.50

I Love London Doormat £17.99 from Filoro

My London cake tins

2011-09-23T14:21:00.003+01:00

Caught sight of these and thought they were rather good....

My London set of cake tins, Angel Cake and Victoria sponge - £26.99 the pair.

Available online here: amazon

Just had a strange encounter with The Belle Mere, as I was trying to get in the front door with an over-tired and tetchy Erbie and laden with shopping she crept up behind us and started singing. Erbie started to cry and said: ‘Make granpa go away’, and she walked off...

First school hell.

2011-09-15T21:14:00.000+01:00

The GR is fuming – again and has sent me to bed with Erbie – it’s 8.30pm.

He is nearly always cross with me these days. We no longer sleep in the same bed or make any attempt to. He makes a bed from the sofa cushions upstairs, I sleep in bed with Erbie downstairs. Erbie is 3. He’s must be feeling unloved and I’m just plain lonely. We can’t talk to one another nowadays without rubbing the wrong way. He goes off and phones his dad and they discuss stuff, I wonder if he is quietly sabotaging me. I’m probably paranoid.

I printed out a voucher for the cinema today along with the entrance tables for the local schools. I’m worried because even though we live on the doorstep of 3 very good primary schools all of them are oversubscribed, the one we would like Erbie to go to had 550 applicants for 60 places last year. The other 2 are equally oversubscribed. The last child to be accepted lived less than 0.2 miles from the school.

Apparently this is the first year the schools will be allocated from the local council’s central office and it all hangs on ones proximity to the school, befriending the head teacher won’t help but with all our local schools so oversubscribed I fear for Erbie’s future education. The GR is from this area and his experience of school from primary through to finish was appalling. Let Erbie be lucky.

I mentioned it to The GR and managed to send him into a spiral of self-loathing, which got directed at me. “I deliberately tell him bad stuff without any solution. I always pick the wrong time to tell him things, I never say thank-you, I always make him lose his temper in front of Erbie, what more do I want from him…” culmunating with him telling me to start looking for somewhere else to live.

Things to do - London Motor Museum

2011-08-26T11:33:00.015+01:00

Is it or isn’t it?

When I heard about the London Motor Museum, I had to go check it out as Erbie is car mad and well, cars are cool (coming from a non-driving, car free family). It’s situated in North London, just off the North circular past the Nescafé factory, smell the coffee and you are almost there. It is a bit tricky to get to, at the end of what appears to be a dead end road but you’ll know when you’ve found it as there is a monster truck driving over a police car on the lawn out front and a van covered in mirror tiles. [I’ll show the pictures!]

Lets go mummy...

Could this be Herbie?

Could this really be Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,

next to Harry Potter’s Ford Anglia?

Could this be Lady Penelope’s?

Thunderbird...

Starsky and Hutch’s Gran Torino?

007’s Lotus Esprit?

The Dukes of Hazzard,

1969 Dodge Charger – The General Lee?

Koo, koo!

Well, no one is saying they ARE the originals –

but who cares.

So, to the real cars:

Ahhh, an E-Type Jaguar.

Some nice ones with stripes...

I’m a girl, I can’t say I know what make they are.

But they are very pretty.

Some badge close-ups:

Challenger, Chevrolet, Dodge, Camaro.

This one matched my outfit.

A Rolls Royce Corniche.

And this one had to be my favourite, a vintage 50’s Porsche.

There were lots of cars to look at, but it wasn’t so vast as to be overwhelming. Erbie loved it, I loved it and we managed to get 2 for 1 adult, on the ticket price with a little internet voucher searching beforehand.

I thoroughly recommend it!

One Year

2011-07-17T10:32:00.002+01:00

We have been here for a year. One year. Lately I have been thinking about what I want to do with my life, what I really enjoy. A couple of friends have made major career changes, one through choice, the other necessity and I’m wondering about following suit. What do I love? I love fashion. I love design. I love gardens – although I’ve never had one.

Playdoh Recipe

2011-06-11T15:56:00.004+01:00

I’m putting this here for me really as I keep losing the recipe and this one REALLY works plus keeps for ages. I usually add some vanilla essence too to make it smell authentic!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup table salt

1 cup plain flour

1 tbsp cream of tartar (don’t ask me why)

1 tbsp of oil

splash of food colouring

3 drops of vanilla essence

1 cup of boiling water.

Put all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add boiling water. Mix together well, add colouring and essence and when cool enough knead with hands until it reaches a good consistency not to sticky, not too dry. Sometimes I add more salt if it’s too wet or more oil if too dry. It does keep for ages in an airtight container. I have been know to add glitter too.

Addatum:

As myself and teawithonesugar found out DO NOT try to replace the cream of tartar with ordinary baking soda - you will indeed end up with a gloopy mess rather than a maleable dough

Thomas the Tank Engine First Day Covers

2011-06-08T06:53:00.008+01:00

If any of you have Thomas mad little boys, here is a nice little gift idea to arrive through the letterbox one morning. Royal Mail are issuing a series of Thomas the Tank Engine stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rev. W. Awdry. Reverend Wilfred Awdry came up with the first Thomas train stories to entertain his 2 year old son Christopher whilst ill with measles. The first book ‘The Three Railway Engines’ was subsequently published in 1945.

There are two sets, one of the familiar TV engines for £6.07 and a minature set of original illustrations from the books for £3.96. They also ship overseas. (There is a lovely presentation pack too, the images online don’t really do them justice.

First day covers are only available until the 14th June, so get your buffers busting.

Available from www.royalmail.com/thomas

A boost...

2011-06-07T06:54:00.005+01:00

Erbie needs a booster seat, although I’d love a Tripp Trapp, we already have more chairs than our little flat really needs. This one from Fred and Friends is rather fun although I’m not sure there is a supplier in the UK perhaps I could improvise with the real thing and a cushion?

Thanks for your comments, they too were a boost.

BOOST™

need a lift?

When Junior needs a little boost at the table, just reach for the Yellow Pages.
Our version is made from light-weight, soft, durable, washable, form-fitting foam.
Kids from age 3 will happily rise to the occasion.

I am lost.

2011-05-27T18:02:00.001+01:00

I'll be back when I’m found.

Miss out of fashion

2011-03-21T20:26:00.005Z

I tumbled across and ridiculously desired this frock which hammers home and clocks round the head my desire for Spring to be fully sprung. For me a hankering after full-length virginal white numbers, which appear to be nothing more than 2 pieces of strategically elasticated material (you could make that yourself as my mother would have said) demonstrate a serious neglect of fashion over the winter months on my part. Time to get back out there girl.

Only £158 quid m’lord available here.

Dear fashion police: My last two clothing purchases have been a vintage waxed Barbour jacket and black shiny rubber riding boots - [eh gads girl, you only moved a couple of postcodes].

Window boxes

2011-03-12T06:48:00.004Z

It is nice to have a little bit of Spring in the window boxes. The Grandad gave me a large box of pot luck bulbs, mainly crocus and they all came up - I could harvest my own saffron!

Bag envy

2011-03-03T14:33:00.003Z

I’m loving this Alexander McQueen Faithful De Manta poppy clutch, just what I need to put a Spring in my step and only £295 from Selfridges – we can all dream!

Rainy Wet Playtime

2011-02-16T09:17:00.005Z

On yet another grey day stuck indoors with Erbie we took up some time by making cutouts, taking our inspiration from Joëlle Jolivet’s picture book: ‘Almost Everthing’. The vehicle spread is Erbie’s favourite so I copied some out badly onto plain paper. Erbie then helped colour them in and we got a grown up to help cut them out!

Erbie discovered they stuck rather well to the condensation on the windows.

Moomin and Sniff snuck in there too...

LOVE

2011-02-14T15:14:00.004Z

Just wanted to share with you how much of a mug I am this Valentines Day. And to say: ‘big love to you all’. Things have been really tough – but Spring is on the way...

Available on the high street at Marks and Spencers for a fiver or online here.

I fell in love with the mug online and couldn’t believe it was from good old M&S. In the same line: ‘Circus Type’, there are tea-towels and tins - (cake and biscuit), which having seen first hand, I have to say are rather flimsey and not something I would recommend, however I cannot fault the mugs or teatowels. LOVE- LY.

Happy Valentines!

Freedom

2011-02-03T07:52:00.004Z

At last a dairy free dessert that gets close to icecream.

During the Summer I was tinkering with various ways to make an icecream-like dessert for Erbie, I got as far as frozen soya milk and vanilla essence lollies, which were palatable but more ice lolly than cream. Now I find that a young lady with a similar desire has already done all the hard work and got picked up by Dragons Den no less.

Kirsty Henshaw from Preston established Worthenshaws in 2009 which has now been repackaged as Freedom and her vanilla, strawberry or chocolate icecreamlike confection should be on the shelves in the UK’s supermarkets as we speak sweetie.

See: www.worthenshaws-freedom.co.uk where they also have good information on allergies

The amazing ballooning baby.

2011-02-03T07:39:00.005Z

We had confirmation that Erbie is still allergic to milk or more specifically casein (milk protein) when his whole face swelled up last week – the cause an innocuous Chupa Chups lolly.

He has had Chupa Chups lollies before but I’m usually very vigilant and only allow the fruit flavoured ones. This time he insisted on vanilla – no milk in vanilla, right, I searched the ingredients and could only find vanilla flavour, so thought it would be okay. Half way through the lolly and halfway round Sainsbury’s he gave the lolly back (they do seem to know if something is wrong) and I noticed the tell tale hives all around his mouth. I finished the lolly, wiped him down and we hurried home, the hives disappeared and I thought nothing more about it.

The Spanish Chupa Chups logo designed by none other than Salvador Dali in 1969

Twenty minutes later his nose started streaming and the left side of his face started to swell up. His sinuses became so inflamed he looked like he’d done four rounds in the ring with Tyson. I gave him a dose of liquid Piriton (an off the shelf antihistamine) and whisked him out of the door as his top lip began to lose all definition.

Thankfully there is an A&E 10 minutes up the road, he fell asleep on the way. I kept telling myself he was fine, he’d just fallen asleep because it was nap time and the Piriton would have knocked him out, but I couldn’t stop the nagging doubt. His little fist gripped onto my finger so tightly, I had visions of the girl I’d seen having an asthma attack in class back in secondary school who went into seizure as the carried her out of the classroom, her left hand in rigour. I called his name over and over as I ran across the main road to the hospital.

Being English I waited in an orderly fashion at the reception desk as a vaguely familiar looking actor off the telly and his toddler with a gash to the forehead gave their details before me. We were all then ushered through to the children’s waiting area. Erbie was still out cold on my shoulder, another child with a similar gash to the head was playing noisily in the corner. After what must have been another twenty minutes Erbie woke up, his voice was croaky and his face was still swollen but he was back.

A friendly nurse took his temperature and heart rate then checked his body for a rash, all thankfully normal and as I had already given him Piriton there was nothing they could do accept keep him there for surveillance. He got given a bed in a room with kids TV and I begged a clean nappy and directions to the café.

After 3 hours the swelling had started to subside, he got checked over by a doctor and we left just as toddler nap time was coming to an end and the waiting room in conjunction was starting to fill up.

I was informed there may be secondary reaction 12 hours later but not to worry he was probably fine and thankfully he was.

NB: Casein is used as a carrier protein in certain vaccinations, if it is injected directly into the blood stream of a 3 month old baby with a higher levels of antibodies than a non breastfed baby it may be probable that the body will form an immune response to the protein along with the disease being vaccinated against. Most toddlers grow out of milk protein allergy by the time they are 5 or 6.

Don’t ask, don’t get.

2011-01-29T15:17:00.002Z

I made this postcard to send to the local allotment site manager requesting a plot and it worked, I’m now on the waiting list. Number 204 but at least I’m on it!

House jewellery

2011-01-29T13:20:00.006Z

Large Heart Shaped Escutcheon - £3.75 from Willow and Stone

God is in the detail, or so it is said and now that we are proud homeowners (don’t say that too quickly) I find myself noticing things I would have dismissed before, such as door knobs and light fittings, window latches, locks and escutcheons, oh dear! Changing a small detail such as a window lock does however update ones surroundings for the minimum of cost. We recently replaced the old broken nickel fastening on the sash window with a shiny new Bristol brass one and it really is like jewellery for the house. It makes me smile every time I look at it sitting there glinting in the pale Winter light.

Brass Bristol Window Fitting © Willow & Stone

Door knobs are next on the agenda as Erbie is fast reaching the height where he could take an eye out on one of the unclassy metal hook-like handles we have adorning our doors presently.

I rather like copper or brass or glass...

All from willowandstone.co.uk

Olena Glass Door Knob from Laura Ashley

Talking of brass knockers we found out this morning that Kendal’s lump is malignant. Gulp, back to the house jewellery – quickly.

A Call To Arms

2011-01-18T07:35:00.004Z

I’m not usually a political activist but what with the new government planning to sell off our forests and local councils having to cut funding for bedding plants and greenhouses. I call upon you to arm yourselves - with these flower grenades £11.50 for three from The Balcony Gardener, and you shall have buttercups and poppies wherever you go.

Terrible Twos

2011-01-17T11:00:00.004Z

Erbie is two and has been since the end of August, lately he has been showing signs of the ‘terrible’ frequently bandied about with ‘twos’– terrible that is by Erbie standards. I believe it is all to do with him finding his own identity. My little bundle who once wore whatever I put him in and did whatever was asked of him is suddenly saying ‘no’ and having tantrums (of sorts). He is no longer a mere extension of me but his own little person, it is both exciting and trying at the same time. Whereas before when we were going out I’d stick his coat on, ram him into some shoes, stick him on my hip and we’d be out of the door, now I need to cajoule and barter. I read somewhere that it is not worth picking a fight with a two year old unless it involves their safety and have found this to be the easiest option. I still haven’t acquired the parental deafness to crying that I guess only comes when you have more than one.

I’ve found that offering a choice of (only two) items can help but once he has chosen I try to make him stick to his choice, that way we both feel in control, stripy socks or the penguin ones, that sort of thing. He will only wear his brown cord cap but at least he does wear a hat (he still has very little hair to talk of).

The other morning after refusing to put on shoes, he kicked out at the little row of them by the doorway and sobbed:

‘I smash my shoes, I sorry mummy.’

Once we are out, there are the shops to contend with. Having department stores as a sort of playground when we lived in W1 has, I think, helped him appreciate that lots of things don’t belong to us and therefore need to stay where they are. This works most of the time...

On Sunday the weather was miserable and Erbie was tired but as we hadn’t been out of the house for what seemed like days we took a walk to the nearby Farmer’s Market. On our way back we dropped into the local Garden centre for a nose around - lots of pots of pansies and primulas. There is also have a large shop that sells a wide selection of goods, I now know why half the local community walk around in Hunter wellies. They also sell some child friendly items among which was a a set of zoo animals in a bucket with a yellow safari jeep. Erbie decided he needed to have aforementioned safari jeep and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I left The GR queueing to buy a primula and took Erbie protesting: ‘I want it, I want it, okay, okay, lets go back, lets go back’, outside, this continued on and off for two thirds of the way home whereupon he fell fast asleep. He woke up 3 hours later happy as Larry.

His language is also coming on in leaps and bounds to the extreme that we really need to watch what we say in front of him or he will want it. The GR and I have started spelling stuff to one another, this only works if the person being spelt to doesn’t then trumphantly blurt out the word, this sadly has happened.

Recently Erbie and I were looking through a copy of the CBeebies magazine (I won’t buy it again, it’s the same price as a Vogue for God’s sake) and I was asking Erbie the names of things when suddenly he replied:

‘It’s cunt I think mummy, yes that’s right.’

I managed to calmly correct him but as I was saying we need to watch what we say.

Liberty Illustrated

2011-01-13T14:49:00.005Z

Liberty is famous for its wonderful Tana Lawn cottons and has recently produced in my mind a rather topping collection using the skills of several book illustrators, ranging from Quentin Blake through to Lauren Child (the illustrator of Charlie and Lola). Some of the designs are quite charming - look, this one, in various colour ways is by Quentin Blake.

Brian Wildsmith © Liberty

And look, there are even some by David McKee, the creator of ‘Mr Benn’, ‘Elmer’ and ‘Not Now Bernard’, one really could imagine walking down Festive Road in a shirt made from either of these.

The baubles have gone on.

2010-12-12T08:20:00.005Z

Original vintage, a family heirloom!

Handmade B a present from San Franciso

The birds

Nutcracker soldier

My black angels from Africa

We have reopened communications with The Belle Mere and Erbie has named her ‘Grandpa’.

Look out we’ve got a reader here.

2010-12-05T06:33:00.004Z

Having recently had the opportunity to read again by having a few days work, which involved travelling on public transport - alone, ye gads, I was intrigued to hear about World Book Night on March 5th, 2011. A million books are to be be given away. To sign up, go to the link worldbooknight.org and chose from one of 25 titles. If you are chosen, after selecting a title you would like to give away with your reasons, you will be given 40 copies to pass on.

The list is here:

Half of a Yellow Sun	Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie	Harper Perennial
Case Histories	Kate Atkinson	Black Swan
The Blind Assassin	Margaret Atwood	Virago
A Life Like Other People’s	Alan Bennett	Profile
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold	John le Carré	Penguin
Killing Floor	Lee Child	Bantam
The World’s Wife	Carol Ann Duffy	Picador
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Mark Haddon	Vintage
New Selected Poems	Seamus Heaney	Faber
Rachel’s Holiday	Marian Keyes	Penguin
The Reluctant Fundamentalist	Mohsin Hahmed	Penguin
Agent Zigzag	Ben Macintyre	Bloomsbury
Love in the Time of Cholera	Gabriel García Márquez	Penguin
Life of Pi	Yann Martel	Canongate
Stuart	Alexander Masters	Fourth Estate
A Fine Balance	Rohinton Mistry	Faber
Cloud Atlas	David Mitchell	Sceptre
Beloved	Toni Morrison	Vintage
One Day	David Nicholls	Hodder
Northern Lights	Philip Pullman	Scholastic
All Quiet on the Western Front	Erich Maria Remarque	Vintage
Dissolution	C.J. Sansom	Pan
Toast	Nigel Slater	Fourth Estate
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie	Muriel Spark	Penguin
Fingersmith	Sarah Waters	Virago

I like these...

2010-12-02T16:22:00.004Z

Image: notonthehighstreet.com

I saw these in a shop window and found them online at: notonthehighhstreet.com.

On a much needed sojourn into town recently I also saw some Christmas themed ones in Selfridges. I am thinking of LOVE in the hallway.

1. At what time of your life were you happiest and why?

2010-10-11T23:56:00.003+01:00

I want to share, I really do, but I am not ready, so I give you this, which is kind of sharing, only very very old.

1976 Which was sunny.

If you ask an english person old enough to remember 1976 they will tell you it was sunny.

In 1976 I was in love with the boy who delivered Wednesdays evening edition of the local paper, he was a Mod called Mark. Mark was dark and terribly good looking in a chiseled way just like his scooter - a boner (ha, a boner! for those of you not au fait with the Jam or two tone revival a boner is a scooter that has been stripped down to it’s basic form in the vain hope that it will go faster). I would climb uncerimoniously half way up the outer limits of our house to a ledge the width of a laptop computer and lounge seductively in my navy and lemon yellow nylon bikini (sic). I’d eagerly awaiting his arrival under the heat of the sun, turning this way and that, should my left leg go here, perhaps my ankle would be more attractive this way. I was 10 just about to go to secondary school and my mum’s house was at the top of a dead end hill, I could see him coming. I was also shy, so shy, as soon as I did see him 5 doors away I’d run inside. I’m sure he never had any idea of my existence. But I remember the prickly heat of th sun on my back, the smell of the melting asphalt on the ledge. A soaring intense feeling of freedom, unexplainable now. Youth I guess. Being in control, seeing the object of my desire approaching and being able to turn away to return to my childhood sanctum of books and pets and mummys calling one to dinner whilst the wolf of desire pattered down the drive outside and popped a paper through the letterbox.

For this little outburst I would like to thank ; http://theharridan.wordpress.com/ who is lovely and whom also put me onto ; http://52seductions.wordpress.com/2010/02/

French Enamel

2010-09-24T11:41:00.005+01:00

Gate - Somewhere in North London

I have always really like blue French enamel door numbers and have recently noticed a high proportion of houses around here already have them. So it’s true, Erbie is destined to grow up a middle class mummies boy, could be worse I suppose.

If you too would like to have an authentic blue French enamel door number without traversing the Channel I found some here at Willow and Stone.

£18.50

£8 per number

Mean reds

2010-09-17T14:25:00.003+01:00

People around me are having a terrible time, ranging from bad backs, divorce, murder, threatening neighbours, losing family homes to alcoholism - and that’s just my close friends. The GR has more or less been having a breakdown, my colitis is in major flare-up mode. We all got to be a year older, Erbie is now 2. We still haven’t sorted out the situation with Belle Mere. I attempted to book us all a holiday to get away from it all, which was a disaster, a journey of epic proportions for 2 days of sun and one on the beach. The GR blamed me the whole way through and now we are less well off because of it. We are not rekindling our relationship or skipping hand-in-hand through the woods as was the ideal. I miss the West End, I walked to Regent’s Park the other day and on reaching it’s outskirts my heart lifted and I felt I’d come home.

On a positive note the flat is lovely...

Confrontation

2010-08-29T07:35:00.003+01:00

After a couple of weeks of mail still arriving for the Belle Mere I texted to asking if I may have a forwarding address:

‘With pleasure.’ came the reply. ‘When can I see Erbie?’

So, no address and a request to see her grandson even though she had still had no communication with her own son. Having spent half of the year on awkward visitations in order to rest our flat from her, and having now got it, I no longer had to play the game. So I texted a reply:

‘When you and The GR (obviously I used The GR’s real name) sort yourselves out’.

To which I got an immediate phone call in a pleading voice saying: ‘What have I done now?’

‘You haven’t done anything Belle Mere.’ I said. (obviously not saying, Belle Mere I used her christian name). ‘You haven’t spoken to The GR for over a year. Talk to him.’

And, I’m not proud to admit it, I put the phone down on the woman.

I felt guilty for doing so and after a while texted an apology and urged her to get in touch with her son saying I couldn’t be in the middle any longer.

I got a rather curt reply saying, in her defence she was rather expecting a thank you.

I rest my case m’lord.

The GR is still in an apocalyptic rage with her for choosing investment over family but hopefully it will subside over time. He encountered her in the local super market the other day, just catching sight of her as she scuttled away in the opposite direction - not the actions of someone who believes they are in the right.

They say time is a great healer. I know this to be true, but the Belle Mere doesn’t have that much time – she is in her 70’s already.

Hello deer

2010-08-07T14:34:00.008+01:00

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post, and yes, we are still in London - North London, Muswell Hill to be precise or Highgate as one likes to say!

Nothing opens before 8am.

Erbie is an early riser, so we have been exploring. This is the disused Railway Track nearby, lined with brambles - hurrah. It leads to...

Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally to the locals)

The birthplace of television

“Alexandra Palace is situated in North London and known around the world as the birthplace of television.

In fact it was never owned by the BBC, but in 1935 the Corporation leased the eastern part of the building from which the first public television transmissions were made. In 1936 it hosted trials between the EMI-Marconi and Baird television system to decide who would carry the television standard for the future.

Studio A was equipped with the Marconi-EMI Emitron system, while Baird installed his mechanical systems in Studio B. The Emitron camera proved far superior to Baird's cumbersome film technique, which never developed beyond an experimental stage.

These early transmissions were famously introduced by one of the very first presenters, Elizabeth Cowell, with the words "This is direct television from Alexandra Palace…"”

I know that darling man Richard Attenbourgh did some early transmissions from here.

Anyway it also has deer.

Lovely early morning deer, dear.

We did it!

2010-07-28T22:55:00.004+01:00

We bought our flat from Belle Mere and moved in. We spent 12 years doing it up and then we bought it! It’s marvelous. I was worried I wouldn’t like being out of the West End and refused to say goodbye to anyone but now we are here and unpacked it’s good. I planted up a window box with old bits of found compost and some lettuce seeds and was amazed to see seedlings emerge, most of which now appear to be from dormant grass seed but some daily weeding in a micro-gardening way is proving to be quite therapeutic.

Belle Mere had two parting shots across the bows and has now gone eerily quiet. We have been here 2 weeks. I was angry to the point of daily inner conversations at the time but thankfully that has passed. Time is a great healer and all that. The first of the final blows was our solicitor ringing up on the eve of completion saying Belle Mere had just cancelled the buildings insurance on the flat and would he be wrong in asking if she was a difficlut woman?

“You’re asking if my MOTHER-IN-LAW is a difficult woman?’’ I replied.

We had to chase around trying to find insurance at the last minute, no one wanted to insure just part of a building, it being a flat without the consent and signatures of all other owners. Eventually we went to our lenders who had a vested interest in insuring the building and did so whilst the completion was on hold. Panic over. We completed. Belle Mere rang and told me she was leaving Erbie’s toy cars in the flat, and how worried she had been about us finding insurance…

On the day of moving in, I went on ahead to retrieve the keys and check that nothing bad was waiting in store for us. The keys were where they were supposed to be with a scrawled note saying a friend had a spare set and she would get them at the weekend, these still haven’t materialised.

I went upstairs to see if anything was not as it should be but all was well. Breathing a sigh of relief I put Erbie down to play with the cars, but he didn’t once mention ‘Grammy’?

I did a quick sweep of the cupboards and found a box of my stuff Belle Mere had been storing in happier times and a pile of pictures. These pictures were The GR’s photographs from an exhibition he had when we lived in France. They once hung in the Belle Mere’s bathroom and now here they were, no longer wanted. I was devastated, no matter how I tried to look at it, it came back to not being good. I hid them away and put the bottle of Johnnie Walker black label I had got The GR as his moving in present on the table. This is from a standing joke from when he had moved his mother previously and they had found a bottle of Johnnie Walker left in a high cupboard. He had joked that it might be his reward for helping move his mum but she had refused and ended up giving it to her brother for doing nothing! Every time we visited The GR would jokingly say: ‘Where’s my bottle of Johhnie Walker?’.

When the removal men and The GR arrived all smiles and isn’t it a lovely flat, I bit my tongue. He saw the bottle on the table and said: ‘Ah perhaps that is a welcoming gesture, a peace offering, things might be looking up, that is a significant reference’. I bit my lip. A hour later he started to tell me the story of moving his mother (I know I was there I thought to myself, …and she obviously bought me that as a…. ‘I bought it for you’, I said almost inaudibly, but my lamb heard me loud and clear.

We heard through the grapevine that the really useless brother and girlfriend had beenflown over to see the Belle Mere’s new house that weekend and they all had a house warming BBQ in the garden. (Down the road!) How nice.

No one can touch us now, it may take a while to unwind but we keep smiling and saying it’s ours, it’s ours. Well, technically it is the banks but lets not pour water on the fireworks eh.

My balcony garden is coming along I now have a herb box of basil, coriander, mint and thyme; two red geraniums and a white cosmos. And I’ve been eyeing a dwarf olive tree on the internet for my birthday at the end of September.

Broken Collarbone

2010-07-01T22:59:00.003+01:00

I’m sad, and I’ve broken Erbie.

I have been rushing around like idiot, trying to fit in one last this and one last that before leaving W1. One of last time excursions on my agenda was taking Erbie to Corams Field (on what happened to be an event and therefore very busy day) to play in the sandpit and have a swing. I’d just managed to change him out of wet, sandy clothes and we were on our way to the swings when he ran ahead, towards them completely overexcited. I grabbed at the sandy items and ran after him shouting ‘Stop! Stop!’, which he always has done previously, only this time he didn’t and the father pushing his child on one of the swings didn’t see him. The swing hit Erbie full on and knocked him flying.

I comforted him and he cried a bit longer than is usual but seemed okay, we had a swing and left. He seemed very quiet on the way back and when we got home I sat him in front of the telly and studied him, I noticed his eyes flutter and he shivered. Worried that he may have a head injury I whisked him up, out and into a taxi to Accident & Emergency. The taxi driver didn’t even switch his meter on, bless him. A&E at the UCH on Euston Road is the same as any A&E the length and breadth of this country, ie a couple of bleeding drunks and a full waiting room. A paedriatrician spotted Erbie on the monitor whilst I was signing in and ushered us straight through to the childrens ward. Erbie kept touching his shoulder and lay his head against me in silence. He had gone very pale. They checked his head for bumps and were very worried by the size of one until I mentioned it was always there, as my family are predisposed to corners on our craniums. I got asked routine head injury questions, like: ‘Was he knocked out or did he cry right after? Has he vomited?’ He was still very pale and hadn’t eaten anything and as he kept touching his shoulder they suggested an Xray to be sure nothing was wrong.

The Xray was the hardest part, I had to put on a large green insulated apron so that I could help hold him down on the bed. He didn’t like that. We had to lay him on his back, he didn’t like that. A male nurse had to hold down his legs, he didn’t like him. He cried out over and over: ‘No, no, don’t like it, don’t like it.’ He went red in the face and squirmed with all his might. They managed to get one Xray image and didn’t try for the obligatory second one. When I eventually scooped him up his bottom lip quivered and he said: ‘Bye, bye, bye, bye over and over until we had left the Xray room.

After about 5 minutes they came to me and said what Erbie had been trying to tell us all along, he had cracked his clavicle. I saw his Xray showing a fine white line running through his right collarbone. I felt sick, I’d just picked him up using his arms - twice, no wonder he had winced. The reason his little eyes had fluttered and he had been so pale was due to the pain he was encountering. They gave me a bag of painkillers for him and we tried to get him in a sling which caused him to wave his arm around more than not wearing one. I’ve since bought some arnica cream and pilules to help the healing process and the bruise come out. I have to watch him like a hawk and try to stop him using his right arm, luckily he is left handed. It happened 6 days ago and I haven’t been able to write about it until now. He is much better but still needs help getting up from laying down.

I feel like a very bad mother.

Everything’s coming up rosy

2010-06-17T22:02:00.006+01:00

258: Ziggy by Matthew Williamson at Selfridges.

WEM number #106

The Belle Mere is actually starting to behave like a granny, last week she made a trip to Hamleys in the rain and purchased a tipper truck for Erbie. Not only did she purchase a tipper truck but also a cement mixer and a yellow helicopter. Erbie got very excited and drove them around on the carpet all afternoon. He does this thing where he runs on the spot in anticipation whilst the grown up is attempting to get the things out of their packaging. This rather sweet anticipation dance prompted Belle Mere, this week, to present him with a campervan, a lovely mini campervan with a rainbow on the side. She is now camervangrammy. He fell asleep on the bus home from our flat to be, clutching his van and woke up at the door of our W1 home now.

‘We’re home’, I said.

I felt a bit sad and decided to whisk us off to Kensington Gardens for the afternoon, only the traffic on Oxford Street had a different agenda and the hot sticky bus only got as far as Selfridges. And Selfridges are having a sale. I bought some shoes, I had to, they were a real bargain, suddenly I didn’t feel so bad and the shoebox might be useful for packing.

A later bus took us straight to the park and Erbie ran around barefoot in the sand wearing only a cowboy hat and a pair of shorts as I followed in an equally stupid hat, as my roots are long overdue a retouch and my hairdresser is out of town until the end of the month.

Erbie collapsed in my arms on the way home and I slid him straight into bed meaning I got to watch the last BBC2 Springwatch uninterrupted. Small things!

Moving date booked...

2010-06-17T07:23:00.006+01:00

I booked a removals company yesterday and am going to start packing up stuff on the 1^st July. So we are really buying our flat and moving. In – gulp – 23 days.

I should come up with a list of things I’d really like to do in town before we go. Not that things won’t still be accessible, we’re only going to be a bus ride away, but it won’t be the same as getting up and walking there. I’m strongly considering the Zoo, although the last time I went, as a student, (admittedly several years ago) it made me cry – the tiger looked mad and was pacing back and forth in it’s tiny enclosure and the monkeys were sad and haunted. Plus it is ridiculously expensive, I’m not sounding like it’s a good idea am I!

It’s coming up to 7.30am, Erbie and I have already had a trip to the shop for waffles (this mornings demand for breakfast) and I need to shower and get us dressed before getting the bus up to visit Belle Mere in our flat to be.

I’m not sure what I’ll do when we actually have the deeds signed over, I’m not going to keep up these weekly visits, that is for sure, but then again I can’t cut her off from Erbie altogether, for his sake as much as hers. Once a month is enough for any grandmother surely? Unless of course The GR and the Belle Mere miraculously make up, stranger things happen at sea.

Elephant obsessed?

2010-06-17T07:02:00.003+01:00

The GR accused me of having elephant-itis, (see WEM number #104 & #105 below!) I AM a stone heavier than I should be but I haven’t ballooned. No, really, I think I’m using visible elephants to disguise the literal elephants in my everyday life. Whenever I see the Belle Mere, which is roughly once a week, (and later on today) we don’t mention the flat (which we are buying from her) or her son – The GR (who still have not spoken) which is, as someone pointedly said, a bit like not mentioning the elephant in the room.

There are several more unmentionable elephants in my life currently, The GR and I don’t talk about the fact we don’t have sex anymore, or the fact that we have borrowed, begged and stolen from virtually anyone who will comply in order to get a mortgage to buy aforementioned flat.

Zambi - 114: Hasbro, Hamleys Toy Store

Monopoly Community Chest - 113 Hasbro: Hamleys Toy Store

Selfridges too.

2010-06-11T08:07:00.006+01:00

I thought it about time Erbie and I revisited Selfridges to find the other 3 elephants having already counted this one in the basement next to the Elephant Parade shop where one can buy mini elephants, I want to get one for Erbie but just can’t decide on which one! If I had the inclination I could bid on one of these big ones too at : givinglots.co.uk

50: Heavens Haathi by Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla

I found The Emerald Queen elephant by Sabine Roemer wearing a 678 carat emerald and sitting in front of the Rolex section on the ground floor. Yours for a reserve price of £90,000.

216: The Emerald Queen. Sponsor: Haulage Heroes, Eco Movers. Location: Selfridges (WEM #100 - yay!)

217: The Spirit of India by Sacha Jafri, Sponsor Disney Theatrical.

(WEM #101)

249: Spooning Sunday by Claire Snell and Tory Bauer.

(WEM #102)

Her back is covered in the tips of vintage souvenir spoon handles from all over the world.

Mason

2010-06-11T07:59:00.002+01:00

As I walked by the House of St Barnabas on the corner of Soho Square I thought I spied an elephant through the window. There just happened to be a delivery going at the same time and I jumped on the nice lady holding in the doorway:

‘May I see you elephant?’

He is ‘Mason’ a recycled elephant made from the red rubber off-cuts of Mason hair brushes! My photo is appalling, the flash wouldn't go off, Erbie was wriggling, the nice lady was holding the very heavy door, he (the elephant) was stuck in a corner, but here he is my number #99. They have another one in their garden but it wasn’t a good time...

159 Mason: Artist Lucy Fergus (re-silicone).

Sponsor: Quintessentially.

Location: House of St Barnabus

Elephant Parade - Herd Viewing Days

2010-06-10T13:16:00.003+01:00

Thanks to Amy for bringing to my attention that there will be herd viewing days at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea from 10am till 7pm on 25th, 26th and 28th of this month. Members of the public will be able to see the elephants collectively in the grounds of the usually off-limits Chelsea Royal Hospital.

Here are three more down on the South bank.

(WEM numbering) #96

(121: James Bond): Artist Oliver Lloyd & Lucy Fleming, sponsored by Lucy Fleming.

#97

#98

More elliephants

2010-06-10T12:36:00.018+01:00

It rained most of the day yesterday and Erbie and I were already going stir crazy by 7am this morning - another typical english Summer grey day, so we decided to check out the herd of elephants in Green Park.

I took my usual route down through Soho Square and caught this view of Centre Point unobstructed by buildings whilst Crossrail continues to demolish in the area.

Trafalgar Square was setting up for tonights live relay from the Royal Opera House of the ballet Chroma / Tryst / Symphony in C. The pigeons seemed rather abundant considering the hawk pest control vans were there. Perhaps the pigeons are learning that the hawks are just there to scare and not to kill. The fourth plinth is displaying a rather smashing ship in a bottle.

At this hour in the morning the ducks and geese in St James Park were still asleep on the pathway. We tiptoed past the preening pelicans and headed up to Green Park.

The Mall was bedecked with flags and Buck House had a flag flying too meaning queenie must be home. The posters had changed for Summer with a guide on how to tell the different guards apart by a coloured plume on their bearskins.

Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh guards

Then across the road to elephants a plenty in Green Park.

#66

#67

#68

#69

#70

#71

#72

#73

#74

#75

#76

#77

#78

#79

#80

#81

#82

#83

#84

#85

#86

#87

#88

#89

#90

#91

#92

#93

and last but not least #94 & #95 on Piccadilly!

I want these?

2010-06-08T14:11:00.003+01:00

Help! I don’t know what has come over me, I find these Clarks Originals sandals perversely desirable, I was actually in the process of looking for something identical for Erbie when I came across them. Perhaps it is the necessity of choosing a style that is suitable for carrying a small child around on one hip, the thought of teetering on heels whilst doing so does not look well in my minds eye.

Which puts paid to the Chanel copyclogs I also found on asos.

Hanover Square elephants

2010-06-08T07:06:00.002+01:00

A bit of a late post for these two elephants as I really saw then on my evening out to see Sex and the City 2 or Selfish and Slutty as it seems to be referred to in the media - honestly, people get so riled about a bit of fluff and some old girls in mad frocks, – I say, more please.

The GR has also found me a map of where all the elephants are and by whom, so now I have no excuse and should post about them properly.

#64 & #65

Claridges, Sex and the City 2, 3 more elephants!

2010-06-01T06:52:00.009+01:00

The lovely managing agents of out W1 flat have insisted we hold dear to the 2 months notice stipulated in our contract. 7 weeks it seems are not enough, so now we will be paying a mortgage and rent in July- oh joy. The GR is not in the best of moods about it as he was hoping we could use our deposit money for the first mortgage payment and for the cost of moving, now it looks like we will have to kiss that goodbye. One more thing in a long list of obstacles in our getting back home which has lowered moral further.

Good things have happened though:

The Chelsea Flower Show for one.

Claridges decor during the Chealsea Flower show was not too showy with a cottage garden feel, inside were arches of branches hung with of terracotta pots filled with peonies and sweetpea and outside this wonderwall of planted flowers.

I went out for a whole evening - to see Sex and The City 2.

We started off with cocktails in Claridges then a quick supper in Shepherds Market followed by Prosecco during movie at Curzon Mayfair then a night cap on the 23rd floor of the Hilton, which was full of Russians and vastly overpriced (£29.90 for 2 cocktails) but the views we amazing.

View from the Hilton, Mayfair W1, London.

And yes, I really enjoyed the film, everyone was dressed up, the cinema was full; it was a riot of fashion from start to finish, in fact the whole thing was like a big gay wedding and Liza Minnelli was superb. Also an added bonus running home like Cinderella in broken slippers I saw 3 more elephants. I was running as it had long gone midnight and The Gr had just texted to say Erbie was still awake! When I did get home he actually had managed to put him to bed. Erbie woke the next morning saying ‘there she am’. ‘Mummy, there she am’.

#61

#62, #63

Sixty

2010-05-21T06:19:00.030+01:00

Erbie and I went out looking for elephants proper yesterday, having been given a heads up from an old school friend there were some in Covent Garden we headed over. Whilst there, we couldn’t resist riding on the escalators at the Royal Opera House.

Ballerina statue outside the Old Bailey.

Views over the piazza in Covent Garden from the roof of the Royal Opera House.

The magnificent Pierrier Jouet champagne bar inside the Royal Opera House.

And so to elephants...

Numbers #31, #32 at entrance to ROH

Numbers #33

#34,

#35,

#36, inside the Covent Garden piazza.

#37 Covent Garden

#38 in front of the Actors Church, Covent Garden

#39

#40, Seven Dials.

In the afternoon, I had to head up to Marble Arch to pick up a job, so I took Erbie via Carnaby Street and up through Mayfair, I forget how wonderful the shop windows are around there, especially on Old Bond Street and in Burlington Arcade.

Carnaby Street, #41

#42

#43, By now Erbie was spotting them faster than me and running up to pat their trunks.

#44, Resting shoppers Between Carnaby and Regent Street.

#45

I didn’t note down the street names, so these will have to come under the umbrella of Mayfair.

#46

#47

#48, with Winston Churchill, Mayfair.

#49 Vettriano’s elephant and rider, Burlington Arcade

#50, and a gem encrusted elephant with sparkly pink toenails also in Burlington Arcade.

#51 Berkeley Square Gardens, darling.

#52

#53, Erbie’s favourite, because it has a bus AND a taxi!

#54

#55

#56

#57

#58 Berkeley Square Gardens

#59, Mayfair

#60 Back in St Christopher’s Place.

Thirty new elephants in one day - not bad going I reckon. Do let me know if you spot any, and where, I’ve heard there are some in Hyde Park too, but that’s for another day.

Thirty

2010-05-21T06:15:00.002+01:00

- You can buy mini versions of this one in Selfridges store, although they appear to be selling like hotcakes.

#30 great Titchfield Street

Number #29 sited from the bus, top of Oxford Street (Marble Arch end)

Hurrah!

2010-05-19T11:08:00.002+01:00

Well, yesterday was a good day after all, and the sun did shine...
Erbie and I met The Harridan at the Diana Memorial Garden in Kensington (our first time there). Erbie and I had a lovely time and Erbie even said both their names! (only the second meeting).
Then I had some serious problem solving to do in order to get something of The GR's into a film competition. Lots of toing and froing and mediating but I managed to sort it.
Disc burnt tape transfered envelope stamped entry in.
And then the solicitor rang to tell me we had EXCHANGED!!!!
Very happy.
The sun is now officially allowed to shine.
x

Things one sees from a West End window

2010-05-19T06:22:00.004+01:00

Yup, that IS a hot air balloon floating behind the BT tower!

Spotted by Erbie at 5.45am this morning.

W1 views - kitchen window

Twenty Eight

2010-05-18T21:41:00.001+01:00

This mosaic beauty is in St Christopher’s Place, just near to Selfridges and behind Oxford Street.

This is a favourite too. #28

24, 25, 26, 27 little elephants.

2010-05-18T21:34:00.002+01:00

These are in Cavendish Square, behind John Lewis on Oxford Street. Erbie ran from one to the next and back again until I had to drag him away.

This one is my favourite so far - he is made to look like he’s covered in tree bark.

Cow elephant - geddit!

Twenty Two, Twenty Three - honestly!

2010-05-18T21:21:00.004+01:00

Okay, so you have to believe me on this one, but there really are two more elephants in the middle of Marble Arch. Anyone who has braved the Marble Arch underpass will understand my unwillingness to get a close-up shot of these two, so from a bus window it is! This was the number 10 to the Science Museum by the way, we always sit upstairs - ‘you get more ride for your money’ (thank-you - Yorkshire boyfriend from college for that gem!)

Elephant Parade, numbers 22 & 23 (really) Central reservation , Marble Arch, London

Twenty!

2010-05-18T14:21:00.000+01:00

Elephants, #19 and #20 on the corner of Trafalgar Square

Elephants in St James Park

2010-05-18T14:17:00.002+01:00

Elephants number 15, 16, 17, 18 spotted so far and counting....

Thirteen, Fourteen

2010-05-18T14:14:00.002+01:00

Elephant Parade: Numbers #13 #14. The Strand, Sw1

Roundabout Elephants

2010-05-18T14:12:00.001+01:00

Numbers: 9, 10, 11, 12, Elephant Parade on roundabout between Whitehall and Trafalgar Square

Keep counting the elephants

2010-05-18T06:22:00.000+01:00

Elephant Parad #5,6,7,8 Leicester Square

Still no exchange on the flat!

2010-05-18T06:17:00.000+01:00

It is almost half way through May and we still haven’t exchanged. The GR and I got close to breaking point recently and decamped to Worthing to be soothed by The Grandad, who cooked us breakfast every morning and plied us with wine every evening. Unfortunately I was so tired I fell asleep sitting up on the white sofa, with my glass of red wine in hand and wearing a white broadanglais frock neither are now unblemished.

I had to visit the Belle Mere yesterday. After a protracted silence, I felt it best to reach out with an email and got the reply ‘I haven’t seen Erbie for three weeks’, so I ran up there with him yesterday. He had a lovely time, she lets him do whatever he demands, which led to missing the usual nap time and general over excitedness, this has put him out of kilter and he woke before 5am this morning. The flat and the area (to which we will be moving) looked nice. As I walked along the old railway track cuffed in lacy, Cow-parsley and Hawthorn in full blossom, I came to a clearing overlooking the City, and I thought to myself, I’m a country girl at heart and I love living in the city so suburbia is the best of both worlds surely? No, it just mucking suburbia.

It looks like it may be slightly sunnier and we are going to meet the lovely Harridan in the park, so today we will be having a nice day.

Soho Square Elephants

2010-05-16T22:04:00.001+01:00

Number #3

Number #4

Elephant dressed as tiger...

2010-05-16T21:53:00.003+01:00

Elephant Parade, Chinatown, Soho, London

Number #2

The Elephant Parade, to highlight the plight of the endangered Asian elephant, sees over 250 individually decorated model elephants placed all over London (which will eventually be auctioned). Erbie likes finding them, so I’ll post the ones we come across over the next month.

Marketplace W1

2010-05-16T11:18:00.002+01:00

Elephant Parade, Marketplace, London, W1

Number #1

The Natural History Museum

2010-05-14T22:14:00.003+01:00

The Natural History Museum on Exhibition Road is one of our favourite places to visit for an hour, and it is FREE. Sadly most of the Victorian specimen collections are not on view, I wanted to show Erbie trays of beetles. He was content to look at all the stuffed birds and the mammal room has reopened with its life-sized model animal collection, which involved lots of pointing and naming. Erbie will say rhinosaurus but not elephant - go figure?

Plus of course, duck.

and now, Dodo.

and giraffe and whale,

and dinosaur.

(Good dinosaurs in the shop).

A morning walk in St James, London

2010-05-05T06:38:00.022+01:00

St James’ is an area of London in Westminster inbetween Green Park and Piccadilly. Erbie and I walked it one sunny morning recently after partaking of the swings at St James Park (which are always shut early in the morning - but the fence is very low).

Here is what we saw...

Cross over in front of the palace,

Buckingham Palace that is, (here with wallflowers and tulips)

to Green Park,

walk up the near side of Green Park, nosing at lovely names, such as Milkmaids Passage...

...and private abodes.

Walk past the Ritz, and then turn right down St James.

Here is the back of aforementioned lovely abodes.

Turn down by Marco Pierre White’s, Wheelers restaurant.

And you will come across this small yard. Continue until you come out here...

St James’ Palace built in 1530 by Henry VIII no less. Nowadays used by various Royals including Prince Charles, (I guess Buck House can get pretty crowded).

Where’s the guard?

This was just across the road.

I love that you can walk up an obscure alley and find little gems like these windows painted with heraldic arms.

Back on St James, next to Berry Brothers (the famous alcohol seller), was another passageway I could not resist exploring.

Down here

Coming out here on a sweet courtyard.

There he is.

Which looked private, but

So after a relaxing bench sit within the secret confines of the railings.

Onwards. Nancy Astor lived here.

To Eros, Piccadilly Circus

Window cleaning at the British Museum

2010-05-05T06:19:00.003+01:00

So thats how they do it!

Exchange on the flat has been moved to next week, so still no peace for the wicked...

Growing nearer

2010-05-02T08:51:00.003+01:00

Thank you all for your lovely supportive comments on my last post.

I'm happy to say we are due to exchange on Tuesday, everything going according to plan and a new contract having been drawn up with the original purchase price reinstated. This all happened relatively quickly after lots of phone calls and the Grandad (Belle Mere's ex) getting involved, he had to sweeten the medicine with a promise to take her to the theatre! SimOliver on Twitter made an educated remark, that perhaps Belle Mere's behaviour was all for attention. This may well be the case; she hates being left out of the loop or not to be Queen bee as it were. The trouble is I don't much feel like giving her attention presently.

Focusing on new pastures ahead I am indeed thinking window boxes and growing things, there is a small un-fenced balcony in the flat we are buying, well more like a large windowsill really, although I used to get out there and sunbathe hidden from the bus -stop behind my wooden wine boxes of herbs (in my twenties)!

I came across this site for living walls, which is inspiring, perhaps in the kitchen...

Image: wooleypockets.com

Prosac or Blog?

2010-04-28T07:22:00.004+01:00

Well the answer if obvious, I hope. I’ve been feeling rather down of late and have actually shed tears, which is something I never, ever do. Well unless it’s something major like ones mother dying. But this dealing with the Belle Mere and being two-faced really is getting to me. I hold it together while we are together and she coos over Erbie then we get a letter from the solicitor and the purchase price has increased. If we were strangers we would receive more courtesy.

The GR dealt with it by spending money we don’t have and I by having one too many bottles of wine on the terrace with Kendal and getting sent to bed.

I know I should pull myself together and stop feeling sorry for myself, it is the last hurdle before freedom of sorts. I guess I’m also feeling a little sad to be leaving my manor, the area I’ve called home for seven years now. I do so love living in the West End. Needs must however and it is time to move on.

Lucky

2010-04-20T22:34:00.004+01:00

When I nipped into Planet Organic today to pick up a healthy snackette for Erbie I was reminded again of how lucky I am to be at home with my boy. The girl behind the cash register had a name tag that said Svetlana and smiled at Erbie asking how many words he had. When I started to reel off the numerous vehicular ramblings of my son she looked taken aback and said her boy was the same age and didn’t say anything yet.

‘I expect he will come out with full sentences all at once’ I proffered encouragingly.

I left feeling rather sad for Svetlana sat behind a cash desk in Planet Organic whilst her little boy was somewhere else, with someone else. I kissed Erbie hard on the cheek and took in a deep, fragrant nose full of his baby headed essence. I didn’t feel smug, I felt lucky. Lucky The GR wasn’t materialistic or going through too much of a midlife crisis, lucky that I was able to do a bit of work at home and still look after Erbie full time, lucky that we were about to get out first foot on the property ladder even though we are in our 40s!

Deckchairs

2010-04-20T21:23:00.004+01:00

The deckchairs have come out of the closet and are sunning themselves in the Royal Parks. They are smart green and white striped affairs, from St James, through Hyde to Regents Park, sadly with no little crown emblem probably because they would get half inched if that were the case. £1.50 for and hour of sitting.

Habitat are also doing a rather lovely mini wooden deckchair for children, well Erbie likes it anyway. £25 available online from Habitat

Mini Me

2010-04-20T21:11:00.004+01:00

We walked past this original sixties Mini Cooper the other morning on Meard Street, Soho, for sale at £14,500, more or less the same price as a new one! But what a beauty and in mint condition. It says this is the one that was used in the John Cooper advertising.

That dress...

2010-04-14T20:49:00.005+01:00

Will I be rushing out to get Aviators - again, yup. Will I be using pop bright or shiny-shiny clutch purses - again, yup. Will I be searching for a rip-off Halston Heritage, white frock, yep. Damn, I’ll probably even get those old gold sandals re-heeled. All in the vague hope I’ll look something like this, yep.

Well here’s a sobering shot of the dress sans Carrie or should I say SJP’s fab figure.

Sex & The City 2, Halston Heritage, white jersey dress, £216.

Put it on your wish list here but they just keep selling out!