Trains and movies

Just a short blog tonight. I’m well into the habit now so before I head to bed I must jot down a few words. It was an interesting run to work this morning. First I had to come back for my Bucks cup, then had to come back to get my train/bus pass. Well, we got to the station late and got on the Southern to get us further down the line so that we would have more opportunities to catch a London Oveground. Off a couple of stations later only to hear the announcement that due to vandalism this whole section of the oveground was out. So on to the next southern, and off at London Bridge. The Man did a walk of about 15 minutes and arrived at work just about on time. I caught the Jubilee to Canary Warf and arrived at my ususal favourite coffee shop only 20 minutes late. Pretty Good.

After work The Man and I went to the movies to see The best Exotic Marigold Hotel. http://www.thebestexoticmarigoldhotel.co.uk/

It starred one of our favourites actors Dame Judi Dench. Last year we had the most awesome good luck to sit next to her and her daughter the stage show Les Mis. The movie is a must watch if you get the chance. Tonight it was great to see her on the big screen, and listen to her husky voice. I remember her on several sitcoms like As time Goes By.

Anyway the movie was excellent, very funny and beautiful. Set in India it showed the vibrancy of colour and crush of people. One of the saying in it was “Everything will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright then it is not the end”

HHGG, eggs and statues...

Don’t  you really dislike it  intensely when you go off to bed expecting to have a good night’s sleep, notice that I didn’t say hate, that is a word that I intensely dislike,  and after nodding off for a few minutes you wake up with the brain doing a million miles an hour. Well that’s what happened last night.  I settled down, turned off the light, kissed The Man goodnight, and closed my eyes. And Boing the brain sprang them wide open again and was full of all sorts of rubbish that stopped me from nodding off again for ages.  So out with the earphones, and turn on the MP3 player, and switch on The Guide.  What guide I hear you ask, well I would I you spoke up loud enough. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that’s what guide.  Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent out on their adventures.  So I think it will be an early night tonight.

I was going to go out for a walk at lunchtime today, it was a nice enough day, but what with one thing and another the time got away from me and before I knew it was too late to escape the building into the fresh air. Never mind there is always tomorrow.

Remember me telling you about the Great Easter Egg Hunt? There are some real ratbags out there who have been ripping them off their pedestals and running away with them or damaging them. I read about one in that was decorated as a post box. Others have been damaged. Absolute stupidity.

I started reading a book today called Guided by a Stone Mason. We visit lots of cathedrals and abbeys and I am really interested in the meaning of the beautiful carvings and decorations that we see. The mission to find out more was set off by our first visit to the British Museum. I wondered why some of the grave statues had their ankles or legs crossed. This was only in those that depicted knights, or soldiers in chain-mail. I sent an email to the museum, and interestingly enough the reply came back saying that they didn’t know either. Well the chappie who answered the email didn’t.   I’ve asked in various churches where we see these statues and the there are two theories that sound logical. The first is that as they are no longer standing at attention, but I do not think that soldiers in those days actually stood to attention. The best theory, I think is that they were crusaders and crossed legs hints at their Christianity and the cross itself.  

of tissues and toys...

Wasn’t a good idea to just wear my little jacket today instead of my nice warm coat. Why not well I got a bit chilly on my lunchtime walk it didn’t put me off too much though. I was very pleased to have brought my scarf with me.

 Couple of weeks ago The Man played Good Samaritan and gave a chap on the train a tissue. That was on a Friday morning; on the Monday when the chap got on the train he just about leapt on The Man and gave him a little pack of tissues as a thank you. Since then he’s sat next to us each morning and chats away like we were old friends, well I suppose him and The man are becoming that way.

On the station each day, each weekday, there is a free morning and evening paper. I don’t like them much ‘cos they leave ink all over my fingers. I usually read a bit over my man’s shoulder. Some of the articles are entertaining and some are just downright silly.  He was taken with an article about  using ancient human poo to learn about how the ancestors lived. Sounds a  bit wiffy to me.

Now in the evenings paper was an article that interested me. It was about an American woman who has come up with a new and innovative take on something of interest to the ladies.  According to the paper   ‘…it looks and feels more like a high-end, heavyweight tuning fork. But your PowerPoint presentations might just be about to get a lot more stimulating - this slick, sleek, discreet new vibrator is being hailed as "the iPod of sex toys" as it can also store your sensitive documents and Excel spreadsheets. It costs $149 [£94] and will soon be available in London’.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-24038713-could-this-be-the-ipod-of-sex-toys.do

Canals, reflections and then home

It really was too nice a day to stay in so we didn’t. Over breakfast we got out the maps then turned on the computer to find out what problems there were with the transport system. The Man made our sandwiches while I ran around like a mad thing and did a quick tidy up. Sammies packed and map stashed in bag, we set out for a walk along the canal, well part of it anyway. Quite a while ago we did a similar walk, and this time we decided to walk in the opposite direction towards Little Venice.  We took the oveground part of the way, changing to the underground to complete the run to Westbourne Grove. The Man had, in his usual inimitable fashion, read the map once and didn’t’ need to see it again to head us in the right direction. How he does that I just do not know, me, I’d have the map out every few minutes. I guess it is a man thing. Well for some men anyway. There was a man once, in my past, who would have had difficulty finding his way out of a wet paper bag with out directions, but that is an entirely different story and not one I will be sharing.

On the walk from the station to the canal we spotted a huge and interesting engineering site with an enormous round piece of equipment. , well we thought it was interesting. It turned out that what we had been looking at was the circular working face of a tunnel boring machine.  Huge pipes with concertina like joins fed down underground. They were, according to The Man, air ventilation pipes for the guys working underground. There were also lots of lengths of conveyering. . This must we decided, be the beginning of a new part of the underground tube system.

The canal we were looking for was only a short ten minute walk from the station, and pretty soon we were strolling along the waterway. Passed frequently by runners, and passing parents with buggies. Along the other side of the canal new apartments blocks reflected themselves, very nicely thank you, into the water that was rippled by the Coots and Canada Geese. I do love a nice reflection. The tums let us know that it was time to eat and shortly we found a couple of seats to sit down on in the sun while we ate our lunch. By now the glass fronted towers were on both sides of the river, and looking very new.  At the end of the canal we walked out though a very modern shopping complex, decorated with a lovely statue appropriately called Family.

We weren’t really sure where we were at this stage so decided to just stroll on and see where Marble Arch for us to realize where we were. So Hopping on the next one and settling down in the front seats of the top deck we had a mini bus tour to Lewisham, that’s somewhere that we know how to get home from.

At Lewisham we did a bit of grocery shopping before hopping on another the bus that brought us back to Crystal Palace.  And we’ve had another great day out. 

Critters, sreet art and eggs...

One of The Man’s workmates suggested a museum for us to visit, which is where we have been today. The Geffrye, yes that is how you spell it, is according to its brochure the Museum of the Home  http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/.   It shows the changing style of the English domestic interior in a series of period rooms   It has an amazingly varied collection of fabrics and furniture from the 1700’s to today. Beginning with a 1649  drawing room we walked through the changing years and uses of this room that was the centre of family life. There was also a lovely garden room to sit in that was decorated with  a pretty mural that my camera wouldn't do any justice to, but I did take a few snaps of some of the critters in it.

The building that houses the museum was a group of 18th century almshouse. Unfortunately the herb garden and walled garden won’t be open to the public for another couple of weeks, but there is a tree lines large front lawn where we sat in the sun to have our lunch. Back home we would be inundated with sparrows and starling looking for a feed, all we saw today were a couple of pigeons. There is a noticeable lack of little birds in London because, we are told, there was an  outbreak of salmonella a few years ago that  decimated the population.  

We had taken the oveground to Hoxton, which is where the museum is, and noticed a couple of interesting things that we wanted to have a closer look at. So instead of catching the train back we hopped on a bus that was going in the right direction and got off at Shoreditch High Street. Not the most go ahead area and in places definitely a bit depressed. I took a few pictures of some of the more interesting things we saw; I hope you think they are interesting too. 

 We meandered through the area and eventually found ourselves at Liverpool Street Station where we spotted another of the large Easter Eggs that are part of the Big Easter Egg Hunt. There are a few around Canary Wharf where I work too. The competition is to txt the code from each egg and the winner who gets the most, and there are 200 of them around London, wins a specially created Faberge miniature. The eggs themselves will be auctioned off for charity. And no we are not taking part in the hunt.

Walkies...

 Spent this morning at the off site, not very busy which gave me a good chance to do the end of month checks and to write out a list of things that need stocking up. 

 On Wednesday I had worked out a route for a walk, but it was raining when I came out at lunchtime. Well today the sun was shining so with my pack on my back I walked in the opposite direction to the one I would take if I was going directly back to work and with the map on my trusty iPhone to follow off I went. First hurdle was the on-going construction works at the beginning of Westferry Road, but from then on was plain sailing, or should I say walking.  I had looked on Google earth and discovered that even though there wasn’t a vehicular way through, there was a walkway that I could and did take to head back towards Canary wharf. Some of the gardens I passed are cute. One house decorated the wall under its front window with white and blue patterned plates. I passed modern looking tower blocks, which makes a nice change from the new ones built in the old style . Tucked in the middle of it all are small convenience stores. Then I was out walking along the waterside of what would have been in my grandfather’s day a bustling dock. Now along here is a modern idea, an office block about three stores high that is floating on the water. It is moored and well secured, but it defiantly was floating.  Turning left past a busy building site,then right and there ahead of me is the footbridge I had been aiming at that leads across the water to the opposite side of the building that I had started from. A short walk across the front to the tube station and I am just about back at work. A good three quarters of an hour walk.

Money lending and ‘payday’ loans are big over here and one particularly obnoxious add on the box is for a a company called wonga, which is according to good old Wikipedia…

English Romany word for money. Originally means burning embers and in other european Romani dialects 'angaar' still has that meaning. In 18th and 19th century English 'coal' also meant money. Wonga is a borrowed Romany word.

Anyway the thing that really annoyed me  today was their latest add which  appears on the side  of the double decker buses, it says that ‘Everything will be spelt out’ Now when I went to school things that were like that were spelled out. OK they will probably say that it is an advertising gimic, I say that it is just bad grammar. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Easter, eggs and sunshine...

Have had a good day, well most days are good, in fact there are very few bad days now that I come to think about it.  OK, so there was bit of disappointment with a colleague’s performance. On Tuesday before I went home I asked the colleague to show some important notes to one of our senior workers ‘cos the person the notes were about would be in the next day, Wednesday when I was working at he off site. When I went back I discovered that this had not been done.  Disappointing to say the least. I find it frustrating when other peoples standards are lower than my own.

Around London at the mo is an Easter egg hunt. Not your average one tho. These eggs are about 700mm tall, that’s about 2 foot six in old money. I’ve located a few of them around the area where I work and was a bit put out to find that in each area around London they are in there is a map. So what kind of hunt is that? The ones that I have seen a beautifully decorated tho.

When I went out for my walk today I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it was quite warm and the sun was shining. I did a short fast walk right up to the other end of the shopping precinct and back to the building where I work. It was really nice to be out in the fresh air and the sunshine. There just hasn’t been enough sightings of the big round yellow ball. Here in the UK lots of people are vitamin D deficient. There was a push on recently for health professional to ensure that all people we talk to are either getting gout I the sun regularly or be taking vitamins. And yes, The man and I both take them every day

Work, walk and a movie...

This morning when I went to work in my windowless room, working at the other site as I mentioned below the weather wasn’t too bad. Cool and a bit windy but dry. I was looking forward to a walk at lunchtime and had goggled up a map and worked out a good route to take. With my route written down I donned my coat and scarf and…Whoa. No walk for me, well not the one I had planned anyway cos it was raining, and had been for a while. That’s what happens when you can’t see outside. So plan b, I always have a plan b. Down to the underground station, through the shopping mall and via a circuitous route I made my way to the main site. See I told you it wasn’t far. I decided that as I couldn’t do the walk I wanted I might as well pop over and bring back some supplies rather than have to call in on my way there in Friday and waste precious Skype time at my local Buckys.

Talking of Buckys, when I went in this morning  I looked around to choose a seat, comfy of course, selected  my spot and noticed that there was a cup on the table. Oh well maybe the person will have gone by the time I get my coffee. Notice I said that I had only seen a cup and not the person who it belonged too. Anyway I was served with my usual coffee, collected a couple of paper serviettes and made my way to my choice of seat. Cup was still there and an iPhone, but  no one seated. I looked around and couldn’t see anyone making their way to the seat so I sat down and waited. No body turned up so I eventual handed the phone over to the counter staff. How on earth could anyone walk away and leave such an expensive gadget behind I do not know. That is the second we’ve found and handed in. some sort of backwards justice there as I have had two stolen.

Tonight we went to see the latest Tom Hanks movie. Extremely Loud and Up Close. Well something like that. A few days ago I read a synopsis of it and was set to be a bit disappointed as the writer of it wasn’t very flattering. Said it was smaltsy and too over the top. I was very pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it.  Basic storyline is that a dad is killed at 9/11 and the son is looking for the answer to a message he thinks his father has left him in the form of a key. Worth a watch if you get the chance.