Wanderings Lately :: October, November, December 2019

Bumper three months of wanderings in this post, closely followed today by a couple of retrospectives... as always, I'm not very consistent with my blog. I'm going to partly blame the puzzle I'm currently stuck trying to complete - as I would usually have spent more of this Crimbo Limbo time writing blog posts!

Here are the last three months of this year, and this decade.

October

Short work trip back to Albania. I was not ill this time, and was staying in a much better hotel. The weather was amazing - very unusual for the time of year.

I posted a montage of all of the electricity boxes on facebook, but Scrooge McDuck here is my favourite. I'm assuming that the artwork on these is officially organised since all of the electricity boxes in the city are decorated with this kind of street art, rather than tagging or hastily scribbled grafitti. It's quite cool, and interesting to wander around to see all the different designs.

Victor and I explored Wandsworth a little more and found Wandsworth Park. We played a round of crazy golf, and enjoyed a walk around the small, riverside park before heading back home. Nice to find more nice places on your doorstep.

Chevening orientation came round again. Scholars that I'd interviewed didn't remember me, and the journey home was a lot more epic than last year! Victor and I ordered our first five guys take away in the evening which was very much appreciated!

I made an attempt at Rosół, Polish chicken soup as a cure for Victor's cold. Needs improvement!

I took Victor for Moules Frites for his birthday. Not the best version, and certain not the nicest restaurant ambience. This next time we have this dish it should be in Belgium! 

November

Work trip back in Moldova. Lovely weather once again and a really interesting conference topic. This trip also included a visit to Milestii Mici Winery - holder of the Guinness world record for largest wine cellar (by number of bottles). My suitcase was bursting on the way back!

Becoming a pro at blood doning - in and out of the chair in around 8 minutes!

Christmas wreath making with Mary. We were disappointed that this was a fake wreath as we had both thought it would be with real foliage. Nevertheless it was fun to make, and I was pretty pleased with how mine turned out.

Started Christmas at the end of November with my Christmas pudding on stir-up Sunday and local Christmas markets with mum!

December

Our Christmas tree was delivered on the 1st December. Our bumper Christmas bauble haul was put to good use. The tree is just about still going strong!

Work Christmas party kicked off December. It took a while to organise but was a fantastic success. The cheese table the shining glory - just came out a little bit late on in the evening!

A Christmassy trip to Edinburgh - and a rainy return meant I was able to get a great shot of the airport sign!

Candlelight carols with Carola. We turned up at the wrong church initially - where the bottom photo was taken. Thank goodness there was another carol service in process otherwise we'd have been waiting around for ours to start when it was all getting underway at the correct church 5 minutes away!

Another general election. Another slightly worse result.

More friend catch-ups with epic table spread!

Finally got my China map framed and hung. Forgot that I still had the pinyin written at the bottom from where I was trying to learn Chinese. I really love this map and the memories it holds.

A christmassy trip to the London Transport Museum. Ongar got a little shout out, which was nice. There was also a lamp from Blake Hall on display. This 'ticket map' was really clever although difficult to get a decent picture. They'd re-created the tube map but with tickets for each station. Even Ongar and North Weald were on there!

Finally Christmas back at home and a really relaxing end of the year in Wandsworth.

Wanderings Lately :: September 2019

The beginning of October has been a bit rubbish weather wise and autumn is well and truly here. September as always was back to school month, where the area around where I work was full of students starting their university journeys (although this also carries over into October so we get 2 months of it!).

At the beginning of the month I went to the CSSC games again to play netball, as I did two years ago. Our team didn't get past the group stages but our first team won the entire tournament which was exciting. It's also a treat to play indoors and get a feel for how it's played at a higher level. Staying overnight in Loughborough is also a reminder of what a student dorm room is like and how I'm glad to not have to live in a small, lifeless box any longer!

It's also two years since I had my interview for my current job - I went for my interview the Monday after the games in 2017. It didn't all happen straight away but a few months later I started at the role I am still currently in and was a nice reminder of that journey.

Bake off started this month, so my Tuesday evenings are full of cakes and biscuits. This year's programme is a bit disappointing as it seems to have lost its way a little bit with much less of a warm, supportive feel and more about getting the bakers to try and produce weird creations that no one has ever heard of. Bit of a shame and hopefully next year they will go back to the normal format.

We've also continued to add bits to our house, now having a second sofa in the living room and having hung a few photos and mirrors etc. It's definitely got more of a homely feeling now which is great! I love this time of year when its just transitioning, my nosy side comes out as I walk past other people in their home with the lights on. It's also the time when you're walking home early evening (but it's dark) and all I'm thinking about is getting into my warm, cosy house and having a cup of tea. Victor thinks it's just an excuse for me to have more tea, but there's just something comforting about a cup of tea and I never need an excuse for one (or three!)

CSSC two years on...

Beamers Wasps (top picture), Beamers Bees and Wasps (middle picture) and my arty attempt after one of the winners slipped off her trainers after the final whistle.

House love

Hung up our Scotland maps. Absolutely love having a fireplace! I'm also really enjoying the butcher's block we bought. It's so handy in the kitchen as we don't have a lot of counter space and it's the perfect baking pal!

Autumn walks

Another walk along the Parkline. Such a great autumn walk, even if it did rain a bit on this occasion!

Battersea

Got victor to come for an autumn sunshine walk in Battersea park which was lovely and incredibly busy. Also took a sneaky photo when he was last playing football in Clapham.

Late Wanderings :: May & June 2019

I haven't been able to write an update since May! Life has been very busy, but today I thought that this is exactly the type of thing I want to remember and look back on. The past 3 months have seen a lot of life changes and the whole purpose of my blog is to document them so I can look back.

So as  recap I'm posting them all in August! This is a bumper post, but how could it be anything less?!

MAY

Ongar Festival

I went to help mum on the Teddy Tombola stall at Ongar Festival. Managed to sell all our bears and hopefully make some children very happy. 'Every ticket wins a prize!'

Fortnum and Mason

 

We donned our Sunday best to cash in my Christmas present of Afternoon Tea in F&M. It's a lovely tea room, and a generous afternoon tea. Next time we may branch out and see what the Savoury option is as it looked interesting. Afterwards we took a lovely walk thorough Green Park to Buckingham Palace. A very civilised afternoon indeed.

Work Dinner

This time the fellowships dinner was in Draper's Hall. All of this luxury and opulence is hidden behind dirty walls in East London. During this dinner I was receiving phone updates from Victor as he looked around a potential flat. 

The following day we hastily put an offer in to rent it - didn't realise that was a thing - despite my not actually having visited in person. In the end we were outbid (someone offered more than they were asking *eyeroll*) and it was for the best as we found a much better place later in May.

Soaking up the last of South East London

A walk around Crystal Palace, and seeing the random Victorian dinosaurs. Also managed to squeeze one last BBQ in Canada Water before I moved to my new place without any outside space.

A wedding in Essex

Absolutely loved celebrating one of my greatest Essex friend's wedding day. Although I have lost touch with my school friends, the friends I have in Essex go back to before school years. Neighbours since we were all born, I don't see them very often any more as our lives are located in different places but that Ongar bond never really leaves you. 

Mary Quant

Rinsed my mum's V&A membership to see Mary Quant's mini skirts up close. Really interesting exhibition and a woman way ahead of her time in terms of marketing and branding.

JUNE

My final month living in East London. started with a loooong bike ride and ended with a looong train ride!

Night rider

My brother and I completed the 50k Nightrider challenge and raised money for the Alzheimer's Society. Leaving from Stratford at 11pm, and getting back by 3:30am. We saw the sun rise and I witnessed the river at its most calm as I rode back to collapse into bed.

My biggest realisation from this challenge - I cycle past famous London landmarks everyday and should take more time to appreciate that I am actually quite lucky to do so.

Moving House

This is a blurry picture of about 1/5 of my stuff. I have a lot, and will likely accumulate even more at my new flat. I was feeling quite a lot of guilt about how much stuff I own, but now we are moved into the new place I realise that the majority is stuff I use all the time - or things I use less regularly like baking bits but stuff that bring me joy - and so I feel less guilty about owning these things now.

Also it all looks a lot less when you have 5 rooms to fill.

I managed to lug that microwave from Goodge Street to Canada Water on my own. It was a bargain in the charity shop but less so once I considered how I would get it home. Definitley glad of it now though!

And finally, we embarked on our break to Scotland. Taking the Caledonian Sleeper to arrive in Edinburgh in the very early morning. After a wonderful breakfast in Dishoom (love that place!) we headed off to explore Scotland's southern inner Hebrides.