Ghost Signs of London

I recently accompanied a student group at work on a 'Ghost Signs' walking tour. Having initially thought this was a tour of signs of paranormal activity in London, I was quite relieved when my colleague explained that ghost signs are actually the remnants of what's left from painted advertising on the side of buildings. Phew!!

Our tour took place in Stoke Newington, an area of London I'd never visited (why would I?). Our tour guide Sam, met us at the station, and after a little introduction and the health & safety talk - remember to look where you're going not just up at the sides of buildings, keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times... We all failed our first test: to find the sign visible from the spot where we stood. Pointing behind the group (not really fair!) Sam showed what we had failed to see.

As the tour got going, we all started getting better and better at spotting the signs. We stopped by each one, and Sam got us to try and decipher what was written. This was difficult, not just because they had been faded by time and sunlight, but because most of the walls had been used more than once and so there was often two or more different products being advertised.

At one point as we were all staring up at a sign publicising the various uses of a horse and cart, a local man came over to listen to the tour, and was amazed, having live on the street for 15 years that he'd never noticed the sign before! Crazy!

I really enjoyed this tour, Sam was a fantastic guide; knowledgeable, easy to follow and a strong public speaker. I was able to ask him, at the end, about a sign I used to see every time I walked to netball when I lived in Russell Square. Amazingly, he knew exactly the sign I meant and emailed me after with some more information about it. I'd whole-heartedly recommend this tour, and I have added his other tours to my list of things I'd like to do in London!

Info on the tours can be found here. I didn't pay for this tour, because I went with work, but I definitely would spend my own money on this!

I only took a few photos, and those only with my phone as I forgot to take my camera along!

Wanderings Lately :: December 2015

Well, the last two weeks of December were full! It was fabulous. I spent time with family and friends in Essex, celebrated the new year with friends in London and led a couple of student trips with work. It's not the middle of January, and I'm still behind on my fortnightly updates. So, as I predicted, this needs to become a monthly thing. I still want to commit to writing it, but its quite clear that I can't keep to 2 weeks. So here's my last couple of weeks of 2015 and the first week of 2016!

Baking

I was in charge of desserts on Christmas day, and made my own Christmas pudding again this year, as I did a couple of year ago. Thankfully it turned out ok again which was a relief! I also challenged myself by making this recipe. I wasn't sure how easy it would be, what it was going to turn out like and then how I was going to transport it. I needn't have worried though because it all came together on the day! I used two of my mum's glass pyrex bowls to make the cylindrical sponge and took it on the train in a bigger glass bowl covered with foil.

I amended the recipe slightly, and I couldn't find dried cranberries - very strange during the Christmas period! So I used cherries instead. Everyone seemed happy with it on the day so I don't think that was too big of a change!

Here are some photos of the whole thing coming together!

Christmas

Christmas was full of food - as I thought it would be. Everything was so good! After missing my train on Christmas Eve - by about 2 minutes! I made it for the evening and spent the next 3 days in Oxford with my family. On Boxing Day we had an immense Seafood Paella, with the biggest prawns I've seen since Korea. The days following Christmas I spend relaxing in Essex and seeing more family and friends.

New Year's Eve

I was up early on NYE because it was a workday for me and I was meeting a group of students arriving at Heathrow. The day eneded up pretty busy as we were constantly on the move; checking in to the hostel, introducing the local area, giving an orientation and ending the afternoon in the British Museum for Afternoon Tea. Although it was busy, that's not a bad way to spend your day at work! After I finished, and despite a whatsapp meltdown on New Year's Eve - which yes, I did google to find was affecting most of Western Europe, North American and Asia - my friends all managed to make it to my house and we spent the evening together. We had good food, good wine and good times playing games! We watched the London fireworks at midnight and generally had a low-key but lovely night together seeing in 2016.

The season of giving

As with every year, I was completely spoilt with presents from my family. The majority of which were books - I've made my way through 2 od these already and have promised not to buy ANY new books until I have read all of the ones already on my 'to read' pile. 

I actually gave myself a gift this Christmas - taking a leaf of out my friends Claire and Nicola's books! I signed up for a book club (more books! >.<). The first one arrive a couple of days into January and I can't wait to get started on it. I signed up to the Willoughby Bookclub, and after giving them an idea of previous books I've read, general genres I enjoy and my favourite authors they will send me a bespoke book each month (for 3 months). The first one, arriving wrapped all nicely and with a bookmark and little 'this belongs to' notelet, was Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. 

I am also now in possession of a rather large wine collection, after being given a couple of bottles as Christmas presents from work, and then having a coupon for the Naked wine club from my train ticket this Christmas. I've had one bottle so far, and feel quite grown up having a cupboard full at home!

Onwards 2016

What's happened this year so far...

I've continued baking, and having invested in a small stand mixer (not one of those massive £600 ones) I used it to make some cupcakes for a leaving do at work. It was fun using it for the first time and I'm really happy with how it's worked out. It's a Kenwood; which is the same make as my Mum's mixer which is older than me! I'm pretty sure this will stand the test of time.

I booked myself into the West London Donor Centre to give blood; which they finally took. I've given blood a couple of times before, but every time I've tried to give since they always turn me away. Such are the downsides to travelling so often. Finally I was able to give again, and I've booked in for a couple of months time so I'm hoping to continue to add this little good deed to my routine!

I started to buy things again this year, and have so far invested in some decent leggings, a couple of checked shirts and have replaced my work out converse. These were all things I had realised I needed to buy or replace and have so far used all of them quite a lot. After my no spending challenge, I'm obviously not going to never buy anything again but I'm definitely glad that I now consider what I actually need or will use more that just buying things for the sake of it!

Lastly, I have become completely obsessed with my keepcup, which I mentioned back in October. My Mum bought it for Christmas and I think I've actually started drinking more coffee because of it! I had thought that it would be embarrassing and awkward asking to get my drink in a reusable cup, I envisages baristas saying no, or looking at me like I was a crazy person. None of this has happened at all. Every place that I've taken the cup have accepted it no problem and only a couple of times have people been surprised. In these instances I just explain that I don't want a paper cup and no one has any argument! The only thing for me now, I to actually use it less! Otherwise I'm going to end up wasting far too much money on coffee!!

Wanderings in 2015

You know, this year was hard. It was full of hurdles and roadblocks. But in addition to these, I have also filled this year with fabulous memories. This post takes a look back at them, month by month. It's quite easy to dwell on difficulties and get bogged down with feeling that things are on top of you. But reflecting back, I can see that at times when I had problems or life had taken an unexpected turn, sitting alongside these were times of friendship and excitement; seeing something/somewhere new, or spending time with people who made me laugh and these are the things that I want to dwell on. 

2015 you were wonderful, and I hope 2016 ends up with just as many beautiful memories and adventures.

January

I started the year finally doing full time hours at work, and commuting from Essex to Canada Water every day, whilst doing the rounds of house viewings in the evenings, and attempting to finish an assignment for my MA. So, not in the most spectacular fashion, but by the end of the month I had found somewhere in London to live, and only a little way from this fabulous view!

February

My birthday month was full of parties and presents and turning 30 wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought.

I didn't manage to fulfil my 30 before 30 list, but I am still committed to completing everything on it (except maybe War and Peace...) although it's now just a normal list.

March

Anna bought a selfie stick for work, and we spend many an afternoon taking silly photos and videos with the students in the afternoons.

March was otherwise a quiet month, the last one of stability at work before they started slashing the work force and we all started to worry about our jobs!

April

This was my third time visiting Chelsea, in Spring this time - as I vowed to do after my previous trip - and we raved it up on King's night, took far too many photos of flowers at the Keukenhof, and braved the crowds in Amsterdam on King's day.

May

This month a took a couple of trips in my car, giving it a much needed spin, to discover a couple of places on my door-step. Jas, Sio, Felix and I went to see the Sussex Heritage Coast which was really fun if a little windy. I also saw Blenheim Palace, and stayed over in the lovely village of Woodstock. The palace was spectacular, a good weekend day trip and there was an extra little perk from a small farmer's food market on site as well. The weather wasn't great, but it was nice to visit and cross another 30 before 30 off!

In May, the Tate Britain was reexhibiting Tracey Emin's controversial and career altering art work 'My Bed', which I vaguely remember causing big stir when it was first exhibited in 1999. I was really intrigued to see what the real piece looked like, so I went to check it out. Much smaller than I had imagined, I can definitely see why it caused so much of a fuss. As an art piece, I think it is still fairly provocative but much less shocking than when it was created. I can see why traditionalists wouldn't like it, why you might say 'I could make that'. But the point really is that; you didn't, so perhaps the skill isn't always in how well something may be drawn or painted or built, but the intention and meaning behind it.

June

My friend Jasmin (who I met through Macey), is from Jersey and in the summer a few of us decided to head over to see the island - we timed our trip to coincide with the Island Games and were planning to catch some sport whilst we were there. Unfortunately the most we saw of the games were some athletes eating in the same restaurant as us, but the weekend was lovely nonetheless! We were blessed with glorious weather (where I got sunburnt - standard), we sat on the beach, explored the town and wandered around the zoo!

July

I am yet to finish writing about the trip I took to New York and Philadelphia this summer. I really want to though, because it was such a fantastic trip! Samantha was working out there for the month, and I got to experience the wonder that is NY and visit Sam's hometown of Philly, meet her mum and friends, pretend to run up the Rocky steps (!) and burn my mouth of a Philly cheese steak (opps)! I packed a lot into a week and definitely need to get back over stateside soon!

August

In August, the first of my friends from University, Anita, got married to her lovely man Andy. They've been together for quite a while and they are a lovely couple. I was honoured to join them for their wonderful and special day.

August was also the month I went to the theatre every week for the whole month! I went to see Adventures in Wonderland for a second time which was a fantastic immersive theatre experience that was just as good second time around!

I saw a play located on London City Island, which didn't actually live up to expectations. We found out on the day which play we were going to watch - Romeo and Juliet. The weather was not on our side, and we were watching the action under umbrellas in the pouring rain; outside, in and around an empty show flat. It was supposed to be an immersive experience, like Wonderland, but it was more just a play without a theatre. We weren't included in any of the play, and found ourselves just traipsing around following the action. The acting wasn't the best, and we left slightly disappointed as a result.

I also saw 'Motherf**ker with a Hat' at the National Theatre and 'Invisible' at the Bush Theatre. Both really powerful plays.

At the end of August, Jasmin and I went exploring on the bank holiday to see Charles Pétillon's Balloon exhibit. 100,000 balloons filled Covent Garden market. Quite a sight to see! The same day we ticked something off my 30 before 30 list, to see the Old Operating Theatre in London Bridge, although the museum was small (and up a ridiculously small and scary spiral staircase) it was really interesting and jam packed with exhibits!

September

In September I carried on my theatre visits with a trip to the Old Vic to watch Rob Brydon in Future Conditional which was excellent! I made a cake to celebrate my Brother and Nan's birthdays (which we were able to catch some of the last of the year's nice weather outside in the garden!)

I was made redundant which wasn't the best - but during my few weeks without work I took a trip to The Hague for Chelsea's birthday celebrations, ate Bitterballen for the first time and had fish and chips by the beach in the sunshine.

Don't be fooled by this photo, she was HUNGOVER and moany despite the smile!

October

I took a trip on the Emirates Airline after gorging on cakes at the Cake and Bake show, tried to learn about making chocolate and declared my love for Canada Water!

November

In November, I got myself to a Firework display again, the first time for a few years, started my new job and spent a day exploring museums with my new colleagues. As the year started to wind down, I found the pieces started to click into place and all the difficulties of the year seemed to be fading.

December

I finally made it to Istanbul, a place I've been itching to go for ages, and have planned on at least 3 other occasions to travel to without success. My diary got incredibly full this month, and I was out with friends almost every day of the week - something I am loathed to complain about as who can be annoyed that they have friends to socialise with and the means to do so? but am equally EXHAUSTED by all of the socialising and am looking forward to doing not much over the festive period.

Christmas is looking great - I have an extra long holiday as I have booked a couple of extra days after Christmas weekend off. I'll be sitting around my brother's house, stuffing my face with a deliciously cooked meals from my sister-in-law and my very own home made Christmas pud!

This year has had its ups and downs, but thankfully it seems to have all fallen into place in time for 2016!