Day in London

I planned another one day holiday for last Friday and it was brilliant.  For about the last 4 years I have wanted to swim in the lady's pond on Hampstead Heath so I had hoped to do that until I discovered there are no lockers for valuables and I didn't fancy leaving mine on the bank as I was on my own. It was a very hot day and I still wanted to swim in a natural outdoor venue so chose the Serpentine in Hyde Park. There are basic changing rooms and about 30 lockers so being a mid week school day there was plenty of room and spare lockers.  It was fantastic swimming in a lake among dragonflies, ducks, swans and geese etc and unbelievable we were in the middle of London.

As you can see there was plenty of room and only about 6 people in the water at first and still not more than a dozen when I left. I had a cold shower by the side on the bank without soap or shampoo as the water drains into the lake. When dressed I enjoyed my picnic lunch and water brought from home. Not as frugal as my last day out as apart from the bus ride to Epping , I used my Oyster card for the tube to London and back.  The swimming was £3.80 as being a "pensioner" I had a concession.

I then made my way by tube to Stratford for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which I have never visited, buying an Earl Grey tea in my travel cup and a muffin to enjoy by the river and beautiful flower beds. I saw the Meccano like sculpture but did not join the queue to climb to the top but will do on my next visit.  I just walked about enjoying the gardens and the river views.

The sculpture is the Arcelormittal orbit.

One of the day's highlights was at the start walking through Hyde Park to the lake when I heard the wild ring necked parakeets and saw people hand feeding them.  So piece of cheese sandwich in one hand and camera in the other and this is the result below.

Two friends have agreed to join me in my swim in the Hampstead Heath ponds so I look forward to sharing that in a few weeks.

Floral plenty

When I arrived home from my trip to Leicester over two weeks ago, two bunches of chrysanthemums waited for me from dh who missed me. I have added to these with lilac, bluebells,grape Hyacinths and a shrubby bit from gardens n foraging. The lilac scent fills the room but alas the white lilac died quickly.

I do love fresh flowers in the house.

Recycle update

Well the chest eventually went to a good home! I decided to give freecycle another chance and a lovely man asked for the item and was so pleased when I chose him. The others all wanted photos etc. We arranged a convenient time for him to collect then he emailed on the day to make sure it was still ok. He came with his wife and they took it to the car themselves and were so polite and friendly that it made my day.

On the same subject today I saw a buggy and a pushchair dumped in the archway entrance to flats nearby. The residents regularly dump all kinds of stuff good and bad there. Once a week the council collect it in the rubbish cart. The buggy seemed to have mildew but the pushchair was perfect except for needing a wipe over. No good for us so I put an offer post on freecycle with a photo from my phone and details of where to collect it. I just hate to see good items sent to landfill and it will do somebody a good turn.

Recycling

Why is it so hard to give good furniture away? I hate dumping good stuff and as I have just changed the single guest bed for a double I needed to pass on a good pine bed and clean mattress also the large chest of drawers which no longer fits. First I offered free to friends and one said they would definitely take them for another friend or keep themselves. After 2 weeks they no longer want it so I put on a local Facebook site for £5 each. I had loads of interest and after one  let down, the bed was collected. So far two buyers have arranged to collect the chest but not turned up. I have had 3 day's waiting for collections.
So why don't I put it on freecycle or donate to charity?  Because I've been let down so many times by freecyclers not turning up and charity shops will only take pristine items. The chest is a good solid piece but has slight water marks on the wooden top - easily fixed-but would be rejected by charities.
If I can get it in the car it will go to the dump and if not I either have to pay to have it collected or try and break it up. That really goes against the grain so maybe I will try freecycle once more but can I face more let downs?

It's finished!

I'm amazed that I finished my Amsterdam bag. I'm really pleased with it although it's not perfect but I haven't done any serious sewing for years. This is also the first proper bag I've sewed not counting the simple woven one I made at school.
So here are pictures.

I have enough material for another bag but will wait until I decide what style to make. Anyway this was one of my winter projects so now I have to finish my memory book!

Using it up

Nearly a year ago in Amsterdam my friend bought some fabric printed with maps of the city. After much hesitation I bought some too. I haven't done any serious sewing for ages hence the hesitation.

I decided on a messenger bag n found a tutorial n pattern on no-time-to-sew's blog. I started making the pattern and finally today cut the material out

So watch this space - but not too closely.

A satisfying day

I met a very good friend for lunch and catch up and decided to be frugal and go by bus to the next town as parking is neither easy or free. Of course it would be today that roadworks on the way delayed everything so my bus cancelled and the journey slow. Anyway that didn't detract from our enjoyment. We had a huge pot of Earl Grey tea and a delicious lunch here

These were taken last year on my first visit.

Of course we then had to have a mooch round the charity shops and I found this bargain

Brand new hotter shoes in my size for £10. They cost about £80 usually.

So altogether a very satisfying day.

I am trying to blog at least once a week so hopefully I will be back then