Saturday 4 July 2009

A long long day...but worth it


Having two geriatric cats who seem to revel in getting either David or myself up in the night, I was disturbed at 3 am then jumped on at what seemed a very short time after sometime about 4am !,I gave up.. Lizzie got her tea at 4.40 ! we were off to Poole to catch the early Cat to Cherbourg. Its always a bit of a palaver getting my volvo backed into strange corners but uneventful on the whole and we had nice reclining seats as part of our offer so dozed to France in the fog!
Once we were on our way south on the N13 the weather cleared so we decided to drive down until we felt we had gone far enough to spend the after lunch hour meandering back up through the countryside to our evening destination the Hotel Ibis Cherbourg
The smell of hay wafting through the car window on a hot sunny afternoon reminds you France is a rural idyl.We had made our first call and after madame was satisfied none of her cats had stowed away with the Linens in the car ! arrived in Coutance for a late lunch in front of the Cathedral, always a favourite of ours. We had a relaxed feeling that we had made a good start and the pressure was off for the rest of the afternoon, just as well as I took the wrong road and missed our next call ! There was time for one more stop and by then we were fading it was 5.30 pm. and very warm. We found some lovely neural tickings in greys caramel and sage , a frame and a lovely little clothes dryer.

Coutance Cathedral view from our lunch spot
French markets are always a treat Valognes is on Thursday morning
Hotel Ibis on the outskirts of Cherbourg, such good value and you are sure of a clean room and a simple but excellent supper. They gave us a superb room so we had a relaxed shower and a Kir and watched the tennis before enjoying a long supper reviewing our day and all the inspiration and ideas these trips bring. We were needless to say exhausted , slept like logs and enjoyed a lovely buffet breakfast before driving to the ferry port.

Sunday 28 June 2009

Family meet in London's East end






We left Dorchester on the 8.30 to Waterloo and once we got past Bournmouth and I had a coffee in my hand along with a croissant and a newspaper life did not seem too bad and the miles slipped away.
We met Rob David' s nephew at Waterloo and various tubes later we arrived at Liverpool street, where we collected niece Georgina and her babe Joe, met my Lawrence and girlfriend and made our way off to Spitalfields Market, it is so trendy now in that area , full of shops and cafe bars , I was just entranced. The Market and shopping area is a fabulous space not too busy as Market day is Sunday so we were able to get a table outside Giraffe as we were soon Joined by Ben and new baby Sylvie and Beth Jeremy"s widow so now we were 8 and two halves as it were ! We had a great time over lunch before heading off to the Rocket Gallery to see the latest retrospective exhibition of Jeremy's later work.

Jeremy Moon at Rocket Gallery





Epic day in E1

Colombia Road , Brick Lane, Bethnal Green all names I have heard so often and never been to , It was all so interesting and colourful I will definitely be going back.
We walked to have tea with family who live just round the corner from Colombia Road and it must be amazing when the market is in full swing, there were a few really interesting shops open giving one a taste as you see from these cushions below.
We had a long walk to Bethnal Green tube station to get back to Waterloo and it was like being transported to another place ,it was so bustling and full of interesting little shops.
This estate agent is an eye opener!!

Brick Lane another Market I really want to visit
could'nt resist this shot !
Colombia Road