As you may have picked up from previous posts, Mr C and I are National Trust members and enjoy popping into their properties and gardens as we travel around the UK. It was therefore with great interest that I read Dav's post about his visit to his local NT property Beningborough Hall. One particular paragraph grabbed my attention:"I was pleased to see the amount of visitors there, mostly fitting into the NT stereotypical demographics of families with young children and retired couples. I’m always happy to not conform."What true words Dav speaks! As ... read more
Would you shop here?
I'm always amazed at the obsession with "celebrity" that seems to go on and how some shops and restaurants try to cash in on this. Outside the Belvedere Palace in Vienna we saw the following adverts on a lamppost.The question has to be, would this make you shop here? ... read more
Playing for Pizza – John Grisham
If you're anything like me then I'm pretty sure that you'll hear the name John Grisham and instantly think of American lawyers and books in which the underdog beats a large company, law firm or even the law itself. That's how all John Grisham books that I've read before have panned out. Playing for Pizza couldn't be more different!In this book we follow the story of Rick Dockery. Rick played American Football for an NFL team in the States, until he gave the worst performance of his life in a crucial match. At this point he became a ... read more
Wintery weekend
This is the wintery scene that greeted me as I left home to go to work on Friday morning. Walking to St Albans station was like walking through a blizzard - I was wearing wellies and my ski jacket and was white with snow when I reached the station. There the staff were advising us not to venture into London as there could be no guarantees that we'd actually get home again. I pressed on though and actually felt quite silly by the time I got into London as there everything was just grey and miserable looking. My colleagues had a good laugh though when I appeared in the office dressed for ... read more
It’s not easy being green…
... but they seem to be suggesting that it is expensive and rather middle class!This evening I've caught up on episodes of the BBC programme It's not easy being green featuring Dick Strawbridge. Now, I have to admit that the first series of this programme really made me aware of all things green and made me start thinking properly about my impact on the planet on which we live.When I heard that there was a third series I was quite excited. Unfortunately though I'm now left feeling rather disappointed. The show has taken on a bit of a "magazine format" - ... read more
Newspaper sales
I was fascinated to see something like the above on many lampposts across Vienna. Luckily my guide book provided an explanation: it seems that this is the way in which newspapers are sold in Vienna. People are supposed to use the small plastic bit as a honesty box and then take a paper from the plastic bag. The guide book also told us that everyone in Austria was so law abiding that they always pay before taking a paper. It was quite interesting therefore that the only person that we say taking a paper did so without paying! ... read more
Vienna steps
This picture shows what must have been one of the scariest staircases that I've ever climbed. I will provide a full explanation just as soon as I have time, but I can tell you that it was in Karlskirche in Vienna, and did provide Mr C and I with a much closer view of the baroque painting on the dome. ... read more
Trip round Europe
Sorry that I've not been here blogging for the last week. Last week was incredibly busy, but then Mr C and I had a nice, peaceful weekend away planned. We flew out to Vienna last Friday and had a great weekend exploring the city. The slight problem came on Monday. After watching the news in our hotel room that morning there was no surprise when we turned up at the airport to find that our flight back to London was cancelled. In fact, no flights left Austria for London at all that day due to the snow back home!We'd flown with Easyjet and the truth behind those cheap flights is that if ... read more
Precious friends
While Mr C was at a work event this evening I met up with some dear friends for dinner in London. It's the first time that we've managed to catch up this year, but just an evening together makes me realise just how important friendship is. (All the two for one vouchers at chain restaurants that are freely available on the web at the moment also help the dinner out stretch a bit further than usual!)When busy at work I can be quite bad at making time to see friends, but it really is so, so worth it. I just need to try and do it a bit more often! ... read more
Spotty pink tote bag
I feel like I've really achieved something this evening since coming home from work. Back at the Knitting and Stitching show in November I bought this fantastic pink spotty fabric and straight away wanted to use it to make a tote bag to carry my things to and from work every day. I don't need to carry a huge amount of stuff, just a book, my knitting, a bottle of water, umbrella and possibly my hat and scarf. I did want something a bit more attractive than the conference freebie that I've been carrying around for a while. Tonight I finally made this happen.I didn't use any ... read more