A London Weekend, Kensington and Brick Lane

I'm back with a long overdue post of our London weekend, I have no idea where the time went in between then and now, only that I have been busy with one thing and another and the opportunity to blog seemed to keep passing me by.

The weekend was fabulous, we saw and did lots of things that were new to us including a walk through Hyde Park, the Serpentine, a walk through Kensington Park and the Diana Fountain, (not what I expected), but as you will see the weather was beautiful and there were lots of people making the most of the sunshine and children splashing about in the water so it was all good.

Unfortunately the people who organise the walking tours had cancelled the one the girls bought us which was a shame, we were both looking forward to it, the reason they gave was the recent events in London, (the incidents on Westminster bridge and the one outside Parliament).  The tour would have taken in much of this area so for this year at least they made the decision to cancel that particular tour.  Hopefully we will be able to transfer the voucher to another tour at a future date.

As we had now got more time on the Sunday we decided to visit Brick Lane again.  We have already been several times to Brick Lane and absolutely love it.  The atmosphere is fantastic, as is the food :-)  It is also a great place to pick up vintage things, clothes, records and things for the home, which Mark calls tat , but I love :-)  Even if you don't buy anything it's still worth going just for the atmosphere alone.

I'll stop rabbiting on now and leave you with some, (ok, a lot) of photos from our weekend, I hope you enjoy looking :-)

Princess Diana fountain 

The Serpentine, Hyde Park

Street art

See you soon
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A works in progress post

I don't have any finished things to show you this week so I thought I'd show you all the things I have on the go at the moment.

This baby sleeping bag has been on and off my needles for quite some time.  

I started it months ago and just couldn't get the pattern to stay in my head, even though it was basically moss stitch.  After picking it up and finding yet another mistake I decided I would ditch the pattern as written and do a similar stitch but something easier to remember.  I've worked almost 12 inches now in double moss stitch and, fingers crossed, no mistakes.

I want to get this one done by the end of September really so Bonnie will be all snug in her pram when the weather gets cooler.

A scarf for Oliver.  

He will be start Reception at school in a couple of weeks, and this will keep the chills off on the walk to and from school.  The grey was something I already had in my stash, the blue, (Sirdar Aran) was a bargain £1 a ball from the charity shop.

Another little cardigan in a new to me yarn.  Sirdar No1.  I'd never heard of it until I saw it last week.  It's knitting up really nice and is lovely and soft.

Stitching

Yes, I know, I haven't stitched for ages but I enjoyed working on this last night, (and a little more progress made this afternoon)

I've read lots of blog posts that have mentioned the change in the weather, and it's been no different here in the Midlands this week.  The afternoons have generally been ok and yesterday was quite sunny, but it does go chilly late afternoon, we have managed to resist putting the fire on just yet but that may change tonight, it's windy, raining and not very warm at all this afternoon.

Last Sunday couldn't have been more different.  We went to Bewdley for the day as they were having a fun day with stalls and street food along the river over the bank Holiday weekend.

Oliver in the middle shouting at the Punch & Judy show

And Spiderman kindly let him sit on his bike, lol

Despite the change in the weather some things in the garden are still ok, some are almost past their best and will need pulling out soon.  I put quite a few dahlias in this time, the slugs ate three  and two are yet to flower but two have produced the most amazing bloom, from this....

To this.....

One of the roses I bought a couple of months ago has decided to give some lovely flowers at last, the scent from these is gorgeous. 

If this rain and wind keep up though I doubt there will be much of anything left by next week.  

I bought a couple of packs a Autumn plants for some baskets this week that will replace the ones that will die off soon and I got a couple of pack of tulip bulbs too, we have loads of daffs in the spring but no tulips.   All in all I think my plants have done quite well this year, and I've been really happy with how my tubs and baskets have done.

I've got a couple of days off work this week, I haven't decided what to do yet, one of them I might set aside as a 'me' day.   On Saturday we are going to London again, for the weekend this time, we are using another voucher the girls got us for Christmas, this time Kensington Palace, breakfast at the Orangery and a walking tour.  Something to look forward too :-)

I hope you all have a lovely week and I will see you again soon

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