This is our third (and unlikely to be the last) blog which includes Brixton Village, if you want to see previous instalments click here and here.
Last Saturday our friends Marsh and Fee picked us up and we went to Brixton for lunch.
We took Theo in our Baby Bjorn front pack. Babies are supposed to be 3.5kg before you put them in the front pack, Theo is only 3.3kg but we tried him out and he seemed fine.
Jackie and I have never been to Brixton Village on a Saturday, we've only ever been on Sunday when it is quiet and many of the shops are closed. It was quite a different atmosphere on Saturday with hoards of people, considerable queues for some of the more established cafes and a number of shops open that are not open on Sundays.
We found a tiny middle eastern restaurant, called French and Grace (see their blog post on their development here) they could probably seat 16 people tops. We managed to snare a table outside for the 5 of us. They had a very small kitchen and a small menu to match. And they had already run out of their special for the day, which both Marshall and I wanted. The food we ordered came quickly, was quite simple but really delicious.
We loved it and the atmosphere was great, across from us was a pizza restaurant that was busy and had the boom sounds cranking, while to our right was a Malaysian restaurant and on the left was a butchers.
Theo in his Baby Bjorn, he didn't have much of a view, but he slept most of the time anyway
My view of Theo
The shop on our left as we ate lunch was this butcher, not sure about the food safety involved here but we didn't mind.
To our right was the Malaysian restaurant - they had a bit of a queue.
Our middle eastern restaurant was called French and Grace
The Bush Family
My wrap
I had to protect Theo from any food or sauce dropping from my wrap, the enamel plate sat nicely on Theo's head, he didn't mind a bit.
The tiny kitchen and friendly staff at French and Grace
After lunch we went to get a coffee from Federation coffee, I think I've mentioned them in previous blog posts, the coffee is good but the service not so, this was once again the case. They were busy but we were told it would take them 15 minutes to make our coffees. I'm sorry if you're a coffee shop you should be able to keep up with demand better than that. Their coffees are really nice and we did wait which was ok as we could look around the other shops and cafes but Federation coffee is still yet to win me over - it takes more than great coffee to make a great coffee shop.
There are so many great cafes in Brixton Village we've decided the challenge is to eat at them all. I can't wait!
Friday was our five year anniversary of living in the UK.
When we moved over here we genuinely thought we would be here for one or two years tops but as time has gone on we have become more and more settled, enjoying the travel opportunities of living close to continental Europe and the close friendships we have over here.
I had thought of doing a retrospective blog looking back over some of the highlights and low lights of our five years here but I'll spare you that. Instead here is a video from a favourite band of ours, the song is appropriately titled '5 Years Time'...
To celebrate our 5 year anniversary of living in the UK we had a massive feed of nachos with a glass of red wine each. Jackie had two sips of hers and I got the rest. Afterwards we went for a walk around Wandsworth.
On Saturday we had our second NCT antenatal class which was good, the people in the group are all really nice, we went to the pub with some of them afterwards and hopefully will catch up with them all again before too long.
So anyway, today (Sunday) Jackie got up really early because she couldn't sleep, this meant I could sleep. After a sleep in and a jog we decided to head out to do one of our favourite things, explore a suburb of London that we hadn't been to.
First of all we caught the bus to Brixton, we went to Brixton village (see blog regarding our first visit here) which has now got even more shops. We had a really nice lunch at an Italian restaurant, we just had a deli platter for two and breads so it was quite cheap but was filling. We love Brixton Village and think we'll head back more often to try all the different food options, a few photos from Brixton...
It's where the ultimate jerks hang out
In Brixton Village
We had lunch along this avenue, great atmosphere and delicious food
From here we walked towards Brockwell Park. Brockwell Park was our intended destination but the suburb just before the park, Herne Hill, turned out to be a bit of a gem.
Blackbird Bakery, Herne Hill
Pullens cafe next to Herne Hill rail
Jackie used to go through Herne Hill every day on the train to her old job but had never needed to get out there. Next to the train station is a pedestrianised area with a nice looking cafe, pub, deli, bakery. We continued exploring and at another deli picked up two pan au raison and a drink which we took to the park.
In Jackie's words, "Brockwell Park has everything" including:
Miniature railway,
Cafe
Hills (not so common in London)
Tennis courts
Volleyball court (not so often you see one of these around, it was being used too)
Swimming pool (they call them lidos over here)
BMX track (first time I've seen one of those in the UK)
Community garden including bee hive
Brockwell Park Miniature Railway
Autumn has arrived, some leaves on the ground
The gardens
The 'Kitchen Garden'
I call this one, "Butterfly and Daisies"
SQUIRREL
No idea what these were, there were some very oddly shaped vegetables
Jackie in the gardens
BMX track in the distance
After exploring the park we went to the bus stop to get a bus home. While waiting a young lad lost control of his bike right in front of us, crashing into the ground. On asking if he was ok he said he wasn't looking where is was going, that'll do it everytime but I figured he didn't need me being a smart arse. He got himself up and tried to cycle off only to find his front tire was punctured so he had to walk. He was dressed quite well and I could see his bag had picnic goodies, I hope he wasn't on his way to a date. At least he'd have a good story to tell her I suppose. It was only after he'd left I thought I should have taken a photo of him, but that probably wouldn't have been too nice.
So anyway we caught the bus to Clapham Common and walked the rest of the way home.
Another part of London conquered, we loved Herne Hill and could imagine living there although it's not ideal for my work, or Jackie's so a non starter really.
