Glass overtakes Ceramics

About a year and a half ago I decided I wanted to start collecting ceramics (primarily functional domestic tableware). Simon wasn't too happy about my new found hobby but I managed to convince him that shipping all my purchases back to NZ when we eventually head home wouldn't cost a fortune. Ceramics have always interested me from my days at Masterworks Gallery. So I started scouting in charity shops for pieces to add to my collection. Charity shops in the UK are of a very high standard clean, tidy and with really good quality merchandise (I buy quite a lot of 2nd hand clothes and books but that's a whole other blog) and they are everywhere. Just in Balham alone there is six and they are all pretty good. I assume they must get some sort of subsidised rents as they occupy prime shopping locations on all high streets. I wanted to collect tableware so that we would actually get to use it not just have it on a shelf collecting dust.

Ceramics so far.......

Poole England
This set is a recent purchase. I spotted the cups and saucers in one shop but wasn't 100% sure I wanted them so carried on to another charity shop and found the teapot then had to race back to get the matching pieces

Windmill logo made in England
I found these in York again from two different shops.

Left: WAKBRZYCH Made in Poland (Purchased Rye)
Centre: Windmill logo made in England (Purchased York)
Right: Staffordshire Potteries Ltd, UK (Purchased York)

Made in England
These are great soup bowls with a green and fine gold rim.

Myott Son & Co Made in England
Very pretty oval platters

Jug: Melbaware England
We use this jug all the time it's a favourite!

Brought this plate today at Oxfam in Tooting £1.49 I couldn't resist the botanical print.

My collection has started slowly with very few ceramic pieces catching my eye so I have decided to collect glass as well after picking up some pretty pink dishes will post photos of glass separately.

Wisdom

Jackie has had a lot of dental work but on Saturday she had a wisdom tooth extracted. This is the first time I have seen Jackie really nervous about going to the dentist. I was even enlisted to come and sit in the waiting room while the tooth was extracted.

She has had the appointment booked in since before Christmas which meant plenty of time to gather up lots of horror stories from friends and colleagues about their wisdom teeth disasters. Fortunately Jackie had a 9am Saturday appointment which meant there wasn't much time to dwell on it before going to the dentist. I was brave too as I had to get up early on a Saturday morning and sit in the waiting room, feeling guilty that I haven't been to the dentist for a number of years.

Quite promptly around 9am a little man popped his head into the waiting room to fetch Jackie, now I was alone with all the literature telling me how important it is to go to the dentist regularly and what horrible things might happen if I don't.

I did start to get a little worried when after 20 minutes the power tools started up and I expected to hear screaming but there were just muffled voices and lots of power tool noises. It turns out the power tool was a surgical saw used to cut the bone to allow them to extract the tooth.

However not long after the power tools started up Jackie appeared with a grin on her face, she looked a bit like a vampire with traces of blood around her mouth but she put her hand over her mouth and laughed and we scurried out so as not to scare the other patients.

A surgical saw, possibly similar to the one used on Jackie (she doesn't know cause she kept her eyes shut)

The anaesthetic hadn't warn off so Jackie couldn't talk properly but it was fun to watch her try. We walked home and got her set up on the couch. We put together a shopping list:

• Custard
• Yoghurts
• Fruit smoothies
• Chocolate mouse
• Bananas
• Soup
• Straws

And that made up Jackie's diet for the day. I also had to pick up the antibiotics and pain killers.

All in all it seems to have gone as well as could have been hoped, Jackie has been in a bit of pain but hasn't had to have much pain relief. So far no signs of excessive swelling or infection.

A few photos...

Before the surgery, looking happy, feeling nervous.

Jackie soon after having her tooth removed. Not sure where she picked up the specs from.

After the surgery, looking bad (Jackie's words not mine), feeling relieved.

Looking a little vampirish

Drinking custard through a straw

Coffee through a straw

Shoes

Jackie says I may risk losing our blog audience with my following blog but I'm going ahead anyway.

Last week I treated myself to a new pair of running shoes, they arrived on my birthday as it happened.

I had decided to buy the same model of running shoes as my last pair as they'd served me well. I could have gone for the more recent model but decided to save the extra £20.

So on my birthday my new Mizuno Wave Creation 11 running shoes arrived. The only difference from my previous pair being my new ones are red, my old ones are yellow. Presumably I'll be able to run faster with red running shoes.

Another difference between the two pairs of shoes is the more than 1,700 kilometres I've run in the old ones, which gives an interesting opportunity for comparison.

My old shoes weigh 6grams less than the new ones. We figure that is from the tread which has warn off, which is probably greater than the moisture (sweat) and dirt they've accumulated. It's also interesting (for me at least) to see how much the old shoes have been squashed, the cushioning parts of the shoe are noticably lower in the old shoes than the new ones.

Despite the old pair having less tread, more dirt and moisture and less cushioning, the one thing they do have is that they are moulded to my feet and my running style. My new ones still feel foreign and will take a while to wear in.

So a few photos for comparison...

New shoes on the left in case you couldn't tell

More white spungy stuff in the new shoe, also the gap between the sole and shoe on the left is smaller than the new shoe

Tread on the old shoe has started to disappear. Notice the large amount of dirt on the old shoe sole which is an indication of how much tread must have been taken off for it to still weigh less than the new clean shoes. 

More tread comparisons, at the front this time. The even wearing of the tread is a good sign that the shoe works for me in having an even strike and stride, which hasn't always been the case with my shoes. 

Shoe kiss. 

So hopefully we don't lose our audience, next blog coming up on Jackie's wisdom tooth being removed, hopefully will post that tomorrow.

Brixton Village

Last Sunday Jackie and I decided to walk to Brixton. It's a suburb not too far from us but we don't go there very often. Brixton is probably best known for the Brixton Riots from 1981.

Image from the Brixton Riots

One of the main market streets in Brixton is Electric Avenue, some of you may recognise the name from the Eddy Grant song from 1982...

Jackie used to go to Brixton sometimes on her commute to her last job. This sometimes meant she was walking through the streets of Brixton early in the dark winter mornings, not a particularly enjoyable experience for her. 

Anyway, last Sunday we had a different experience in Brixton by following a recommendation I'd had at work to visit the Brixton Village market, which is very close to Electric Avenue. Specifically I'd been told about Federation Coffee, one of the growing number of New Zealand cafes turning up in London. We were well rewarded as there were several interesting independent cafes, shops, bakeries and restaurants. 

Jackie bought a 'jammy dodger' (similar to the Shrewsbury in NZ) from the Wheat and Gluten (WAG) free bakery.

Below are a few photos of Brixton Village:

One of the Avenues with cool lampshades

I'm not quite sure what they specialize in now, but they used to specialize in Jamaican and Caribbean groceries, it's a very Afro-Caribbean community with lots of butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers.

One of the restaurants will cool signage, all the shops/cafes etc had interesting hand painted signs

We decided to eat at a cafe which I decided to call Toastmasters. It didn't have a name that we could see but it was a very specific experience. Basically you order a platter of bread, you have your own toaster and you get to pick from a range of spreads. You can order eggs, bacon, sausages etc to go with the bread at an additional charge but we just stuck to the spreads. So basically toast and spreads. Only £2.50 for a platter of yummy breads or £3.50 for the non wheat breads. We had one of each and a cup of tea. 

Jackie tucking into the rye bread platter

Our toaster, I was in charge of the toasting.

A great idea and cheap too, less than £10 for the two of us and we were quite full by the end of it. The Aussie couple (we figured from Melbourne) that ran the cafe were both really nice too. 

I picked up a coffee from Federation Coffee, it was good. I've had better but good by London standards. 

I think we'll be back to Brixton Village again soon to try out some of the other cafes.

Baker Street

The 5th of January a couple of weeks ago now was our first wedding anniversary. We decided to treat ourselves to a 2 night stay in a hotel in central London. We chose the Sherlock Holmes Plaza Hotel on Baker St. I arrived after work on Tuesday the 4th and we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner, after dinner we opened our presents. 1st anniversary is paper so I got Jackie a book, The Newlyweds Guide to Setting Up Home (I also got Jackie a Depression Glass buyers guidebook but it didn't arrive till well after our anniversary. Jackie got me a lovely print of Leeds Castle which is where I proposed, a very thoughtful gift.

Baker St Tube Station

On the morning of our anniversary I popped out and picked us up a coffee and some breakfast to have in bed before getting ready for the day. We headed for a walk around Regent's park and then headed in to town, we popped into a few shops, including several nice shops on Marleybone High Street, we were in good company with Emma Thompson buying something for her daughter while we were in the Designers Guild shop.

Lunch at a cafe off Carnaby St before heading to the Queens Theatre for the matinee Les Miserables. The show was great.

After the show it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We'd picked a nice Turkish restaurant, we ordered the set menu with a nice bottle of Chilean red to accompany.

That was our first anniversary in a nut shell.

Coincidentally while we were staying on Baker St we found out that Gerry Rafferty, who sung Baker St had died.

Also, in the past couple of weeks we've watched the relatively recent Sherlock Holmes movie and also watched the 3 episodes of a new BBC Sherlock Holmes series, all based around Baker St.

So all and all a very Baker St month for us!

A White Christmas

The snow didn't stop us picking up our rental car and hitting the M4 to Cardiff. It was an easy drive, little traffic and despite lots of snow along the route the road was clear of any ice or snow. Once in Cardiff there was a bit more snow and ice on the roads but we managed to find our apartment and navigate all the entry and safe codes to get our key. We heaved our luggage up to our apartment which was spacious and well appointed. We dumped our stuff and headed out to have a look around town before it got dark and everything closed up. Town was reasonably quiet with just a few last minute shoppers and a few Christmas eve drinkers out. We picked up a gingerbread latte before finding the mulled wine and bratwurst stands which we had to stop at...

Home via the friendly local pub called the cricketers. We had the Christmas phone call with our folks, Jackie set up the Christmas tree and we put out our Christmas stockings for Santa.

Christmas morning arrived, bright sunshine and pristine white snow, what a perfect start to Christmas day, the sun came streaming into our lounge right onto our tree.

We decided to start the day with a light healthy breakfast in preparation for our afternoon feast...

After breakfast we got in to the serious business of present opening...

And then went out for a walk in the hope of building a snowman. Unfortunately the snow was too powdery (like dry sand but cold) to build a snow man, so we gave snow angels a go instead. Jackie's was by far the best.

Some more photos from our walk:

Us modelling our new hat and scarf sets...

The SWALEC stadium, home of the Glamorgan cricket team, an ashes test was played here last year

Lots of snow

Jackie throwing the powdery snow in the air

After our walk in the snow it was back to the apartment for Christmas music, mulled wine and cooking. We decided to do a roast duck this year as we had turkey last week with the family. I'd never done a duck before but it was pretty straight forward, just a lot more fat to deal with.

Here I am modelling a new shirt from Jackie and the apron was actually a present from me to Jackie.

Work in progress, duck, potatoes and stuffing in the roasting dish. Brussel sprouts with water chestnuts and bacon in the pan and mulled wine at the back.

 Jackie provided us with a beautiful table setting.

Dinner is served (by this stage we'd eaten so much cheese and crackers and chips that it was quite an effort to get through the roast

Jackie modelling her new tunic along with all her presents laid out under the tree

We finished off the night with a game of scrabble while watching Christmas movies.

Thank you all for your lovely gifts and cards, we were thoroughly spoilt.

We had a wonderful Christmas day and would like to extend a heartfelt invitation to our families to join us for a winter Christmas in the English countryside in 2011, we can't guarantee a white Christmas but we can guarantee a good time!

A Bush Family Christmas

This year Jackie and I decided to host a pre Christmas meal for our extended family in London.

So on Sunday afternoon we had Hannah (cousin on my dad's side) and her boyfriend Jim, Carla (cousin on my mum's side), Ngaire (a sister in law of the cousins on my mum's side) and Jen (Jackie's cousin on her dad's side) over for dinner. So that was 7 of us in total for the full monty Christmas turkey with almost all the trimmings.

It was a white Christmas day after the heavy snow on Saturday, fortunately everyone was able to make it on time.

I was chef for the day while Jackie played hostess.

Below is a photo of the turkey getting lashings of bacon applied...

With our new oak table we had enough dining table space to have everyone at the dining table and Jackie did a great job on the place settings...

This photo has us all in it but is a bit fuzzy...

Here's a photo of the girls sans Hannah...

Hannah and Jim...

The hosts, Mr and Mrs Bush...

A great time was had by all, we did all the usual Christmas day things - ate too much, drank too much, had the odd deep and meaningful conversation but generally just had a good time spending time with family. We really appreciated the opportunity to have some quality family time given we're so far away from our immediate families.

With all the snow we're not sure if we're going to get to Cardiff for our Christmas holiday, we won't risk driving in snowy/icy conditions so may end up staying in London instead, which will be fine by us, especially if there is lots of snow around and it's a proper white Christmas!

Hope everyone's Christmas preparations are going well.