What I did at the Weekend

Friday

So this weekend I treated myself to a days holiday and had Friday off too. Happy days :)
I've recently gained an English Heritage membership through work, so I thought I'd make some use of it and go exploring.

My friend, her daughter, Lily and I found ourselves at 11am on Friday morning driving to Dorchester to find The Nine Stones. These are essentially 9 large rocks in a circle type arrangement that were placed there about 4000 years ago. No idea why, but there are only 4 of them that can be found in Dorset, UK. Lily was strapped into the harness (the meadow walk to get there was not pushchair friendly). She seemed to enjoy the trip...



My friend also found a 4 leaf clover - which was pretty cool! I'd never seen one before.



Also published my first chapter of A Game of Life and Death. So that was pretty cool :)

Saturday

Saturday was a very busy day. Lily and I got up at 7ish, then went to swimming at 9am. She's really getting the hang of putting her face in the water - they encourage them to copy us so she's moving at her own pace with this one which is nice.

From swimming we went into Poole to meet a friend, which was lovely. Then we went straight from Poole into Bournemouth to meet some other friends for lunch at The Real Greek. We're a huge fan of high chairs in restaurants. Lily is also starting to develop a habit of studying menus...



We've also developed an attachment to a travel sized version of "I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet..." which she now pretends to read and studies the pictures. So cute!
In the evening we then went to a friend's engagement party, which was lovely :) Lily was absolutely fascinated by the disco lights and promptly fell asleep in a faster manner than she does at home. How does that work exactly?



Sunday

Was just a day of chilling, knitting and wine. Which I completed needed after the last couple of days!



I'm going to give this very yummy bottle of wine from Lidl (on offer at £2.99) the credit for giving me the courage to finally learn DPN knitting.



So that's all from me for today :) what did you guys get up to this weekend?
Love to you all and happy knitting!

MrsKirstyHoll

x

London Coffee Shop Musings (and why they should have a plug socket)

I'm writing this from London. The capital gives the common cafe lover more choices then they could shake a reasonably sized stick at. My hope was that I would be able to stumble across a number of cute independent cafe's that would allow me to get some writing done.

Instead, I lost a good few hours in the British National gallery and became an new fan girl of the great painter Raphael. It's also current worth making a trip as they have Van Gough's Sunflowers images (both versions). They do not let you take photos, so I of course brought the £1.99 postcard from the vendor outside the room. Daylight robbery. In Edinburgh's gallery you are allowed to take photos (with the flash off). So I'm inclined to say London is being a bit tight.

Back to the original point. Cafe's. The first cafe I stumbled upon was called 'Nightingale' and was just opposite the bus stops near Victoria Underground. It was not until I had sat down that I truly realised what I had stumbled across. The unit looks like a converted pharmacist from back in the day (I can claim no expertise in the history of pharmacies). But it looks beautiful and had a lovely crystal chandelier above the sitting customers. The food and coffee was also really good - the first time in ages I've had some decent sour bread. It was a small and rather intimate cafe. A great spot to meet a friend for a coffee. They could be completely forgiven for not having plug sockets, for example, as the tables were being filled quickly. Surprisingly, they did have free Wifi. So useful if you wanted to check bus or train times on your phone.

Nightingale Cafe, London

I quickly headed from this cafe to Trafalgar square. Even when I looked around after the National Gallery, I could still not pinpoint any other independent cafes - they all seemed to be chain or franchised brands. Disappointed, I wondered past 10 Downing Street and found my way to an underground station.

Now feeling pretty hungry, I got off at King's Cross and gave up at the first Starbucks I came across. This place was a very standard Starbucks (except for the leaking sink in the toilet).  It was also full of people using laptops, sketching and a couple of kids in the corner singing along to a Youtube Video. There was also free wifi on the premises. So it gave me the chance to work out where the hostel was I had booked for the night. There were a few scattered plug sockets, but I don't understand why they didn't have more. 

When I was studying, I found a cafe in my local Tescos which had one plug socket next to a particular table. This was the one I usually took. I'd sometimes be there most of the day and spend a fortune on coffees and food throughout. There was always something about working in the shifting environment that sparked my brain down new trails of thought.  I think many cafe's are missing out on potential revenue by not supplying more plug sockets. Especially because people so regularly need to charge up smart phones and tablets. This is something I believe is particularly important for small cafes or ones that a slightly off the beaten track. 

I'm currently sat in a Pret a Manger on Kings Road in London. It is dead apart from me and another guy (also using a laptop) - plus some dude who just wondered in.... I'm sat at a table on in the far corner of the room and the nearest plug socket is about 5 metres from me. Not very practical.

Books have been written in cafes, but we have stopped writing on Napkins and notebooks. In this new and modern place we inhabit we need to provide the tools for our creative minds to enrich us. Granted, there are some smaller venues were the ambiance would be ruined, but the larger chains of coffee shops have no excuse.

Travel Review: London, London Eye, Aquarium and lonesome wonderings

Last weekend I spent a few days up in London on my own. I was armed with a camera and a combo ticket for the London eye and London Aquarium.

There is something about London I have always found magical. It is filled with office blocks with hidden rooms and important goings on. This fills me with a sort of anticipated energy every time I visit.

This time I thought I would take the opportunity to make the trip on the London eye. I found a really cheap combo trip online - about £35 for both tickets (http://www.londoneye.com/Schools/TicketsandOffers/Default.aspx). After finding some cheap coach tickets (http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx) and a cheap hotel room (http://www.hotwire.com/) the entire weekend only set me back about £150! A pretty cheap weekend for london.

It was an early start. I got onto a coach at 8:00am Saturday morning. The tickets were cheap and a guarranted comfy seat meant I was pleased with my choice of travel.

The London eye is something you should do at least once. If you can time the weather so the sky is clear the view you can see goes on for miles! However, it is really worth checking the weather report the night before. It allows you to time your visit to get the best views. Remember to ensure you leave enough time to queue! I was in the queue for about an hour. There is no covering so highly recommend bringing waterproofs!

It gives visitors the opportunity to see all the iconic sites around London. You will gain a perspective that you cannot hope to get otherwise. What I found really striking was that all the separate districts of London were suddenly all laid out in-front of me. It was a bit like a patchwork quilt. It was relatively easy to get which bits of London were 'old' and which 'new'.

If you do nothing else you will need to bring a camera.

After a quick lunch at the local fast food restaurant (if you want a seat I advise moving a little away from the Thames). I made my way into the Aquarium. Thankfully, having brought my ticket online, I was able to skip past the hour long queue for tickets. Although, the wait is seriously worth it.

The Aquarium is another must-see if you're in London. There is a huge range of ocean life. The sharks and penguins were a particular crowd pleaser. My favourite displays were the jellyfish. The backlight displays made them particually striking. I highly recommend ensuring you look in all the tanks. Two small boys were so excited by the penguins in the next tank that they nearlly missed the two huge Star fish in the Artic display. They were neally half a meter across!

It took me a good few hours to go through the different displays. It is really great value for money.

Really looking forward to my next trip up to London. There is so much still to explore.