Zoo Lates At London Zoo
These Friday evening, adults-only visits to London Zoo are one of the highlights of the summer. I went with my son and his partner and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
It wasn’t as crowded as when I went two years ago, but the event was sold out.
One of the highlights of the evening is the food and London Zoo showed how to do mass catering at an event. There were food stalls for every possible taste and I had a Pimms and a very nice and very authentic curry, from a stall, manned by probably a Bangladeshi family.
I have never understood, why outside say football grounds and other events, you don’t see stalls selling proper curries. All you seem to get is tired gluten-rich food, based on burgers and soggy chips. Mother, who was serving the curry, assured me that their food was gluten-free and I haven’t had any adverse reaction.
Dory Previn To Be Remembered
I wish I could get to New York for this concert.
A group of gifted artists have been added to the lineup of VINEYARD CELEBRATES THE SONGS OF Dory Previn, a special, one-night-only benefit concert featuring the brilliant and iconic work of the legendary singer and songwriter on Monday, June 17, 2013 at 7:00 PM at The Vineyard (108 E. 15 St., between Irving Place and Union Square East)
But I am elsewhere on that day.
Tate To Blow Up The Best Of British Art
This is a headline in The Times and describes a plan by the Tate to put large images of some of our most famous paintings on thousands of poster sites around the country. There’s more on the scheme called Art Everywhere, here in the Independent.
I would like to see Whistlejacket, by George Stubbs displayed, but did Stubbs paint it the wrong way round to be used.
I think it’s a brilliant idea. At least they’ll be more relevant to me, than the usual boring adverts you see, like the one I saw yesterday.
In fact I think it is so brilliant, I’ve just donated a small amount of money to help. £3 pays for the printing of a poster.
Some didn’t like the headline in The Times, but I think it’s just another in the series that contains the brilliant “Fog in Channel, Continent Cut Off!”, That headline is discussed here.
Money may make the world go round, but humour puts the smile on everybody’s faces.
My I Love De Beauvoir Bag
I’ve just got this I Love De Beauvoir bag.
My I Love De Beauvoir Bag
My only problem with it is the dreadful self checkouts in Waitrose at the Angel, as it refuses to sit on the tiny shelf.
I got mine from the De Beauvoir Association.
Sequins On My Balcony
I went to see this entertainment at the Rosemary Branch last night.
To say it was uplifting would be an understatement, but to anybody who’s been affected by breast cancer either personally or through a family member or friend’s suffering, Yvette Cowles got it absolutely right in my view. I have never had any cancer, that I know of, but what Yvette said about fighting breast cancer, could have applied so much to C and her successful fight against her lump.
Nothing though, helped in C’s unsuccessful fight against the cancer that killed her.
Real Neighbourhood Policing
I like this story from the West Midlands. Here’s the first bit.
He’s a beat bobby with a difference – but Pc Ian Northcott stopped shoppers in their tracks when he started belting out Oasis hit Wonderwall outside a busy shopping centre.
We need more of this interactive neighbourhood policing.
I am reminded of a story years ago, when a police team got conned into a five-a-side football tournament by the local vicar. To say the football was rough would be an understatement. But the officer who told me the story, says some those they kicked and were kicked by, gave them information to catch a few felons.
Is There A Cardigan Gene?
My father liked to wear cardigans and so does my son. So is this in our genes?
I obviously don’t have that particular gene, as I’ve never worn a cardigan.
On the other hand, C had lots of them!
Advice For Expectant Mothers
There is a widely trailed story today about what expectant mothers should avoid. It’s here on the BBC. This is the main advice.
- Use fresh organic food rather than processed
- Avoid food and drink in cans and plastic containers
- Minimise use of moisturisers, cosmetics, shower gel and fragrances
- Avoid buying new furniture, fabrics, non-stick frying pans and cars when pregnant or nursing
When C was pregnant with our first child, she was a student in her last year at Liverpool University. She actually did her exams at nearly seven months pregnant. She got a II-2, so she couldn’t have done badly.
She didn’t purposedly avoid any chemicals, but as the nice flat we lived in didn’t have a shower, she did at least avoid shower gel, which is on the list of products to avoid. As to the last point, we couldn’t afford new furniture or cars. our frying pan had been borrowed from her mother and was a well-used steel one, complete with a bit of added rust. Did it put iron into the food?
Neither of us smoked, although throughout her pregnancy, she had to endure the Capstan Full Strength cigarettes of her tutor; Robert Kilroy Silk.
But advice was different in those days. We went to stay with a family in Hingham in Norfolk, where C had been a mother’s help during University holidays. The mother, who incidentally was the daughter of a doctor, asked if she’d like a brandy before going to bed, as it would make the baby sleep better. She declined, but only because she was pretty abstemious with alcohol.
We also moved south just a week or so before the expected birth date and then in London, she didn’t have a hospital. I told that story in a post called Waiting for Apollo 11. Theses are the links to Part 2 and Part 3 of the story. We didn’t do boring, even in 1969.
We all survived and the only question, that sometimes comes to mind, is was the cancer that killed her caused by all of those smoky tutorials forty years before she died?
I do know that if she was here today, she’d be laughing like a drain!
I Get Turned Down For A Turn Up
I was talking to a friend, when she said that she had a dress that needed shortening. She was also rather worried about getting the length right.
I suggested that she come round later in the week, and I pin it for her, as it is one of my skills, even if I haven’t used it in some years. She could even take it to my dry cleaners down the road, where the owner’s mother does a good job, if the repairs she’s done for me are any guide.
It would have been a convenient time for me, as the table is still fairly clear.
The table is very stable and it must be countless times, that I’ve got C to stand there, whilst I got the length of one of her dresses just right. I used to sew them up for her, but for perhaps the last five years of her life, she got someone in Cambridge market to do the cutting and sewing.
At least in that case, it wasn’t my fault, if she didn’t like the new length of the dress.
Getting the length of a dress on a lady absolutely right, is very difficult. C’s problem, was that she had a very small waist for her height and it was very easy to get the proportions wrong, so in the end I usually relied on good old golden section.
In the end, my friend decided to take the dress to a dressmaker of whom she knew. Sometimes, it’s good not to be wanted, as if I’d got it wrong, I’d have been deep in it.
The Floods In Central Europe
A few weeks ago I was in Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Southern Germany.
Now it seems that much of the area is under water, as the BBC reports.
I know it was only luck, but I certainly got my timing right.
I’ve never ever been flooded out in a house and I don’t ever want to be.
My hearts go out to all of those who are suffering.
The Anonymous Widower 