Monday 21 July 2014

View from the top

It’s been a while since my last post and I have lots of catching up to do with your blogs. I will get down to it though. I’ve missed doing that. In my part of the world life has been very busy and time just flew by.

In the house front, we undertook the project of creating a new patio (?) in the back of the garden. Do you call that a patio or a deck or what? Instead of going with a wooden deck, we decided it would be easier to put slabs to create a bbq area next to the small shed. JJ had some days off work and he loves working on the garden, so we went for it. After checking YouTube / ‘how to’ videos and things online we went for a quick dry and easy slab layer solution and ordered bags and bags of them. We also got the number of slabs needed. Thank god that JJ’s good at DIY. I was basically the little help boy, but I believe I helped a lot by carrying various stuff around and taking care of the minor details.


The final result is quite good. We didn’t manage to get the exact elevations we wanted but I think that it looks quite decent and functional. JJ is still working on the final touches but we’re almost done. We will order some grass to put on the sides of the path…

On a very different note, it was my beloved ‘JJ’s 40th birthday last week! He insisted on not doing much about it, but I couldn’t help myself. He was working an early shift that morning and finished around noon. So, I did the same. I booked half a day off work and met him at home. I took Penny for a small walk while he rested for half an hour, since waking up at 3:00am can be a mood killer. After that we jumped on the tube and headed to ‘London Bridge’! There we went up the elevator and went outside in the 69th floor to admire the views from the top of the Shard!

Tower Bridge with the Isle of Dogs at the back

The birthday boy and me with the Thames at the back

Facing west

We were really lucky with the weather. It was sunny with some occasional clouds here and there casting beautiful shadows over the buildings. Since it was a weekday the place wasn’t very crowded and we were able to freely walk around and enjoy the experience. Unfortunately the sunny sky meant that we couldn’t take many pictures with us and the background view together because we either came up really dark or the background very bright. We managed to take some photos nonetheless. Overall, the views are breath taking. The building is perfectly situated over the Thames overlooking the whole city. Especially in days with good visibility, you can see for miles.

View of the City

After that we headed to a delicious dim sum restaurant overlooking the Tower Bridge. We were able to sit outside and enjoy the weather. We couldn’t stay long or have lots of alcohol since JJ had to get up the same time the next morning as well. But I hope that he enjoyed the day as much as I did.

And to wrap things up, here’s a few pictures of Penny:

Enjoying a day out in Clapham Common

Going crazy for a tennis ball

2 comments:

  1. Belated Happy Birthday to JJ! He certainly does not look 40! I'm jealous of your ability to enhance your living area; I'm not a DIY kind of guy; wish I were. The patio, I'm sure will look fantastic. Beautiful views and great pics of one of my favorite cities in the world!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the wishes.
      I'm not a very DIY person myself either. But I try to help any way possible. :-)

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