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

My weekend in pictures

There were two distinctive themes to my weekend. Saturday was dedicated to DIY and gardening. Sunday was dedicated to the London Marathon.

 That's the before picture, even after we've done a little bit of clearing out. The shed is hidden on the back right corner under that ivy.

Our garden was generally overgrown and messy when we bought our house. It was a high priority to put it in a more friendly state since we both like staying outdoors and our bbqs! JJ is South African after all. Bbq in in their blood. After managing to clear out weed and unwanted plants, JJ put lots of effort during his week off from work to tidy it up. So, Saturday I tried to help as much as I could.

How the little shed looks now with little blue bells and jasmine

Creating new plant areas in the garden. It will look so great as the plants will grow

We managed to clear the small shed from all the ivy that was covering it and paint it again. It now looks clean. We planted a jasmine plant in front of it. Changing the look of the shed made a huge difference on how the garden looks. Hopefully our plants will grow and the garden will look even nicer. We might even get some vegetables this year.



Sunday was the Virgin London Marathon. The weather was brilliant, at least for the spectators since I assume it was a bit too warm for the runners. We got up early and headed to the city centre. We found a spot close the Monument in the City and watched them pass for at least a couple of hours.

Mo Farah running. I've retouched a bit that picture in Instagram

To me seeing people run like that is so inspirational. It signifies the power of the mind over the pain and the dedication some people can show over a cause. The atmosphere is so jovial and the sunshine made it all so much nicer.

The rest of the runners

Love and hate relationship with London!

I generally love London. I've commented as such in the past repeatedly. It’s a city that has everything from buzzing night life to vast open spaces of green and blue. I love exploring it and I’m proud to say that I know some areas quite well. I've met Londoners that only know the area where they grew up or work and nothing else. They’re not even familiar with the centre. It’s a funny feeling some people maintain of the South versus the North, or the East versus the West. I admit that there are areas not really worth visiting unless there is a specific reason, that don’t have that much to offer. London though is so vast and it’s very difficult to actually get to know all of it well.

I've lived in the centre part of the city as a student, in the North, the West and now the South part. Being an outdoors runner I've been through streets that connect various areas together. You can’t really know a place unless you've walked it up and down many times. And I can say, I generally love London.

Then, there are days like today!

Since yesterday night, the London Underground is on strike until Friday morning. For a city of this proportions, not having tube working is crippling. From a quick online search I found out that around 3.2 million passengers a day travel on average on its trains. Imagine what happens when the service is disrupted that badly during rush hours! The strike is organised by RMT (staff union) because the London mayor announced that he’ll lay off almost a 1000 ticket office staff to save money. He wants to hire more train drivers to operate the tube during the whole night on Fridays and Saturdays. He also believes that it’s better to have staff on the gates of each station than people at the tills. Passengers can learn how to use the ticket machines. So, lots of tube stations today and tomorrow will remain closed. Some trains will be running, but not stopping in lots of stations along the way. Public will not know which ones. There are some lists on the TfL website, but TV news mentioned that they’re not accurate.

I’m not going to comment on the validity of the strike and who’s right, the RMT or the local government. The leader of RMT and the mayor are in some kind of personal vendetta affecting however millions of people. I had it somewhat easy. I got up an hour earlier and took a train to work. Not the route I normally take. I walked 20 minutes extra and went to work. Since I arrived earlier, I plan on leaving earlier. I have my gear with me and plan to run the 15.8 km home. I believe I’ll be fine. However, not everybody is as fortunate. The evening rush hour affect more people than the morning one. From around 5 pm till 7 pm, it will be hell on the stations and bus stops of Central London. We've seen it before and will see it again. People get frustrated and act irrational. It will be the survival of the fittest. In cases like this, I hate London and the amount of people in it. I just hope it all goes well.    

Chelsea vs Syros

It’s not really a competition; these places are as different as places can be. However, they've been in our minds a lot lately and we've been having conversations regarding them.

Chelsea, SW3 in London, is the area in my head between Sloane Square and Brompton Cemetery which will be the object of an art project taken by ‘JJ’. He needs to find and work on an architectural feature of the area. He can pick something from the whole borough. However, we decided to concentrate only on Chelsea. So, last Sunday, JJ took his camera, I took a big cup of coffee and our housemate and we headed to explore. We got off the tube in West Brompton and started zigzagging the streets.

 Really nice mews in the area

JJ took lots of photos of things that caught his attention. I managed to capture a few photos too with my phone that you can see here. The area is generally very nice with some hidden gems here and there. For example there’s the ‘World’s End’. That’s a big grey building with a massive clock on it, going backwards. I've tried to find out its story or reason of existence, but no luck.

Clock going backwards

The troubadour's door

Generally Chelsea is an area where wealthy people live. I think that ‘Cheyne Walk’ is one of the most expensive streets in the capital. And in some areas this wealth can be seen, or even advertised. Having watched an episode of the TV series ‘Made in Chelsea’, I lost a little bit of respect I had left for the people living there though. In any case, our walk was really nice, even if the weather wasn't the best. I was so excited at the end of our day to find an amazingly cute little olive tree plant at the Chelsea Gardener. I was looking for one for some time now and I finally got one!!

Goat in boots pub

Chelsea bridge

Syros on the other hand, is the place where my brother’s wedding will take place. I don’t have my own photos to show you from there yet. I visited the island when I was still studying, back in the very early 00’s for some days. It must have changed since then, I assume. Ermoupoli, its capital, is a very beautiful town built by the sea and between two big hills. It’s very picturesque with an Orthodox church on the top of one hill and a Catholic church on the other. Most of its old mansions and neo-classical buildings should still (hopefully) be there.

Syros main town, Ermoupoli

The discussions regarding the island are mainly about who’s going to be staying where and the logistics of the wedding. Apparently, it’s not that easy to organise all the relatives, especially the elders, and find means of transportation and accommodation. I thought that since they’re pensioners, they would be flexible on dates and accommodation as long as someone would drive them to places and back! Apparently, I am wrong. My parents will be driving 3 more people there and my brother has to figure out how to carry wedding dresses, traditional treats, decorations etc. I believe that he chose the island, so that he could simply sail there! That is not the case!

To be honest, I’m so happy that I can skip all that trouble. Leaving abroad, I will just fly and meet them there and most details will be taken care of!!!!

I love spring...

I have to admit that technically it’s not spring anymore, we’re in June. That month is generally associated with summer and if you were living in Greece, you would already have visited a nearby beach and started your plunges in the warm salty sea.

But this is not Greece. Winter was cold and very long. Temperatures were close to 0 for a long time. Recently, that has changed and a visit to our back garden can confirm that. Some of the roses have blossomed and there are more to come. I’m starting to see the carrots I planted earlier this year grow and the irises are so heavy with flowers they’re touching the ground. It’s not big but our back garden at the moment is my private paradise…

I’m not a great flower person. I can’t remember their names, place of origin or anything like that. But just like a very beautiful woman, when I see one, I can appreciate its beauty.

Greek Orthodox Easter

The 5th of May was Easter! As far as I know not all Orthodox celebrate it that day, but at least it was Easter for us. As a celebration, it is considered to be very important. In the old days, I would definitely go to church at least on Good Friday to follow the epitaphios and for a short period of time late at night on Good Saturday to hear the celebratory announcement of the resurrection. I would do that more as a family tradition and not out of religious beliefs. Like decorating a Christmas tree, getting dressed on my good church clothes, picking up my special big decorated candle and going to the church to hear the priest announce the resurrection of Christ before the loud bells ringing and the fireworks exploding, was part of my childhood. Although, the most important part of Easter is the Sunday lunch massive feast where the whole family would gather around the whole lamb roasting for hours over a pit.

This is probably what would happen, if I was in Greece or if more of my Greek friends were in London to organise something properly Easter-y. The only thing that resembles the time of the year was the fact that I dyed some eggs with my housemate! They even look half decent! Traditionally we should have just plain red eggs, but we decided of using two colours instead! I know, we can be quite the party animals!

Easter Eggs

So, the long weekend was generally really nice. The weather was beautiful and yesterday bank holiday meant an extra day to relax and enjoy. In the past few days we had a bbq in the back garden, we watched ‘Iron Man 3’, went for a hike in Hampstead Heath, for a walk alongside Regent’s canal and for a picnic in Clapham Common! I even managed to bake a lovely chocolate marble cake on Saturday! Yes, it was as yummy as it seems. I was impressed with myself.

Not bad at all

Among the highlights of the weekend, I have to add what happened on Sunday morning. On Easter Sunday morning I went for a run. The weather was nice and I was running in only a t-shirt and shorts for the first time this year. It was really nice. On the way home, in the middle of a park I found a £5 bank note! I did look around for any other people walking around and I even checked if someone was pulling me a prank. There was no one. So, I just put the fiver in my pocket and left. I plan on spending it on a lottery ticket this week! No, I’m not that cheap, but the event put a smile on my face. It’s always nice to go exercise and even make money over it.

Enjoy the weather in Hampstead Heath

The view from Parliament Hill 

Next to Regent's is the Zoo. The keeper was feeding the hyenas when the river boat passed 

The canal

News Update

It’s April, although it still feels like January. We still get the occasional snow flake here and there and the weather here in London is still cold and a bit miserable. Some plants and trees have started to bloom, but it doesn’t look anything like spring yet. Unfortunately, the continuous for months bad weather hasn’t just affected me. I’ve heard many people say how tiring it is. To give you an idea, we had the coldest March since 1962 as BBC said. This week looks the same. Maybe it will get better next week?

You really need to try to see if you can succeed.  

I love the view of the sea 

The bad weather has affected my running schedule. I know it shouldn’t, but I just can’t get myself in running gear and out of the house when it is freezing cold and very windy. It takes almost a mile to run to get warm enough to actually start enjoying the running session. By then, it feels a bit like a torture. I had this conversation at work with one of our financial managers. He’s a very keen runner and finished last week a half marathon in an hour and a half. We agreed that people running the London Marathon soon, must have had it very difficult training during the last few months. So, March hasn’t been that good, but I hope April will get better. I’ve already registered for a 10k run in early June to keep me motivated. I hope to beat my PB.

naughty

Dressed up like onions (Long Johns, scarf, gloves, woolly hat etc), I took my new lodger on a day trip to Brighton last Friday. JJ was working, when the rest of us enjoyed a long Easter weekend. It was windy and cold, but other than that a bit sunny. I generally love Brighton. It’s close enough to London for a day trip; it’s by the sea and has lots of lovely small coffee shops and stores that are not part of international chains, giving the city a nice character. It was my lodger’s first excursion outside the city and I believe she had as much fun as I did.

Graffiti around the town

Being a Bank Holiday meant the place was generally busy. There were lots of families on the Pier and happy shoppers all around. We didn’t stay on the Pier that long though. It was too windy to be enjoyable for too long. I had hoped for a nice stroll along the sea front from the Pier to the Marina, but the weather didn’t allow us to do that. Nevertheless, we visited local cafes and pubs to stay warm.

Really nice coffee place in Brighton

Fortunately, I’ve already planned my summer holidays with ‘JJ’. We both needed to know when we’ll be going to a sunnier and warmer place. So, we picked an island in the Aegean Sea and decided to spend some quality and relaxing time there. Our last long holidays in South Africa were absolutely amazing but tiring with so many different things to experience. This time we decided to just find a small Mediterranean island and just do nothing apart from rest, get some tan and swim. This will not happen that soon but in July, but nonetheless it’s something fabulous to look forward to.

Peace...

Artistic Weekend

Is there a weird time continuum between weekends and weekdays? How come every single time weekends seem to fly by in an instant? You blink and you miss them! Especially, when you’re having fun…

We visited ‘Tate Modern’ on Friday to see the latest Lichtenstein exhibition. For those interested in this form of modern art, the exhibition is highly recommended. Although I had seen some of his work before, I never saw a full collection of his work, displaying his evolution as an artist through the years. And in any case, paying a visit to Tate Modern is always a great way to spend your evening.

 It’s very interesting to see how artists play with various forms of art, mediums and materials. Roy (Lichtenstein) was mostly well known for his paintings that resemble comic books. However, he has done lots of other things as well, including installations and sculptures.

What I found intriguing was the fact that many of the pieces he created were not really his own ideas, but copies of other people’s works. Even his famous comic ‘strips’ were almost identical to actual comic books published at the time. I thought he was just influenced by them and I didn’t know they were direct copies! Apparently, he was intrigued by ‘DC Comics’ or other similar publications. Roy was a comic book geek after all!

At first I was disappointed. The fact that all these pieces were ‘stolen’ and there was no originality in them, made me feel cheated in a way. However, then I remembered that there is no real parthenogenesis in art. I don’t believe there is an artist not influenced by another artist or something he saw or heard somewhere. Even the ground breaking artists, let’s say for example Picasso, started from somewhere and then evolved into something else. During his early years he was influenced by his own father and even Paul Cezanne.

Then, I started seeing Roy’s paintings and works differently. Yes, he was copying other people’s work, but he did so in his own original way, making each piece he copied his own. What’s the difference between other artists, for example Hockney painting landscapes? The landscape was there; the painter saw it, liked it and painted it. The same applies for Lichtenstein. He saw for example the sculpture titled ‘Laocoon and his sons’; liked it and painted it. The result looks like this. Don’t you find it nice?

The rest of the weekend was also very nice. On Saturday we went for a walk and lunch in Chelsea. Almost every time we’re in the area, we visit the Saatchi gallery and this time was no different. There’s an amazing installation (I don’t know how to call it) in the basement that we always visit. Richard Wilson, the artist, filled a room with oil. As an idea it’s quite simple, but the result is very nice. It looks like this:

(Ignoring the smell), the mirroring effect of the oil and the way that affects the space of the room is breath taking.

So, in general my weekend was very nice. I had such a nice time that I completely ignored the continuously horrible weather and the fact that I had a very bad journey to work this morning! The tube train I was in had to be derailed and there were lots of delays! I didn’t have a very good start of the week but I didn’t mind that much. I didn’t even complain about it… :-)

Happy New Year

I’d like to wish for you a jolly, healthy, successfully and productive New Year!

We went to central London for the change of the year. We had arranged to meet some friends, but it was so busy that it was impossible to reach them. To give you an idea we were in the North Bank of Thames around 10 pm, close to Temple station (that’s two stops away from Westminster), and it was already crowded and we couldn’t get closer. They had already blocked parts of the road leading to the area around Big Ben. By 11pm the closed road where we were was full of people and there was nowhere to go but stay put and wait for time to pass.

At midnight, the fireworks display was really nice. I tried to enjoy the ‘show’, so I didn’t take many pictures. It wasn’t easy to zoom in, keep steady with everybody moving around and take a decent shot of the fireworks anyway. The atmosphere of the joyful crowds was pleasant as well (excluding some drunk people).

When the display was over, we quickly tried to get to a convenient open tube station and head home. JJ was working the next morning and we couldn’t afford to get stranded in the centre. The way back was funny. There were lots of people wishing each other for the New Year. The girl sitting next to me in the train had a carton decapitated Queen with her. Since she was slightly drunk and falling asleep, the Queen was resting on my shoulder as well. I couldn’t resist and told JJ to take a picture of me:  

  

Through someone else’s eyes…

I’ve mentioned before that for the month of October, a very good friend of mine from my childhood is staying over at our place. He’s doing a temporary placement and he’s busy during the day, but I generally try to entertain him during some evenings or the weekends to show him London and places that he will not easily find in a guide book.

Having a coffee in the morning across the street from the Royal Court House

In case you were wondering, some shops already have Christmas stuff 

 And to be honest I’ve been enjoying these outings very much! We’ve done so many different things the last days which were a very nice distraction from my daily routine. For example we visited parts of West London like the Holland Park where I hadn’t been in months if not years. It’s such a beautiful park and walking around the surrounding areas is so enjoyable. The architecture of the buildings, the tranquillity of the park and the sunny weather made that walk very nice. Or we went to Tate Modern to see a ‘Munch’ exhibition.

The view from Tate Modern

Watching people making globes in the 'Royal Geographical Society' 

We even did a ‘Jack the Ripper’ tour last week! We met a guide in the Eastern part of the city, late one evening, and she took us around the area and showed us where the various killings occurred. She had a small projector and she showed us pictures of that time and actual photographs of the victims and their autopsies. She was generally stating the facts without exaggerations. I was afraid it would be a time wasting experience with the guide trying to be extra scary but thankfully that wasn’t the case. She was actually very funny and didn’t take herself or what she was doing too seriously which made the experience quite enjoyable and amusing. We talked about the various conspiracy theories and possible suspects.

The Japanese garden in the Holland Park

Seeing London through the eyes of a guest can be rejuvenating. It’s a very beautiful city with an endless source of different things to do and small escapes here and there. Here are some pictures I took the last week.

A nice lady in Clapham