Shooting a lion! Return from Baghdad! Ealing curios!

On Monday I met a beautiful English girl at the Ealing Octavia shop. She was buying a soft toy, not a teddy bear, a teddy lion.:-) Paying only a mere pound for the cuddly king of the jungle made her really happy. I had to make sure that she would find him a nice home. To my surprise, I gathered that this was not really the case. The poor lion is soon going to end his toy life. He will be shot in the head this Friday night.  You want to know why, when and where? Be at  Arthur Cotterell Theatre in Kingston-upon-Thames this Friday at 7 pm! You don't have to pay to find out!
And now I can share with you who I discovered Mr Arthur Cotterell is:
Arthur Cotterell, former Principal of Kingston College in London, has spent many years combining senior educational management with historical research. He is the respected author of more than thirty books, and is now writing on the Chinese empire, from the history of which he considers one can learn as much about leadership as from Ashridge or Harvard.
However, confirming the details regarding the play on line hasn't yet happened.
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Although it's Tuesday evening already, I am dying to tell you about the Monday evening. I listened to Yousif Naser. He returned from Baghdad and gave a detailed account of his trip. I may even be allowed to add some of the pictures he took there! :-)

Meanwhile I'll show you a few of my today's snaps. Regretfully, dashing to the gym in the morning, I had no time take pictures of the crocuses in Haven Green. They are, like daffodils, just about to blossom!

Look at these figurines of a boy and girl with a mark underneath that reads: 'FOREIGN'! (I tried three times and they always land here upside down, naughty kids!)

I have looked through loads of figurines of boys and girls online and haven't come across the ones like these. (Please, my dear, wonderful student, pay attention to the use of 'these' in the above sentence. Does this example make things clearer?)

Here are a few other objects that my camera captured today:

This cute Regal Collection porcelain doll:

Behold the stocking!

Traditional Russian style stackable boxes made me think of a long lost friend whose sister collects stackable dolls.

A little (but heavy) angel holding a bird in in need of a new home, temporarily staying at The Octavia shop in Ealing High Street:

On the way home I stopped to enjoy some music coming from the seat and watch the dancing fire coming from the instrument the man in the hat was operating. (Somehow, the verb 'playing' doesn't seem to describe the activity pictured below.)

Good night!