Somewhere I read that 7.20 am is the perfect time to wake up! I got it just right this morning! In the first hour since then, the weather changed three times: from cloudy, through some rain to a bit of sunshine. Back to stage one at the moment! And it's the spooky night of the year as I was reminded on the radio. The presenter  mentioned the scariest film of his school years: "Dark Towers", if you would also like to check it out! I like the song a lot! :-)

Weak Tuesday

No power to do much today. Getting some food from the kitchen to have before the medics is quite an effort. I was lucky to make the second appearance just after midday as I caught a rare moment when the sun was peering in through the kitchen windows. An unusual lunch was just served alfresco downstairs:

;-) No, that wouldn't happen in an English household, but I have heard that in Peru they even have a special festival where they only eat this kind of meat! How lucky you are, ginger, to live here, not there! I guess, your life wouldn't be much of fun in a Mediterranean country. All these skeleton-like poor cats in Turkey or Oman, a constant struggle. One evening on Heybeliada, one of The Princes Islands we came across a scene that would make a hit on YouTube if we'd been quick enough to get it. It was outside a fishmonger, just before closing, and all these really starved, skinny cats, maybe nearly twenty of them, were all sitting there, most alert, their eyes focused on the activity outside the shop in hope of receiving some tasty unsold scraps of the seafood assortment! You could sense this tension in the air; and the according smell of the place, of course. We stopped instantly. My mobile phone camera wouldn't do justice in the dark; besides, the card was probably full by then and my friend was hurriedly getting the equipment ready when... a vehicle arrived from the darkness and scared away the whole feline gang!

However, for the featured ginger, it has not always been a bed of roses...  Maybe I'll get back to her and her sister's story another time..:-)

The English language and culture is one of my lifelong fascinations and I have been discovering something about it every day, sharing some of my little discoveries with my (former) students and various friends, who sometimes seemed not so pleased receiving my numerous emails, often loaded with pictures and links rather meaningless to them. Now, at long last, I have my blog, which I'd been meaning to start for ages, but again, needed friends' help to actually get it done!  I feel embarrassed about my lack of technical skills, but, as they say, you can' be good at everything, can you? ;-) Mind you, I bought myself the first computer in August 1995, had soon the Internet connected, but have I been making an excessive use of that?

Now, this simple blog is to be my communication platform. Somehow, despite much persuasion from colleagues, I steer pretty clear from social websites and never twit for a number of reasons... ;-)

So, if you've got this far, you may like to read a poem to which the origin of expression 'a 

bed of roses' I used above is attributed:

The Passionate Shepherd To His Love

by Christopher Marlowe  

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

The poem was published posthumously in 1599.  Marlowe died in 1593.

Glossary:

kirtle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtle (I had to look that one up myself, any native speaker who would admit to that? )

myrtle –here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtus_communis , but I had a dear friend whose deceased wife's name was Myrtle, he couldn't help regretting that it was her not him driving on that fatal day…

When I rolled up the blind this morning, I saw the ginger feline neighbour 'on stage'; still like an ornamental sculpture.   Can you spot her? :-)

She didn't stay there for long, probably made her way back home seeing the ground was wet. 

A bit later the sun got through the clouds for a while and I just managed to catch a nice autumn view:

I tried to avoid getting a single magpie in the shot, in case somebody superstitious notices it. This bird will always remind me of a tour around Scotland I led long ago, when on seeing these birds I told the tourists about this superstition and tried to teach them the old rhyme on seeing magpies:

'One for a sorrow, two for a joy, three for a girl, four for a boy!' Many women agreed that having seen two, they would stop looking, just in case...

Some time later I felt really sweet when one of the tourists sent me some pictures from our tour and one of them was of the two magpies on the roof of Glenfiddich Distillery in Speyside. At the end of the tour when everybody was treated to some of their jolly product, they didn't neglect me and the drivers. We received beautifully presented small bottles of the golden water for an off-duty moment! One more observation regarding the distillery tour:  we visited castles, museums, palaces, markets,  places of natural beauty and many other attractions; nobody wanted to know any extra bits about making tartan  at James Pringle Weavers..; but none of these places  would ever receive so much attention from the visitors, so many really detailed questions regarding the various stages of  production process. I had a hard time interpreting there, needless to say. It's not my theme..

Sunday - the life's whim!

What can I do? I can plan an exciting weekend: a fascinating workshop, a theatre play I'd really love to see on Saturday; and on Sunday,  a seaside trip; persuade friends to join in, but then the cold gets more severe and I am just dragging myself around the flat when I have to, otherwise dosing in bed and having weird dreams which seem so real... But, faithful to my dear little blog, I'm adding this little update.

A cold is a cold and has its rights

Taking things slowly today, plenty of water, vitamin C,
Honey and lemon in the tea!

Wow, I must consult the above sentence with my friend Zoran, an expert on haiku (http://www.earthlanguage.org/poem/0705.htm)! Maybe I've just produced my first one.  No, definitely not..  There are no rhymes in haiku.

Friday - waking up with a cold

Most unwelcome to wake up with a cold on a Friday when you've made some nice plans for the weekend. I got though the working day all right, despite the dreadfully cold and wet weather conditions. After all, I work indoors, so I was safe from the rain. The heating was not very effective, maybe because all the energy went into producing the rather unpleasant sound...

Today I had a chat with a Kurdish Turk waiter who came to London eleven years ago, got a degree in engineering and landed... working at a restaurant. We reflected upon the weird situation of his forty million compatriots scattered around the world as the whirlwind of history deprived them of their own independent country.  Then, the other waiter, from Teheran, turned out to have a degree in IT. . It was sort of after lunchtime and the place was nearly empty. Although they serve excellent food, I'm not sure they were very busy earlier. There are more and more businesses closing down in this popular street. Some of them have been there for many years and they will surely be missed when get replaced by Starbuck-like ones who could afford the increased rent rates. I also talked to an old lady who shared with me her very good memories of volunteering at the charity shop presently called Octavia Housing in Turnham Green which was joined by the Notting Hill Trust a few years back. She, like many others, was saddened to find out that her happy workplace from twenty years ago has to disappear from the Chiswick map.

Another noteworthy Friday encounter was with a kind man who donated an autobiographical book written and signed by his friend, an Eastender evacuated to the West Country during the war and living there, near Bristol ever since.

I do find it fascinating to meet all these people, complete strangers, and I feel honoured to get introduced to a smaller or bigger fraction of their lives. I do not think it happens so much in smaller communities. In the smallest ones, people do know about one another anyway (sometimes much more than there is..;-) ) and in towns and cities people tend to keep themselves to themselves. However, this is kind of superficial knowledge, facts, assumptions, impressions, sometimes gossip and presumptions, while I have a feeling that, in many cases, here, in London, these short, brief encounters can sometimes be more meaningful. Maybe… In truth, I tend not to generalize about anything in life. J

Handlebar mustache for a start on Thursday

My grandfather had an immaculate handlebar mustache so when they talked about it on the radio I googled the term and found out about the club: http://www.handlebarclub.co.uk/index.php .  When I found out who qualifies to be a member, I had to google again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirsute  and then it was high time to stop googling and dash to work.

The qualification for membership is: 
"a hirsute appendage of the upper lip, with graspable extremities" 
and in addition, we specify that beards are not allowed.

From the exciting topic of hair let me move on to a hairy canine taking an interest in soft toys:

I thought the hen was pretty and useful:

Then a patterned beret nicely filled the space among the elephants on an armchair:

And later in the day, I could spot a wooden monkey:

But that was at the end of a little detour which took me to The Pitshanger House and Gallery in Ealing.

I walked across Ealing Common which couldn't really show off its autumnal beauty deprived of the flattering sunsine. Despite that, I took some pictures, including the one of The Netherlands Circus in the middle, and of the chestnut tree avenuues planned by Charles Jones, Ealing first architect.

 This little splash of deep green on the tree trunk, isn't it cute?

I remember, my mother had a beautiful evening dress in a very similar colour. She looked stunning in it with her black hair done up in a geisha style. She has always been such an elegant woman. :-)

She would like to see Sir John Soane's suburban retreat and I will make sure to make her peer through the window into the illuminated breakfast room with its ilusionist painting on the ceiling showing lovely blue sky, surely to put the architect and his family in the good mood for the day!

Sunny Wednesday afternoon and a leaf that didn't make it to the ground

What a simple pleasure it was to have lunch on a park bench in the autumn sun on the edge of Bedford Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_Park,_London):

 I enjoyed every moment of it, but I think the colours appealed to my senses the most: the intensely green grass, the yellow, orange red and brown leaves;

 oh, and the texture of the tree trunks!:-)

I found an empty bench near the line of horse chestnut trees.Nearby, on the grass there were schoolgirls playing cheerfully,  and somewhere behind me, mothers chatting on the benches. And now, in the evening, I'm chatting to my mother over the phone, telling her about it as she is making lasagna for lunch. For me it's soon bedtime, though. I just had to take a look at the websites of a photographer going to do some work at a Halloween festival in Iceland, and of an engineer, artist and painter in one:-), both met this week in Chiswick. :-)

Good night!

23/10/2012 One of unforgettable encounters

This elderly woman dressed in a raincoat and pushing a shopping trolley came into the shop this morning attracted by a violet teddy bear in the window. She bought the toy, for herself, she stressed The teddy was her favourite colour. Then she also bought a teddy-unicorn with violet hooves and corn. I spotted it for her in a one-pound basket. She was delighted and told me she never had soft toys as a child so now she has many of them and they live on her bed. Just like my friend's mother, I thought to myself. She sits them on a shelf next to the bed for the night. I liked this woman straightaway, her warmth, her peace, gentleness and kindness. She didn't mind talking to me about her life. Being 83 now, she is in a very good health and good spirit. Her birthplace was Bejing, she had a sister and before her mother died, she asked her sister to take care of the two girls as she knew that her husband might re-marry and it might not be easy to be stepchildren. That's what happened, Father agreed to that, especially that he lost the job and then, indeed got married again and had two more daughters by the new wife. So lucky, the older ones were not living with them, they would probably be like slaves to the stepfamily.

I asked her if she was from China and she said she was born in Bejing and the life was good there when she was a child. She didn't mind talking to me about her life. Being 83 now, she is in a very good health and good spirit.She had a sister and before her mother died, she asked her sister to take care of the two girls as she knew that her husband might re-marry and it might not be easy for them to be stepchildren. That's what happened, Father agreed to that arrangement, especially that he lost the job and then, indeed got married again and had two more daughters by the new wife. So lucky the older ones were not living with them, they would probably be like slaves to the step-family.

Later, like other girls from her family and friends, she met her future husband, a Scotsman working in the oil industry, at one of social occasions, as she told me, specially organised so the girls could get out of this restricted community where a girl could not see much of the outside world and really, didn't matter much in society.

After they got married and moved in together 'they' would visit her almost every day when he was at work and ask her why she didn't marry this or that boy from her neighbourhood, why she married a foreigner. That was not well seen at all. But she was answering them: "None of these boys wanted me, what should I do?" "How would I be able to exist without a husband?" "He was the only man who wanted to marry me." She learnt to say these things from her cousins and girlfriends, as all or most of them married foreigners.

The husband was given a travel permit several times, but he was reluctant to leave her behind. She persuaded him to go abroad or else, they might not grant him one when he would really want it. So he went and they agreed to meet in Hong Kong. She was only 19 or 20 yrs old and knew little more then her home, like other girls in China those days. She had never travelled by train, never been to anywhere. But she decided to set off on this long journey, from Beijing to Shanghai and then to Hong Kong. She only took a little suitcase with lots of knickers, a small pillow, a top to change and a really pretty dress to wear for the meeting with her husband. She had the money attached to her waist. The journey took many, many days. When the knickers got dirty, she would change them on the train and throw the dirty ones through the window. (She showed me how she threw them through the imaginary window, one pair of knickers after another..) Every time the train stopped, and it rarely did, the passengers would jump out and run to some kind of a place to get some water into the bottles or cups they had with them for the purpose. She didn't go, she didn't bring any vessel, how would she know? There was only a basic toilet on the train. It was the first time she travelled by train, she was among strangers. The train was very crowded. Through the whole journey she only lived on oranges or tangerines (I am not sure), she took plenty from home. But other passengers were looking after her and they guarded her from the evil ones. They were very good to her. 

When she arrived in Shanghai, she was shocked. Her husbands company booked a hotel  room for on the 20th floor for her. She had never been in the lift and so she got sick, she couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep. She was shocked, I reckon. Taking the lift downstairs in the morning, she got sick again, she could eat all the same. But she made it to the last train and got to the border. There were plenty of Chinese soldiers and/or guards and the experienced travellers were telling her how to behave not to raise suspicion or she might not be let out. It was scary. However, she saw her husband across the border accompanied by some high rank officials and she knew she was safe.

Then they both had a happy life, went to live in different places of the world as his job took him. She lived through the war in Korea and the one in Vietnam, but they were all right. They lived in China, looked after her family ( I guess she meant the aunt who brought her up) when they grew old and then went to live in Scotland with his widowed old mother. It was only fair, she reasoned, you need to look after the young and the old in the family.However, the husband was telling her they wouldn't stay in Scotland, it's far too cold and too damp, and all the money he'd earned would go up the chimney (she showed with her arm how it would go up the chimney) for the heating. And so they moved to London, where their daughter lives with her family. The lady is a great-grandmother (recent event) and a widow (for a few years), but she bought the soft toys for herself, because she likes them and she never had soft toys as a child, only the horrible hard ones. They will sit on her bed with all the others.

Regretfully, no pictures to illustrate this story though. However, further down is the one with a giraffe. The beast was a gift from Africa for the emperor some time around 1491, which was the year when China discovered the world, according to the famous book title. 

I met a lady who helps her husband with advertising this Sunday antique fair:

Tabbard Theatre poster of the current play looked interesting:

Somehow such stripy outfit brings about horrific connotations...

 'Have you ever seen a cat in a hat? His nose is too small and the face is too flat to wear a hat! But this is an exceptonally elegant cat!' :-)))

 And finally, the Chines link:

GOOD NIGHT!!! :-)

Misty Monday

Walking across the green, Haven Green,  this slightly misty morning would have been more pleasant if less hasty. The autumn hues looked splendidly refreshing after the gloomy and wet end of Sunday. No time for a snapshot stop at the time. Later I 'immortalised' the sight of a few gadgets at the West Ealing charity shops, cat-themed prevailing:

However, there was a set of salt and pepper holders from Jamaica in the shape of  creatures forbidden here and there:

And the inspirational butterflies (spreading wings, flying where they wish) were also granted my attention:

And for those keen on dancing I've got this shot:



Finally, as it's already Tuesday (I mean, Monday has just finished), a lamp shade for football fans:

Good night! Zzzzzzzz...

Sunday is over

A well deserved relaxing day it was. Not much done. Cold and wet outside. Typical mistake: looking up the BBC weather forecast before going out and trusting it. Outcome: getting substantially wet and not actually going where I had wanted to.
My man in The Middle East sent me a few pictures from the Friday expedition to a market where he took a recently arrived colleague to show him carpets. Here are a few from Afganistan:

Post-Friday post

20/10/2012

Post-Friday Post

Saturday started for me when the alarm rang at 9am and I had to admit I had a bad headache again, which I immediately fixed with the prescribed potion and a lie-in. Now I'm OK, the washing machine is playing its tune, whole-week and older imperfections of the flat maintenance are clearly visible in the brightness of the not-so-bright day.When I looked out of the window, I saw a whole row of pigeons sitting orderly on the roof opposite. Gradually they are flying away, now there is a couple left. Oh, a magpie joined, just on the corner. Now it's left. One pigeon followed. How many are still on the roof? :-) How fascinating!

Anyway, I wanted to say that I am so pleased with yesterday. Nice people met at work during my half-day at Queensway. An old lady who used to make fur coats, a young mother with a pram, black covered top to bottom with a gap for the most beautiful eyes who was looking for an extra suitcase before travelling back to Riyadh, a pretty, petite Brazilian young wife with her mother-in law with whom we had a laugh when the young one went to try on a summer from with big KISS ME print on the front and a young male customer pretended he got inspired...

Now, the time is running fast. Let me just mention other highlights of the Friday: 

-watching a brilliant film titled 'Barbara' with a friend whose name is, you guess! ;-) All Barbaras I know are amazing, I must say! I actually went to the cinema! That's rare for me. What I didn't feel comfortable with, was the bright emergency exit light (or was it some other light..) just to the left of the screen. I know my headaches only wait for triggers like that...

-making it to meet a group of great people who always inspire me

- going to a gig with friends; unfortuantely, I stayed there only till before midnight and managed to see just the first band - amazing Rakija Balkan Ethno from.... Oslo, oh, and said hello to Katarina from the London Balkan Gypsy Fever I've known and admired for years. It was clear The Gypsy Fever were not to get on stage by midnight  and the last tube train would't be waiting for me. I've known the London group for years and have always enjoyed their concerts, because they are great fun and so relaxed. They started as The Red Hot Gypsy Fever and they still are pretty hot or maybe even hotter! I may check it out next time.:-)

So I am rather happy with  the Friday agenda, all worked well. Well... except one thing.. I needn't have eaten when I got home, that was a bit out of control and surely contribuited to this morning headache... 

As I'm still sorting out the abode, I've just listened to this brilliant, in my opinion man, Anthony De Mello: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkbRHqqVYEU. I must remember to tell the last joke to my ex-in-laws who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!

Rakija on stage!

Leaving the cinema I spotted a cute old car:

Unnecessarily awake

Here, in London, the birds are waking up. I'm well ahead of them, unnecessarily, as it's only 6 am and still dark. Just as well, there are not so many of them now as in the summer. Not funny to be up when you could and should be fast asleep. The pain in the right hand is haunting me again at small hours. Carpal tunnel syndrome, I've been diagnosed with and recommended a simple surgery to unblock the trapped nerve in the wrist area. Yeah, tough decision. I'm scared that the surgery may cause some other damage.. You know, I've heard the stories...  Tried to think for a moment about yesterday and recalled walking from Westbourne Grove to Notting Hill Gate in the evening. Going past a Greek Orthodox Church and very soon after, an Anglican one, and then past a Jewish temple almost opposite, brought back memories of numerous walks in the Old Town of Damascus where all the religions seemed to coexist so peacefully and an ordinary tourist would not anticipate all the present turmoil ... How incredibly kind and helpful were the people! So many great memories... May peace return to Syria!

The day before, Thursday it was, I was walking across the elegant Holland Park and took a few pictures, as I do. This one I quite like:

Another whimsical day!

It started with the sunshine, but it didn't last. However, I could admire the powerful rain through the open door in Queensway. Luckily  it didn't affect me when I was leaving and only encountered a few powerful drops on the last leg of the race back home. Today, I met a woman from Sri Lanka and she told me about the despair of her family, as a young relation of hers who studies in London and went on holiday to visit the family, got kidnapped on the way back to the airport and has been unheard of since...

Hollan Park

test

Hello! This is my very first ever blog post! At long last! I'm not yet sure how it will develop, nor do I know much about blogging. Monday is coming to an end in my part of the world. It's been a good day! I managed to get delayed leaving home in the morning by a rather strange phone call and still, I couldn't resist taking a snapshot of the neighbour's cat. And a special cat it is! He is in a relationship with one of the downstairs ginger sisters and I have happened to witness them play not but once in the pretty garden outside my window. An amusing sight it is and how noisy they are! I'll say no more... Regarding cats, so many of my friends are fond of them, I now often take pictures of cats and cat-objects. Thus, I photographed a cats +dogs+umbrellas curtain in a shop on the way home! I am going to share the pictures here, instead of using the email. I need to figure out how to post pictures then.  Not tonight, though.  There is tomorrow to get ready for! Thanks for reading this!

And indeed, tomorrow came (it always does) and I managed to add the first picture:

Here are more cats captured on 15.10.2012: