Ecology, storm, tandem, papirovkas & London!

Hurrah! Today I am going to emerge from my abode for the first time since I came here last Thursday! And it is sunny, unlike until now. OK, I will need crutches, but still, it will make a change. I can't wait! First thing I'll do, I'll take out the rubbish safely stored in two bags. Next month the recycling scheme is to be introduced seriously. Why seriously? Well, to me, living in London, it is natural to segregate rubbish, you know: plastic, paper, glass and metal separately, nothing complicated. I did the same when I came here. Then I met someone 'in the know' and was told not to bother, because it all went to a dump, despite specifically labelled separate bins! They had no means to organise it properly, I gathered.
Just as well, they finally found the way to do it. High time!

The Sharp Gate Church tower on the horizon

The little shop closed down after years of useful service

.The above are today's pictures. I like these views. Yesterday some sky showed up towards the evening. I ventured out to the balcony and found some pretty piece of unknown origin on the floor. No idea what it is and how it got to my balcony...

When it did get sunny yesterday, I captured it from upstairs:

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As I was about to go out, the weather suddenly changed and a torrential rain attacked and a few distant thunders could be heard. For a few minutes the sun showed up among the clouds, but the heavy  rain returned and the storm got closer. That didn't last long and the grey sky isn't shedding tears at the moment. I'll wait a bit longer to see what happens.

A storm.... The most inconvenient moment I was caught by a storm was many years ago when we went on a summer biking trip to stay in my grandparents' empty house some 60 km from home. We had one bike, a tandem,  that he had cleverly assembled. I was sitting on the back seat and enjoying the ride, the sights and the fact that I didn't have to peddle as strong as if I had been riding an ordinary bike for one. "A Bicycle Made for Two' - the song which I learnt as a child went through my head. It was very hot, and as it happens when it's so hot in the summer, it led to a sudden change in the weather and a violent storm hit just when we were peddling uphill among the cornfields and meadows. No shelter. The downpour put us into a halt. We were completely soaked and could do nothing about it.  However, the deluge ceased very soon and the sun shone again. We managed to get dry by the time we reached the destination. We made another stop by some abandoned orchard and feasted on some freshly picked first summer apples. In Polish they are cold 'papierowki', they are absolutely delicious. Wikipedia has just told me that some consider it to be the same as 'the white transparent', but I would agree with those who say that 'papirovka' alias 'early Polish apple' or 'Polish paper apple' is a separate kind of apple or a separate cultivar (Isn't it helpful to know that it means 'kultywar' in Polish?). I think I will choose the word 'papirovka'. The word brings back childhood memories and the smell of the ripe fruit waiting to be picked in the grass under the tree on a hot and sunny day... You ate them one after another and didn't have much of an appetite for lunch or dinner. When granny or mom sent you to pick some, you knew that apple pie, 'racuchy' or apple with rice was up the pipeline in the kitchen!

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Cannot believe my luck! I've been just treated to some delicious homemade banana cake made to a completely new recipe! It was brought to my place. I served some fresh apple cake from the nearby little shop in return and it was enjoyed by my guest, a renowned 'home food maker'! A praise that counts! The apple cake was  baked by my friend from primary school who lives nearby. For many years she has been making a living through this sweet business. Leaving the shop I met her hubby. He seemed to be taking orders for the next day cake delivery and told me the wife was asleep at the time, in preparation for the night shift. That's what I don't envy anybody. To me a disturbed night equals hellish headache which is hard to rid of.
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Some London guide adds a London elephant picture to his blog weekly. I think it's fun. Tonight I'll add colourful cats I got in London:



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And here are some pictures taken on 03.06.2012, that is exactly a year ago:

Funny chicken hatching!

This  is not the ginger, but also cute

 That Sunday I went to The Square Mile to see and exhibition on Charles Dickens at The Museum of London and on Bauhaus (Bauhaus: Art as Life) at The Barbican Gallery.

 The Barbican was rather photogenic on the sunny afternoon, but it was bitter cold.