Ducks and frogs thrive! London 2012!

Were it warmer, I'd think I woke up to a monsoon today... Having cautiously opened the window, I heard an angry man's voice who must have been walking along the street and got an unwelcome 'shower' from the car passing by. What can you do being a pedestrian? Wish the considerate driver a good day?...
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Just read about a Ryan-aircraft from London to Lodz. It was forced to land in Germany as one of the passengers suffered a heart failure. Sadly, the man died. May he rest in peace...
That evoked memories of my first flight to America in the 1990s. We were all aboard when it turned out that one of the passengers didn't make it to the plane. He got a heart attack just before stepping through the departure gate. Poor man! I heard later that he, like many other Poles, had been applying for a US visa many times before he finally was granted one. And then the heart failed him just before take-off. Having told you that, I need to add that we, the passengers, had no clue at the time what was going on, why we weren't departing, just sitting in our seats, those near the right window watching the luggage locks searched, something removed.  It took a long time and as a result the plane touched ground at O'Hara with a four-hour delay. Imagine the families and friends waiting there!
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Still stuck indoors, I'm compiling a list of "My 2013 Must See Places in London List' and when adding one item, I discover a link for another one or two nearby. This way I will have nice itineraries for day trips to various areas of the fascinating city!
One of my fresh discoveries being added to the list just now is the IMT Gallery in East London, but there are also places that have been queuing to get to the top for... years and somehow have never yet made it. Eltham Palace is one of them. I've walked around its grounds many times, but so far never managed to fit in the restricted opening times. It was much easier years ago, when for a short period I lived in Lewisham and the entrance ticket was under a fiver. Somehow, I didn't make it. But I will this summer and (if you are nice) you are more than welcome to join me!
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In one of my May posts I referred to a book recommended by a friend. I'm glad he corrected me. The title is "Never Eat Alone", while I used the verb 'dine'.  Mea culpa!
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One more correction I owe you. Yesterday I added lots of snaps from The City of London saying I took them on June the 3rd 2012, but they were taken a day later, on June the 4th. Well, those who've met me, know I'm not great at numbers and dates. I stopped worrying about them since we can look these things up so easily. However, owing to that, you won't be distracted when I add more of June the 4th last year pictures from The Museum of London.  As you may know (although you may not, that's fine), London a year ago was celebrating the 60th anniversary of The Queen's reign. Don't worry, I'll not go into naming the celebratory events. What I thought I'd add are some lesser known images documenting the outcome of activity for children by the Museum of London:

There are some well... sophisticated children in London, like everywhere else...

Chronologically, the next super important event in London 2012 was The Olympic Games and my phone camera captured the following related image at The Museum of London which reminds us of the years and venues The Games have been held in London so far:

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There is another picture I took that day which I want to add here. It shows the remains of some old tower. I can't remember now for sure if it's of Roman or later origin:

Regardless of it's age, the tower has a much younger sibling in a pretty place called Bliżyn on the outskirts of Skarżysko-Kamienna. It's an extraction tower of the old steelworks. There was a blast furnace and ore flaming furnaces there and in many other places in the area. You can flick through some pictures here if you are interested: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/57863572. I took the blue sky picture at the end of June last year when I biked from Skarzysko to Blizyn (my favourite route through the forest) to see the man-made lake reopened after many years of neglect when a bad flood destroyed it.

Why not have a look at a few pictures of the lake in Blizyn:

 A short walk from the lake takes you to this pretty little castle. That's exactly what it's called: Zameczek! It belonged to The Plater family in the by-gone days.

 A better, aerial view of the lake can be enjoyed here:

http://www.blizyn.pl/index.php?id=81

I can't wait till I get on my bike again! Let's see what the doc says on Thursday! For now I can enjoy my snaps from previous biking expedition like the one I've mentioned above and added more snaps of it, including my darling vehicle, below:

My bike and Kaplica Sw. Zofii (St Sophie Chapel) in Blizyn, 2012

Good night!

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.

June the 2nd this and last year

Cloudy and rainy this Sunday in Skarzysko-Kamienna. Where is the sun????? Let me look up my last year's (2012) photos of June 2nd.

I had a jolly good day in London that Saturday, although it wasn't very sunny or warm.
Here is what the pictures show:

As you probably know, sometimes people decide to get rid of certain items. In the UK, some put them in the rubbish bin, some take the usable items to charity shops, some recycle and others just leave them in the street:

Unwanted picture off King's Street, Hammersmith

 Here is yet another way of dealing with unwanted stuff:

The chair picture was taken on another day, to be frank.

Two illustrations from an old children's book:

 A nice theatre in North London:

Well, it's beyond me at the moment to tell you what we went to see there, but it was fun. We chose steering clear of the havoc of The Queen Jubilee celebrations in Central London.

 Elaborate graffiti, one of many:

June 2nd, 2012 - one of these evenings when on returning home, I am greeted by the friendly neighbour's ginger who then invites herself to my abode and having inspected it, rests on the floor asking for attention.

The picture above is of  'historic' and sentimental value. The little rug the cat is resting on had to be removed as it was damaged by a leak from under the washbasin last summer when I was away. I noticed the slight leak on the day of my departure abroad and immediately notified the landlady. However, it must have taken some time before the regular Albanian plumber came to see to it. It's such a loss, because the rug was a gift from a lovely old lady. 

The cat still visits and enjoyed a warm welcome and a good scratch last Monday.

Ginger waiting... 02.06.2012

Sometimes I look through the window and quickly grab the phone to take a picture. I can't open the window, or I would spoil it all:

Sisters at play, London, 08.09.2011`

Watching sisters at play, 08.09.2011.

Only once did I see two foxes at play in our shared garden. It was a mom and a young one. It was on a late and warm summer Sunday afternoon when I returned from Watford where my friend used to live. One day I may dig out the pictures, but they may not be very good either. It is commonly known that there are many foxes living in London. You can see them when it's dark, especially late at night. And you can hear them. Many years ago, when I saw the city dweller foxes for the first time, I was shocked. They didn't match the image of a beautiful and gracious creature wearing a grand red coat of fur and carrying a grandiose red tail. They were thin and had greyish rusty hue thinning furs. They looked like descendants of impoverished aristocracy who had lost it all.

However, I saw a proper beautiful fox from The Stansted Express train last Tuesday. I can't show you, because the train was very fast, as you can guess. :-) You've got to take my word for that.