Across Europe by train

North Acton explored

I am still beaming with joy after yesterday's Exploring North Acton tour. Despite pouring rain, lots of lovely people came along an we all had a great time together, Dear Reader. I'd love to tell you more, but I am very busy so you need to take my word for that. Besides, for quite a while I've been having difficulties adding pictures here, hence so few visuals, which is a real shame.

Exploring North Acton on 9 August 2017!

Are you joining the Exploring North Acton tour next Wednesday?

If so, you can sign up via Meetup, Facebook or Eventbrite! :-)

On hearing about this tour, many people were asking me: Why North Acton? What's the point? Who'd like to go there? Well, indeed, it's not a first, second or even third rank attraction, especially in a place like London, but that's the whole point. Everywhere is somewhere to see, to visit, to learn, to find out about, to meet people and to simply be together in real time and space. These tours are not just about the usual sightseeing, they are about togetherness, adventure and openness to the unexpected.

I'm finding out more and more about the North Acton area and it's fascinating to share this knowledge with others and to learn from them. The tour can prompt us to discuss other topics, to learn about one another, what we do and if we can cooperate in this way or the other if we choose to. Anyway, I can't wait to meet you on the day. Mind you, we won't go everywhere on our walk. This is simply impossible to do in a couple of hours, but it's great to share some interesting bits as we come across them.

Want to read on?

You know, there is a grave at North Acton Cemetery I am going to find one day and say a prayer/ pay respect to this eminent lawyer from Sierra Leone whose parents were rescued from slavery! His is one of the four famous people's graves recommended on the information boards by the entrances. Together with Anthony we've been trying to locate the graves and this is the last one on our list. Surely, every life deserves recognition, so many go through this world unnoticed, doing quietly what they need, have to and sometimes are privileged or bold enough to chose to do. RIP to everyone gone so far!

Big thanks to Mr #JeffreyGreen for his excellent source of information. A comment under his post led me to Sir Samuel Lewis descendants, I've just reached out to them and waiting for response!

After arranging the tour date with Alex of the Cowork Hub, where we are meeting at 2 pm next Wednesday for the tour, I went around the area to find out who would like to see us. I saw and learnt so much, but that's not all! I bought some freshly baked party snacks at a well established Lebanese bakery and ate them on the spot while chatting to the friendly bakers and watching them work and serve customers. Then I was amazed at the selection of sweets and cakes of all sorts: French and Middle Eastern at Mr M. Fakhouri's Patisserie who didn't let me leave until I agreed to accept a box of his lovely rich cakes. We later shared them with our neighbours in the garden.

I need to finish now, Dear Reader, but please go to the Meetup link to find out more about this tour and... see you Wednesday? :-)

Go to North Acton to try Middle Eastern food

There are many Middle Eastern grocery shops, restaurants and bakeries in North Acton. Al Jabal Bakery owned by Mr Abu Tarek for over two decades is the one I've bought food from. Their savoury party snacks and different kinds of Lebanese flat bread can be purchased almost straight from the oven at his shop in Acton Business Centre. The first time I stopped there, I met a baker who was just about to close the shop It was on a Saturday afternoon. All the food had been sold, but the man was very kind and friendly, we had a chat, he gave me the owner's contact and I returned another day to discuss our North Acton tour visit.

William Heath Robinson, poets of Pinner and Goldsmiths in Acton

At long last I could visit William Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner before attending another poetry evening there!

 I cannot recommend the museum enough and the poetry was also very enjoyable. Apart from the main exhibition, I saw 'Rejuvenated Junk' which is a temporary one and inspired by W.H. Robinson's series of drawings showing new uses for unwanted objects. You can read on the museum website that the 'exhibition features several of these original drawings together with a stunning collection of recycled and upcycled artefacts from 33 countries around the world, provided by knowtrash.
The “Rejuvenated Junk” exhibition is a collaboration between Heath Robinson Museum and knowtrash. These highly-original and creative artefacts from knowtrash celebrate the talents of resourceful upcyclers from diverse communities all around the world. The makers retrieve mass-produced, everyday objects that have been thrown away – including newspaper, metal cans, glass bottles and plastic packaging – and transform them into useful and beautiful objects.' Yo The experience propted me to think about my two friends. One is Karolina, a young Polish woman living in London who makes bespoke jewellery pieces of guess what? recycled everyday materials! The other is David who makes other useful and beautiful objects using recycled stuff. He has a shop in Grenada, Spain and that's where I met him attracted by a curious display.

Have I just mentioned jewellery? Then you may like to read about an exhibition I managed to see just a day before it finished last week. 'De Vroomen: Harmony in Colour and Form, a celebration of five decades of artistic collaboration between renowned husband and wife team, Dutch goldsmith Leo de Vroomen and British jewellery designer and artist Ginnie de Vroomen.  
The showcase brought together over 100 pieces of De Vroomen jewels, sketches reflecting the creative process, as well as Ginnie’s vivid paintings inspired by nature and the urban landscape.' The exhibition was held in no other location but at the Goldsmiths' Hall in the City of London.

As a person living in Acton and interested in the local history, I was particularly interested to visit the Worshipful Goldsmiths Company  premises because of the local links: the early 19th century Goldsmiths Almshouses and other W3 connections which we can explore on one of the Ealing Walking, Talking and Exploring tours. I doubt we would manage to visit the flat which is the focal point of the said almshouses.

As you can see. Dear Reader, fewer and fewer pictures accompany my far less frequent posts and it's not going to change until I get help with technical problems.

Let me wish you a great day! (And the same to me if you don't mind.) :-)

From a tour of Pitshanger to Young Living

When I last saw my friend Magda,  I learnt from her about yet another positive outcome of my walking and talking tours. She met Ola from Poland on our walk from Ealing Broadway to Pitshanger Lane earlier this year. Ola had come to visit me in London the day before and for both of them it was the first sightseeing with me. During our walk, after everyone introduced themselves to others, we chatted with one another and this is how the ladies found out they share an interest in massage therapies.Ola is a qualified and experienced massage therapist while Magda is studying to become a reflexologist. They had a lot to talk about. As a result Magda booked a session with Ola to try her fascial release treatment and thus discovered really good essential oils Ola uses. Every massage needs oil, sometimes more than one, as we know. Anyway, this is how Magda found out about the Young Living Essential Oils which Ola buys online. And read on! Here is something interesting! When Magda went online, she discovered that the main distribution Young Living centre for Europe is in Chiswick, near where she lives! It actually is in Chiswick Business Park, an interesting location itself.

About Poles in Britain at Ben Uri Gallery

Having missed the exhibition opening, I was determined to make it to the talk last night and to see the works as well. My friend, on hearing that I was going to cycle there from Acton, insisted on driving me. Besides, he also wanted to go there. On hearing that, I offered another friend to join us. She was unsure and I couldn't get hold of her when it was time to leave. Thus the two of us resumed to set off as early as we could knowing the traffic in London all too well. We arrived just in time to grab a glass, glance at the pictures and sit down to listen to the Polish Press Agency journalist in UK, Jakub Krupa's talk: 'All You Ever Wanted to Know About #PolesinUK But Were Afraid To Ask'. :Not a bad topic, isn't it? The presentation was really good and so was the Q&R time afterwards. And the exhibition? Absolutely mind-blowing! We are going to see it again, that's for sure!