A Chocolate Lover's Nightmare

As the sun rises and the Easter Bunny places its shiny chocolate packages around the globe, I wish you a very Happy Easter.  These little cuties nestled in the jug of flowers will not be intact for long.  They beckon me with their chocolate aromas and entice me to have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Yes, I am a self confessed chocoholic and one that will be starting her diet... tomorrow!  I really should have stocked up in Selfridge's Chocolate Library!

Have a wonderful Easter.

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Sweetbriar Cottage Revisited

It was someone's birthday, someone who was incredibly influential in my life for seventeen years.  The card was posted with the usual newsy bits and a phone call was planned in my mind on the usual 'when I get a moment' time of the week.  A couple of days later the phone rang, I missed the call and the caller did not leave a message.  1471 was dialled and it was a delightfully familiar number.  The number clicked through and the husband answered.  'Thank you for the card Chel, however she was not here to open it'.  The words cut my heart like a knife.  His tears and heartbroken words made me pull myself together to let him speak, let him tell the story of what had happened and I hung on to every word.  You see, this couple were my neighbours when we lived at Sweetbriar Cottage in its idyllic hamlet setting.  For seven years they taught us the way things should be done in the country, gave us advice and supported us through some difficult times.

They worked the land every single day and their enormous garden had perfect lines of fruit and vegetables along with her summer flowers again in lines of such precision.  Spring was the busiest time and when we were ready to build a greenhouse, there was no place better than right next to theirs.  You see, there were no real fences there.  There were trees and shrubs, but the only 'fence' as such was a three foot wall running the length of the land that was built by her father to keep the earth contained as we were on a steep slope.  In this magical place, there was no need to cut off your neighbour.  So, at springtime we would be extremely busy in our greenhouses but able to chat and absorb the years of knowledge of how to grow all sorts of plants and where to plant them.  The golden rule from her to me was  'NEVER plant your flowers in the garden until May 1st'.  Something that my gardening fingers and mind have abided by ever since.

Both myself and Hubby still worked in London at that time and drove every day.  This would mean hanging out my washing to dry first thing in the morning and cross my fingers that they would be dry when I got back.  A couple of times she would bring in my washing if it was raining, dry it, iron it and then leave it as a neat brown paper package by the front door tied up with string, along with a paper bag of vegetables and fruit for our tea.  In turn we would ask if there was anything she needed picking up on the way home and of course sharing jams and chutneys with them.  Simple acts of kindness, not expected, just done as a matter of love and respect.

They unfortunately never had children, and the hamlet itself was childless, so when I became pregnant with Mr Teen, the ripples of excitement grew as they experienced every moment of the impending due date.  This came and went and the evening entertainment was for them to watch me walking up and down our third of an acre garden in the dark, trying with all my might for some movement! Eventually Mr Teen made an appearance to everyone's excitement and their love and nurturing of the little boy was that of proud grandparents.

As he grew and his sense of adventure increased, there were a few times where they would come running down the garden to tell me that he had 'climbed up a tree again', when I thought he was playing behind me.  How do children do that??  They loved to pick him up and take him for a tour of the garden or to see the horses or farm animals down the road.  Then Miss Teen came along and again, a new baby filled the the hamlet with excitement.  Unfortunately Sweetbriar was not going to hold us all, so the time came to move on.  Something that we have regularly regretted.  Good neighbours are incredibly hard to find, especially those that lead a simple life and are not bothered by gossip or trying to outdo each other.  The couple were who they were and nothing was going to change them.  Unique, happy, content, friendly and able to pass on their knowledge without you feeling that you were doing something wrong.  Married for 64 years and still incredibly close.

The call ended to reassure him that we would be at the funeral, and we were, but just a little late due to a car accident, however we were fine with a bit of whiplash and the car was still drive-able!  Nothing was going to stop us saying our goodbyes to such a true angel.  Our devasted neighbour was sat at the front listening to each kind word, which were true and focussed on her love for the wildlife, garden and neighbours and friends.  Our hard part was going to him to offer our condolences.  No words were said at first, he saw Hubby and took his hand, looked to me and hugged me with all his might whispering 'how am I going to carry on?'.  My words were, 'look around - look at how many people will support you'.  Then he saw Mr and Miss Teen and hugged Miss Teen incredibly tightly, the last time he saw her she was two.  The love that he still held for these two Sweetbriar babies was still there and they loved him right back.

As the photos show, we revisited our hamlet of four cottages and a couple of farms for us to go through our own thoughts of her.  The occupants have all changed apart from this wonderful couple and the appearance of satellite dishes now adorns the cottages, however mostly everything else is the same, it has to be for these cottages to survive.

The old bake house, as it was known, is fenced off but this is on everyone's deeds that live there and was used to store non perishable foods and supplies for when the hamlet was cut off in bad weather.

The old log store for 'Percy's Farm' as it was, still stacked.  The work that we all had when logs were delivered for the wood burning stoves!  Two days at least for all of us.

'Percy's Farm' has slightly changed (Percy was the man that used to live there so we gave it that nickname).  He passed away last year, but his farm was for his own refuge of cattle, sheep, geese, pigs and chickens.  They were all his pets, however when foot and mouth came to the area most of his animals had to be destroyed, and I feel this destroyed him too.  Now the new owners have these little characters bouncing around.  Again, lovely people have moved there and were chatting away to Hubby as he reminisced about Percy.  They knew him well.

The surrounding countryside with it's rolling hills hit my memory banks once more and my heart tugged to see my neighbour once more on her bicycle tootling down the long lane to the local shop over a mile away.

Going past Sweetbriar cottage was hard, it was different but oh so familiar.  The pergola that Hubby built was still there, the gazebo in the middle of the garden where Mr Teen used to bounce from his baby bouncer was rusted but still in situ, the greenhouse had been replaced by the summer house that used to sit at the bottom of our garden next to our woodland, the gravel on the drive was still there.  So many happy memories of such a special place.  (I didn't take a shot of the garden from the road as I remember how upset I was when people used to do that when I lived there - nothing like sitting on a swing after a hard day's work on the garden with an audience!).

The neighbours across the road are still there, enjoying the sunshine.

Sweetbriar Cottage was a magical place and somewhere where our lives changed from repairing and re-designing to being parents.  Our neighbours were magical in being the most perfect people that anyone could wish to live next to.  Letters and cards of condolence will be sent however, the hamlet has lost an angel that touched so many lives and I hope that they cherish their remaining living angel through this incredibly hard time.

Sweetbriar will always be in my dreams and heart, along with the wonderful people that live and lived there.  Now do you see why this place is embedded deep within my heart?

But, it was time to head back to our lives and along the narrow little lane that is full of memories for us all as a family.

The cards and phone calls will continue and this time to reminisce not just on when we used to live together, but now also to reminisce of a wonderful lady.

Forever in our hearts.

Take care.

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Where Shall We Go On Our Journey Today?... Selfridges and Covent Garden

To me, London in the rain is the perfect way to see the City.  The stereotypical London scenes of grey, rainy days that so many black and white movies depict.  I would love to stand in a corner with a nice cup of tea and just watch, just like sitting at home with a good old movie on the screen.  The red buses burst into the monochrome and noise levels are high, but to me, this is home.  This is my comfort zone and one that I need to occasionally retreat to from recent rural life.  Maybe I'm a bit topsy turvy and people think I am strange for needing this, but I do notice I need this retreat when my tolerance levels start to take a dive.  After an hour of sitting on the train, stepping onto the platform and joining the hustle and bustle to the ticket barriers, I am back in a happy place and life is good.

Today was going to be a bit touristy, but also with a specific purpose for me.  Selfridge & Co!  I haven't been there for years and with the fantastic drama that has been on TV lately, Mr Selfridge, I thought I owed it to myself to take a look at the place again and also to take Miss Teen and her friend Miss B for lunch there.  Our trip for the day was to go to Covent Garden to see the street entertainers, and then onto Oxford Street/Regent Street and finish off at Piccadilly Circus, however with writing this post, I think I will start with the reason we came... Selfridges!

To the left of Bond Street Tube Station stands this majestic building.  It has been added to over the years, but Harry Gordon Selfridge turned this neglected end of Oxford Street into a shopping paradise with incredible insight.

There are lots of entrances but the main one in the middle with the revolving doors and wood paneling was the one we were going to enter.

Standing above the entrance was the elegant Queen of Time.

And the intricate panelling above our heads at the entrance.

We didn't take photos inside even though we could have, but it really is a typical department store - but on the high end of the spectrum and huge!  The shop assistants are all very smart and well turned out, some of the male assistants even had the Harry Selfridge beard and moustache (and looked amazing with it).  For such an amazing store, none of the assistants were snooty but instead chatty and happy.  I wanted to take the girls for lunch so we visited the top floor's food hall where the choice and taste was exquisite, delicious and again, staff were very friendly and views from the windows were amazing.  Selfridges in my eyes can never do it wrong.

Bond Street Tube Station is a short walk from Selfridges as I have already written, but I just had to show you this dapper chap who has a small stand and acts as an information point for Oxford Street. 

We carried along Oxford Street and joined the crowds, it is never quiet! and then joined Regent Street.

The shops continued but we had one shop in mind... Hamleys!!

Seven floors of sheer toy story delight with assistants not just serving but demonstrating and playing with the merchandise, enticing the children to plead with their parents to buy the latest gadget or must have toy. As usual the place was packed to the rafters with shoppers and outside was just as busy.

However, I wanted to go around the corner to this place...

The infamous Carnaby Street, a bright and vibrant place.

Full of boutique shops with incredible wares and colourful buildings (even in the rain!)

One art shop looked amazing but I am afraid that I did not take a photo due to the naked man inside who was posing with a painting for some press photographs!  Instead you can have this great sign which is all sparkly!

And of course, the quintessential pub on the corner!

We went back on Regent Street and then onto Piccadilly Circus with its incredibly bright screens depicting all sorts of ever changing advertising.

But, how did the day start?  Well, it started very early and our first stop off was the famous Covent Garden to see if we could watch any street entertainment.

Straight away we could hear an opera singer inside this amazing building with people rushing here and there, but stopping for a brief moment.

Stopping to hear this beautiful voice fill the air.

Walking around, there were various stalls and markets taking place.

But we wanted to go to the North Hall and watch some street entertainers.  I thought that this would be a perfect introduction for the girls into the wonder of Covent Garden, and this chappy gave thirty five minutes of the best entertainment I have seen in a long time.  

Yes, those are meat cleavers he was juggling, but that was just the start!  He pulled a man from the audience who would be a major part of his show, but the comedy was brilliant and how he drew the crowds in.  We all had to clap and cheer as loud as possible, with him in the audience, so basically clapping and cheering 'nothing', he then said 'because all the 'stupid' people will come and see what is going on'.  He was right, they started rushing along to his area and stayed to see the show!

He juggled the meat cleavers down the length of the victim's volunteer's body and then started to prepare for his bed of nails finale.  This meant he needed to strip down to his boxers and socks, now ladies, a bit of flag flying for you!

Yes, those are birthday parcel rosettes to hide his modesty!  Spiky as he is known professionally, explained that he was going to become sandwiched by two beds of nails, with the volunteer standing on him for ten seconds.  Those nails were fixed and not retractable... trust me, we touched them.

For ten seconds we counted down as the nails pressed against his skin.

And I am pleased to say that he was fine.  There was a lot of marks on him, some with a tiny bit of blood, but for what he had done, he certainly earned every single coin that was given to him afterwards.  A thoroughly entertaining man - more on the street entertainers, including Spiky can be found here.

And so, with another trip to my lovely London town been and gone, it was time to head back to Kings Cross Station and head back to Lincolnshire.

We can't wait to go back to my old home town again soon.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Take care.

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