Flat Stanley visits England

My darling little cousin sent me a letter in the post; well I say “little” but at 10 years old she is slightly taller than me, and is endlessly thrilled at the fact that my size 4 shoes fit her perfectly. With straight blonde hair, glasses and a lisp she looks like an adorable character in a children’s book. She has expressed her desire to become an author actually and has even started writing a book; but I wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes a scientist, the little genius that she is. But I, quite obviously, digress……

She was being taught at school about writing letters. The project was to send a letter to someone you knew along with Flat Stanley and have them take pictures of him in interesting locations; and then to send him back. My mother told me that I would be receiving Flat Stanley; and, bless her, she doesn’t explain things very well. I had visions of assembling a giant cardboard man and carting him around the streets of London; posing for the most embarrassing photos of my life! I was also worried about not being home to receive the giant package as it would obviously not fit through the mail slot. I was relieved to find a small white envelope waiting for me at home; with a hand written letter from my cousin and a small paper man folded up inside (Thank God, I thought to myself). She had coloured him in and Emily was written neatly on his leg. Written on his other leg was flatstanley.com. Only after my own Stanley adventure did I bother looking at the site. I am ashamed to say that my pictures are not as impressive as some others. People have actual celebrities posing with the paper cut out! I only had a tour guide dressed up in Edwardian style clothes (though I am still proud of that…). Some people have Mohammed Ali, Doctor Phil and Clint Eastwood holding Flat Stanley. I do think though that a kid asking you to hold a paper man and pose for a picture in the name of education is far more charming than a 28 year old woman.

I embarrass easily and people seeing me in front of tourist attractions with Stanley made me a little uneasy. My husband and I got quite good at taking the picture without anyone actually seeing. I would stand in front of our chosen location and hold him wrapped up in my hand. My husband would line up the photo, make sure I was positioned correctly, and shout “Now!” I would unwrap him swiftly, smile, the camera would click; and I would fold him up and walk away, no one having seen a thing. I would sound very secret agent as I asked my husband each time, “Did you get it?”

We did have fun trying to position him in the photos on his own; although this was done with care as we nearly tragically lost him to a strong gust of wind.

I really got into the project though and wrote a report for her and everything! I collected pamphlets of all the places we visited for her poster that she will present to the class. I felt like I was in school again. I just hope we get a good mark!

Stanley and the Edwardian tour guide

Stanley in the first ever Methodist Church in the world!

Stanley and my finger outside Bristol Cathedral

Stanley at.....well isn't it obvious

Stanley and me at a graffiti gallery

The hand that first held mine by Maggie O’Farrell

 The pace of the book is deliberately slow. Maggie O’Farrell takes her time when setting the scenes and describing her characters. She uses vivid imagery and unravels the story gradually, revealing the journey of her characters bit by bit. Her descriptions of people, places and emotions are tangible and you end up being totally immersed in this book.

It tells the story of two women; separated by 50 years, whose lives are somehow linked. Lexie Sinclair is a strong willed and determined young woman who, against her family’s wishes, has moved to London from her rural home in Devon; where she believes her life will finally begin. Her story takes place in the 1950’s in Soho, where she starts this new life with Innes, a handsome and charismatic magazine editor and the love of her life.

In present day London, Ted and Elina are coming to terms with the changes in their lives after the birth of their first child. Elina can hardly remember who she once was, and her relationship with Ted seems strained as she struggles to regain what they once had. Ted is plagued with memories of his childhood that don’t seem to match up with his parents’ account of events, and his past is shrouded in mystery, with only broken glimpses of the truth.

It is a skillfully written account of these four characters lives. I felt that I was joining them in their journey of discovery as the story is slowly pieced together, finally revealing the entire picture. An excellent book that will keep you captive till the last page.

I’m a Londoner

It’s so nice to have family visiting! My in-laws are here from South Africa. It was lovely showing them our little haunts. I found, however, that the visit did expose me for the pushy little Londoner I have become. It is shameful to admit, but I have been known to get on the tube before letting the other passengers off, and tutting to myself when the map wielding tourists are dawdling in front of me, breaking my speed walking momentum. I wasn’t always like this. I was utterly intimidated during my first weekend in London. The tube map looked like an undecipherable maze I was bound to get lost on; everyone seemed to know exactly where they were going and if you got in their way they simply pushed you aside; I had never used public transport before in my life and wondered how I would ever figure out exactly which bus to get on. I remember sitting on the bus on that first weekend and watching a woman run toward the stop so she could catch her bus. Horrified, I turned to my husband and remarked, “I will NEVER run to catch a bus, how embarrassing!” Oh how naïve of me!

I am a fast learner. When it’s cold and you’ve had to wait at the bus stop for over 20 minutes (because the busses are rarely on time in London), simply because you missed your bus; you will be very sure to run to catch it if you see it coming before you’ve reached the stop. You don’t care what you’re carrying; you don’t care that the boots you are wearing have heels; you don’t care that you have to hitch up your knee length jacket so you can get a good stride. When you see bus 164 turning the corner, you run as if the spirit of Usain Bolt has come upon you, regardless of who’s looking.

I was also unaware of the amount of walking I was to do in my new country of residence. Back home in S.A we had friends from England who had invited us one night to go out for dinner. We met at their house and they revealed that the restaurant was only 10 minutes away and suggested we walk.

Walk?! Walk? Why on earth would we walk when we could simply get in the car? Plus it was dark outside; who knew what dangers lay behind the blackened bushes. I looked at my husband beseechingly. Surely he would agree with me.

“Sure,” he said to the group, “let’s walk!” The traitor.

It must be known that I now walk, a lot. Why pay £1.30 to go a couple of blocks when you can take a stroll. After work we all make our way to the South Kensington station. When I first got here I could hardly keep up, almost out of breath at our destination. But now I’m just as speedy as the rest. Being a Londoner certainly does change you!

These posters can be seen in the tube stations. They're a good chuckle to read.

           

Fab Sites!

As I have mentioned before I love the internet and the fact that you can ask the almighty Google any question you have ever wondered and have it answered in seconds. I spend a lot of time on my laptop. I love browsing the web to find interesting websites or fellow bloggers. I recently discovered two such sites that I wanted to share with you. Adios Barbie is a body image site that encourages everyone to disregard narrow beauty standards and embrace a healthier and more confident outlook to life and their body image. They have insightful articles on cosmetic surgery, cultural differences, body confidence and sexual harassment, amongst others. 

It is no secret that I love being married. It’s a lot of fun actually. I enjoy meeting couples who have been married 20, 40, 50 years, who are still enjoying it. It encourages me. Especially in this present age when divorce, affairs and super injunctions are so rampant. So it was particularly delightful to find The Happy Wives Club. Fawn Weaver believes the media has shown marriage in an often negative light and it is her mission to change that and so she started the Happy Wives Club website as a place for wives to get some tips, encouragement and to simply tell people that you can actually be happily married. 

           

Two Museums and a Free Concert

If you don’t like London then stop reading right now because I am IN LOVE with this city! What I love most is that by simply wandering around you are likely to stumble across something interesting, beautiful or entertaining; and the best part is you can do it for free most of the time.

There was a Street Photography exhibition at the Museum of London that I wanted to have a look at.It was absolutely fascinating; chronicling the history of street photography in London from 1860 to the present; with photos from the past of the streets I had just been walking along. It was interesting to see the same scenes we observe today, only with different clothes and hairstyles; the rebellious teens, mothers with prams stopped on the pavement having a gossip, nattering grannies. After the exhibition we weren’t quite ready to go home and thought we’d find somewhere for lunch and wander around a bit. We spotted a church that turned out to be St Clement Danes Church (as in “Oranges and Lemons” say the bells of St Clement’s). There was a brass band inside that was giving a free concert. It was beautiful to listen to and I felt so lucky. We ended our day at the National Gallery browsing the many paintings. And THAT is why I love it here. I had such a charming day full of beauty and culture! As always we took some pictures!

I love these daily inspirations as you enter the tube station!!!

Monument outside St Pauls Cathedral

St Pauls peeking from behind a tree

Don't know what this was, but it looked pretty

Having a break

History lesson about the Cathedral

One of the entrances

The front entrance with Queen Anne striking a pose

Traditional Sweet shop

The ORIGINAL sandwich place!

I loved the entrance to the Twinings tea shop.

Twitter, Tweets and Twitpics?????

I have recently started tweeting. I am admittedly a late comer to this twittering phenomenon, mostly because I thought it was a ridiculous idea and a waste of time. I find some peoples face book updates a little arduous at times; do I really care who you are now friends with, what page you like or that you just had the best latte ever? No not really. (This has yet to stop me, however, from spending hours at a time on facebook, adding my own inane commentary).  So a format that was mostly continuous status updates sounded irritating and pointless. But I succumbed; I’m weak, I have no willpower and I was curious.

It is a little daunting at first and I didn’t know where to start or what the lingo meant. I couldn’t write directly on someone’s wall and had no idea what hash tags were for! What I found most difficult was finding something to tweet. I like to choose my words carefully and couldn’t believe that anyone cared where I was going, what movie I had seen or that I had just had the best latte ever!

But I eventually – and after much research- dived right in and can conclude that it is a little addictive. People are actually saying interesting things, with interesting links and interesting opinions. It is an influential networking device which keeps me up to date with what’s going on in the world.

I even have followers. It makes you feel strangely powerful and important having followers; like the leader of an obscure and ineffectual cult. I find that following others can stir within me feelings of envy as some people have 20000 followers and I only have 7; one being my husband and the others companies that wish to attain business from me. It makes me feel like a looser, dashing all my hopes of ever leading a successful cult.

Nevertheless I love it; it’s fascinating and fun and I am a devoted twittee!!!!

Flash Dance

I have come to the conclusion that everyone secretly wishes they lived in a musical. You may disagree, but next time you are caught in a flash mob sing-a-long; accompanied by easy to follow dance moves, have a look around you and you will notice everyone is smiling; some may even be bopping to the beat, wanting to join in. People love it! I feel breaking into song in the middle of the day would make us all happier people! A collective song and dance on the tube ride home would be fun…

I saw my first flash mob in Trafalgar Square a couple of days ago; complete with trumpet players and everything. It was great fun to be caught by surprise by the sudden music traveling along the Square; everyone wondering what’s happening. And you guessed it; a camera was at the ready! Also included my favourite flash mob from YouTube. Just try stop yourself from singing along!