…thanks to Judy Dykstra-Brown for hosting The Numbers Game https://judydykstrabrown.com/2025/11/10/the-numbers-game-98-please-play-along-nov-10-2025/
This week’s number is 220.
Haven’t Played this for Awhile – #220
7
Category Archives: husband
Pull Up a Seat on a Rainy Day
…thanks to Xingfu Mama for hosting Pull Up.a Seat https://xingfumama.blog/2025/11/07/pull-up-a-seat-photo-challenge-2025-week-45/
On our recent trip to London, we would often walk along Church Street, close to our Airbnb. On our last day we experienced our first rainfall in two weeks. I call that a win when visiting London, England. It didn’t, however, stop us from going for a walk.
School Pick-ups and Ballet Classes
One of our favourite things to do in London was pick up our granddaughter from school, walk back to flat with a stop at the corner store to stock up on drinks and snacks and on one occasion we got Sevin ready for her ballet class and walked her over to to the community hall for her lesson.
Dinner and a Show
…Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025
After walking around Trafalgar Square and enjoying the art in the National Gallery, Kevin and I headed to the Steak and Co. for dinner. We chose this restaurant because it was down the street from the Harold Pinter Theatre. It also had a good rating.
It was a nice meal even if I did have to send my steak back twice. Kevin and I both ordered medium rare steaks and his was perfect but mine was blue and difficult to cut. The chef cooked me a new steak but it was also blue. After sending it back for more grilling the third try proved to be the charm. The staff were quite embarrassed and they kindly discounted our final bill. The appetizers and the dessert were outstanding and the service was exceptional.
After dinner we took the short walk to the theatre. The Harold Pinter Theatre is an ornate 19th century theatre with three tiers of balconies. It opened in 1881 as the Royal Comedy Theatre.
The play we watched was The Weir, starring Brendan Gleason. Kevin summed up the story line as a crash course on rural Irish culture. It took me a few minutes to get used to the Irish dialects. Here is a summary of the plot.https://www.haroldpintertheatre.co.uk/shows/the-weir
Pull Up a Seat in London
…June 13, 2025
Thanks to Xingfu Mama for hosting Pull Up a Seat https://xingfumama.blog/2025/06/13/pull-up-a-seat-photo-challenge-2025-week-24/
A Trip to the Seaside
…Leigh on Sea
My mystery destination was a train trip to the seaside today. It almost didn’t happen because we couldn’t find the train station. We used Google Maps and when we arrived at our destination there was no train station. We tried going in the other direction and we asked at least three strangers where C2C was. No one knew and when they checked Google Maps they kept sending us back in the same direction.
We finally stopped at a pub for an early lunch and I googled train stations. Eureka! We were so close but it wasn’t near C2C. We decided to give it one more go and in a few minutes we found our destination.
We purchased tickets for Leigh on Sea and had a comfortable train trip to the seaside. Once we arrived it was a short downhill walk to the quaint town. We checked out a few stores and I explored the tiny museum.
Leigh Heritage Centre stands in the centre of the old town in the old Smithy. Over the centuries the building has been owned by several people and had a variety of uses. Now home to a photographic display tracing Leigh’s local history, and a treasure trove for all connected to Leigh-on-Sea.(from the website)
I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the cottage attached to the centre.
At the end of the road we came to the beach. As far as beaches go it was pretty small but several families and couples were enjoying the sand and the sun. Kevin and I found a bench and we took in some rays.
Before heading back to the train we stopped for a cold drink.
A Surprise Visit to Abby Road
…then lunch in a pub and a walk through Hyde Park
Kevin decided to surprise me with a secret itinerary into central London today. We walked to the Arsenal Station and took the Piccadilly line to Green Park and then transferred onto the Jubilee line. Three stops later we got off at St. John’s Wood.
As we started walking Kevin hesitated for a moment and checked his phone for directions. A kind man asked if we were looking for Abby Road. Our destination was no longer a surprise but I was very moved by Kevin’s plan. He knows that I was and still am a big Beatles fan.
The actual studio is heavily guarded but there is a gift shop that is open to the public.
We considered going to some of the other iconic Beatles landmarks but they were all very far apart and not easy to walk to so we opted to get some lunch instead.
We headed to Bakers Street and had a nice meal at the Allsop Arms. I had the steak sandwich and lemonade and Kevin had the chicken BLT and a non alcoholic Peroni.
The forecasted rain held off and we made our way south to Hyde Park. We entered from the north east side and continued along the path towards the Serpentine Lake. As we got closer to the lake we were happy to see benches to rest our weary feet.
After a short rest we continued heading south to the south end of Hyde Park.
On the way out of the park I saw the rose garden and suggested to Kevin that he could rest some more while I quickly checked out the flowers.
All in all it was a great outing and when we got home Brendan cooked us dinner and Sevin set up her hairdressing parlour and gave Oma and Big Papa a makeover. If our son shares his photos with me I might share them with you. All I can say is that it was crazy fun and there was a lot of laughing.
Judy’s Number Game Challenge
…thanks to Judy Dykstra-Brown for hosting the Numbers Game Photo Challenge https://judydykstrabrown.com/2025/06/08/the-numbers-game-75-please-play-along/
This weeks number is 197. If you want to participate just type this number into the search box on your photo page. It’s fun to see what pops up.
A Walk Through Camden Passage in Angel
…closer to home
We didn’t want to go too far afield today because we had to pick up Sevin from school. After a good hearty breakfast at the flat we headed out to catch the #4 bus to Islington Green.
We stopped in Waterstones bookstore to look around and purchased a couple of paperbacks. After that we were desperate for a coffee and we stopped at the same coffee kiosk that we went to the last time we were here. Once we were satisfactorily caffeinated we continued our journey down Camden Passage.
We stopped in a great cheese store and purchased some yummy cheeses made in Britain. One of the cheeses, the cheddar to be exact came from a dairy in Devon. The cheese monger told us that he had been to that dairy and he claimed that the owner knew her cheese as well as she knew her cows. She has a herd of over 100 cows and she has named each one.
Before heading home to pick up Sevin we stopped at Cass Art to pick up more sketchbooks and watercolour paper. All in all a very enjoyable afternoon.
A Trip to the Artist Run Gallery in Angel
…yesterday we spent quite a bit of time in this lovely little gallery
The Bakery Art Run Gallery is situated on a small side street and is home to the work of 19 artists who curate the work themselves and is always manned by one the artists. On the day we went we met Natalie Kingdoms who specializes in silk screen printing using half tone dots. For more information about the gallery you can check out their website: https://thebakeryartgallery.com/
Mama Cormier 