A Blogger in Black

Friday morning and the temperatures had – as predicted – dipped some way below zero. The heating was cranked up whilst a downed a warming cuppa. There was the usual mopping up of the condensation to be done – it happens on pretty much every winter trip. The windows were dripping and condensation had gathered on the shelf in the corners under the front windows. Several sheets of kitchen roll were duly deployed. The first time it happened years back sent me into mild panic, thinking that dear old Patsy was leaking, would be ravaged by damp and eventually collapse around us. Thankfully Trev had thought it through and realised what was going on! The next item on the agenda was a bit of cleaning and given that my guest was due to arrive mid-morning I needed to get shift on. After checking that the jacketed Aquaroll hadn’t frozen I extracted Henry from the car – Henry is the eponymous vacuum cleaner in case you were wondering, not a young hunky manservant. I certainly wouldn’t have kep...

Wednesday the 7th of December and the last day of Michaelmas Term for us. Always the longest term of the school year and one which the majority of us were glad to see the back of. It was a lunchtime finish as per usual with no lessons for the kids, just assembly, chapel service and the chance for parents to bribe teachers with gifts – sorry – show their appreciation. As you may recall we lost our highly respected manager in October and the powers that be had coerced the deputy head of another department to take up the reins for a bit. He was well appraised of the situation and the discontentment amongst us and to be fair has been making a real effort, so much so that a team breakfast was promised once we had dropped the kids off on the last day. Like my colleagues I was looking forward to a full English, my usual first meal of the day being a bowl of cereals or a pot of instant porridge depending on my work schedule. The ’full English’ was, we were advised on arrival in fact a continen...

Friday and our last full day in London. The light leaking around the blinds suggested a bright morning as we sank our respective cuppas. There was just one place of interest on the agenda today, one that had been on my list for a long while. Mid morning we set off, accompanied by a packed lunch of sausage baguettes and bananas, on a journey that would involve two bus rides, the first being the now usual one down the hill to Sydenham station. Thereafter the Overground, the two tube rides, before another bus brought us to our destination - a small industrial estate in Walthamstow. I take Sandra to all the best places you know! Sandra continues: "Richard had mentioned wanting to visit God's Own Junkyard some time ago and I was not sure where or what it entailed. Some online research only proved to catch my interest. It is certainly quirky and its location in the middle of a small industrial estate adds to its charm. There is a small cafe which serves the most delicious homemade c...