Friday Chat Day

Hello friends

Welcome to Friday Chat Day and hope you are well.

Last Sunday was Charity Kit Day and it was a speedy 

sell out again - thank you to all those who purchased.

I had made extra, looks like I'll be increasing that number 

again for the March kit. I'm so pleased they are popular and we

are all doing our bit for our various chosen charities.

The pillow box included in this month kit is now available

in multi-packs, listed under 'Boxes' at the top of the blog.

With just a little decoration they can look very smart.

As a family we've done a few trips to London this week.

We celebrated Mitchell's birthday with a nice lunch in Covent Garden -

the waiter surprised him with a cake and candle.

That look says 'don't you dare sing Happy Birthday!' -

he's quite a shy lad! 

A wander around Chinatown.

I captured this photo of my boys chatting together or

as Elliott pointed out, walking away from me!

Our trip to Chinatown was specifically for fish cakes.

Not the breaded ones from the chippy but these...

Taiyaki.

They are sweet with fillings but most popular are the ones filled

with a custard.  You can see them being made all around

Chinatown, shops with their window open displaying the clever machine.

Best served: warm and eaten from a paper bag - truly scrumptious.

A second trip to London on Wednesday.

The weather was a perfect Winter's day - bright and cold.

Trafalgar Square. 

I've never stepped foot inside this pub but adore its Tudor-ism.

And this is why we were back in London...

Elliott and I are huge Harry Potter fans,

the films and books got us through many difficult years when

Elliott was unwell.  We've been waiting to see this theatre production

for a long time and finally many months ago 

I was able to get some very cheap tickets. 

(If you are not HP fans you may want to skip the next few paragraphs!)

The production is in two parts so we were there for the matinee and 

returning in the evening for part 2.

The seats were up in the gods but that was what we expected (cheap seats).

We set off for the day, had a lovely lunch and settled down

for the first part of the performance although slightly fearing if we leaned 

forward it would be like falling off the north face of the Eiger.

But... something we wasn't prepared for, we didn't like it!  

At the first interval we looked at each other incredulously.

We were stunned at how badly the characters were portrayed,

if you love Harry - you would hate him after watching this.

We think the Director told everyone to scream and whine their lines,

it truly hurt your ears.

The story is poor and involves time travel - a tricky thing to pull off and sadly

it doesn't. For two HP addicts we just kept shaking our heads.

There was magic and some of it cleverly done, but on the 

whole there was an awful lot of cloak swishing and pointless dancing.

The props were mainly suitcases and two staircases 

continuously wheeled around the stage and don't even get me started on the 

Sorting Hat!

So you can probably tell we were not happy so we decided we wouldn't

waste our time and go back for the second part in the evening.

We were on the train and back home to Bella.

Never in a million years did we think that would happen

and we are very relieved that we hadn't paid a lot for our tickets.

Theatre review over! 

Now an update you've all been waiting for...(ha ha)

did Patio Magic work?

Oh my goodness YES it did! 

Just days after spraying this paved area (and after a good downpour)

it is so much cleaner.

I've sprayed the paving at the front of my house now

and Mum and Dad have been convinced too.

I feel a bit silly getting excited about this but it is so satisfying 

to find products that actually do what they promise.

And finally a little memory to share.

This was the Hope and Chances' shop 6 years ago today.

Made me smile to see Grand Caliburs.

And that's it for this week.

I've got a quiet weekend planned, some crochet will be done I'm sure.

Next week - in the cabin, working on writing and the March Charity Kit.

Have a lovely weekend and let's hope for just a smidgen of rain 

to help clean those patios! 

Take care friends.