Friday 7 February 2020

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.

9 comments:

hazel young said...

Those fishcakes sound divine, love the photo's. What a shame about HP performance. Glad you all had a great week in London. The patio looks great, storm Ciara is forecast for the weekend so lots of wind and rain. Great crochet/craft weather though. Have a great week xx Hazel

JeanD said...

Morning Christine,

You’ve certainly had a busy week. Shame about HP though (not the sauce)! We have a busy London weekend planned with friends who are staying with us. I think there’s going to be more than a smidgen of rain, unfortunately for us, but not for your patio! Have a good week. X

CraftyCoffey said...

What a shame about the Harry Potter performance & you did the best thing leaving early.

Nice selection of photos & news.

Michele

Margie said...

Sounds like you had a great time in China Town but shame about the HP production. I felt the same about the film Little Women. Wasn't impressed at all and yet its had good reviews. Good job I'd read the book otherwise I wouldn't have made sense of it at all! Looking forward to the March Charity kit as I missed out on this months. Thanks for doing your best to keep us all happy and for the good work for various charities. x

Littlelamb said...

Belated Happy Birthday to Mitchell. Sounds as if you had a great time in London. Apart from the Harry Potter production. Shame about that no point in staying until the end. I have heard differing verdicts on Little Woman. One liked it one didn’t. Didn’t seem to be anything like the book.

Patricia Howarth said...

Hi Christine, What a shame that the theatre performance of Harry Potter didn't make you all happy, but if you hadn't gone you would have always wondered if it was brilliant. Console yourselves with the fact that you all had a lovely day out, and what about those 'fishcakes', wow I have never seen anything like those, they look really 'interesting' and the fact that they are a 'sweet' version, wow !!
I'm glad your cleaner worked on your patio, I am waiting for some Block Blitz to arrive for cleaning my flags with, will let you know how it goes when hubby has done it.
I hope your weekend is calm, although the weather forecast sounds positively terrible for Saturday night and all day Sunday.
Lots of love from Patricia xx

karenlotty said...

Your trip to Chinatown looked lovely and this fish cakes look and sound delicious
What a shame HP was so disappointing I have to say I thought Little Women was brilliant...just goes to show we like different things
The patio looks fantastic I will definitely keep that in mind
I am gutted I totally forgot to look in on Sunday and not been lucky in getting a kit Hopefully I’ll be able to get one in March
Enjoy your crochet I hope to get some in but do have a very busy weekend xx

kittyedavies47@gmail.com said...

Morning Christine.
So sorry to be a day late again.
A lovely chat thank you. My order arrived safely thank you, it is lovely.
Sorry your trip to the theater was a disappointment.
Your patio looks lovely.
Have a lovely weekend Kitty.

Jackie Durrant said...

Hi Christine looks as though you have had a busy week but so nice to see you out and about with both Mitchell and Elliott. I can't recall ever going to Chinatown in London but sounds as though I should think about it. Such a shame the show was a disappointment. I have Create and Craft on as I write this and they are featuring a Harry Potter knitting book so perhaps something for you in between your crochet work. Thanks for the update on the Patio Magic. I will be giving this a try. Have a good week and hope the storm is not too bad today xx

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