I seem to be getting more comfortable admitting what I am reading. It’s a relief to finish the book and I wonder if I will get the next one in the series. I read until 12:30 am and then dream all night about the book. Last night was a little better because I only woke up every hour starting at 2 am instead of 1 am like the night before. Perhaps it’s because I decided not to have any brandy, cognac to be specific, last night. They say that makes apnea worse and I think I believe it. But maybe reading large books of this genre is the real problem.
If I had to choose between brandy and scotch I would pick brandy. Please don’t tell me brandy is a girlie drink, but I would not be surprise if that were so. Mmm, though. Super tasty and verra smooth. Does scotch get smoother with age? I bought a fairly cheap bottle but I’ve seen my friends back in CA go gagga over the occasional bottle of scotch and I wonder now if that’s to do with the age or just the brand, or perhaps both?
We had some new visitors: Adam and Loan. It was nice to see them. We went to their apartment near St. James Palace (right next to Green Park), drank some champagne and took this touristy picture with the guard. I didn’t want to do it and neither did Loan but we asked the guard if it was OK and he seemed fine with it. Henry Frackin VIII had this place built almost 500 years ago, and here it is just sitting at the end of a street we happened to be walking down. Pretty weird. Pretty cool.
We have been out and about in recent days. Madeline and Jason are playing football at Wormwood Scrubs. We take the tube from Hampstead to Tottenham Court Road and then to East Acton. We walk to the end of the street into the fields. It’s nice, with a cute little preschool on one side:
and a notorious prison on the other!
I think it’s a kinder and gentler prison nowadays but I admit I don’t know much about it. I am not sure how the grass is so green given the drought conditions of the last two years, but here it is again with Jason in the foreground:
Come to think of it, the grass looks less green over by the fields but perhaps that’s because the grass is more worn down by all the playing:
I came with Jason this time. Madeline plays first, early in the morning, and Jason’s starts at 11:30. Sue and I go in shifts. So by the time I got there Madeline was enjoying her second favorite sport:
Never have you seen so many Americans in one place but they’re all right - oops, I mean we’re all right. Just like back at home. There’s even an espresso van out on the field with a very cool machine I am just dying to try out.
The kids are doing well in school. Madeline seems to have a good number of friends, a couple of which have come over to our house to play in the neighborhood. It is a lot of fun and you can hear Madeline and her friends doing jump rope games as their voices echo around the court yard. One of her friends came to a Swiss Cottage Fair this weekend, benefitting a local school for handicapped children.
There were cars:
a crooked fun house:
very fun trampolines:
and we met the neighborhood bobby:
It was the day before the fair that we actually met him. He first told Sue that it was safe to walk down the main street at 9:30 at night by herself … and then gave her one of those personal alarm devices. Things that make me go Hmmm … It was his beat and he was darn proud of it.
We met another neighborhood bobby the day before as well, and I asked him about some of the crime that seems to occur. He says this is a well-off area and the bad boys that do crimes just like to come and rip off cell phones and jewlry from all the rich people who live around here. Niiice. I asked him, “So if I stand my ground and tell them to bugger off, will I regret it?” He told me not to do that. I said, “Just checking.”
We’ve started treating the kids to crêpes for dessert now. Originally we were getting the ham, cheese and egg crêpes … or should I say, butter crêpes with a bit of ham, cheese and egg on the side. But lately we’ve started going out after dinner to treat ourselves to the sweet variety, and they are mmm mmm good. This half French half Italian woman is happier than she looks in this picture:
The kids are as happy as they look - wait, they are actually happier than they look, too!
Fantastic photos!
Brandy, Grandma loves it!