Lunch at the Market

Nepalese booth at Greenwich Market

 

Yesterday my visits fell in perfect alignment for a quick lunch in Greenwich. I had to stop at Biscuit anyway to pick up my pottery (photos soon), and seeing as the Market and Biscuit are next-door-neighbours, it was just timely.

Soup and samosas!

I suppose this is one of the biggest perks of working in the Royal Borough of Greenwich; on very rare occassions I find my work bringing me to the fun areas (namely Greenwich Town Centre or Blackheath) where I can get yummy food and see nice things. Don’t get me wrong – there are a few (and I mean few) shops offering good food in Woolwich (the Caribbean restaurant on Powis Street, or Tasty’s the African shop), but beyond The Dial Arch, there’s nothing classy about Woolwich.

Which brings me back to the treat lunch in the Market. Delicious.

 

There were lentils and it was soup - 'nuff said.

 

Gardening Season Arrives (as does Buddy)

Buddy the Monster helps to plant some Rhubarb

Yesterday I had a bit of calm to wander around ‘The Blue’, our local market space. I bought some miso paste, dropped off some items at the charity shop (and also bought a few articles of clothing- finally a chocolate brown cardigan!), scored nine books from the Blue Anchor library sale for the amazing price of .90p – total(!!!), and a rhubarb bulb from the flower stand.

Earlier in the day I took a jog down to the Postal Depot to collect a package from Edinburgh containing none other than Buddy – who has been sent on an ‘around the world’ voyage by his parents at The Monster Factory. He will be staying with me in London for the next 2 – 3 weeks, and on his first day got to take off his scarf to enjoy the early spring weather.

Back to gardening…

You might recall that last year our balcony garden was a glorious sight in the early summer months, however due to a dry spell, we lost most of our plants. It was sad. I don’t want that to happen this year. And more so than ever before, I need to nest! So yesterday I was stoked to find a Rhubarb plant for £2 at The Blue Market. The vendor gave me planting instructions and said it was pretty much failsafe, so off I skipped home to collect Buddy, a spade, and make a new home for my Rhubarb.

Rhubarb is ready to grow just outside our front door.

 

An Ex-Pat Meetup in Canterbury

Scratch that – let’s call this a field trip. Come one, come all to see the sights of Oldsy-Woldsy Canterbury!

Any ex-pats wanting to explore Ye Olde City? We’re going March 24. Tickets can be purchased 4 for the price of 2 with Southern so get your groups together. I don’t have anyone in my group yet so let me know if you’re interested. Here are the details:

09:49     London Bridge [LBG] Platform 5     Canterbury West [CBW] Platform 2     11:21     1h 32m

Anytime return.  Price for 4 people is £53.80 (that’s approximately £14 pp). Plus your costs of being in Canterbury, of course.

Lundi

It’s Tuesday. You know what that means?
Yesterday was Monday.
I encouraged readers last week to join in on my ‘Campaign to Reclaim Monday’ and now I am curious if anyone has made their own vow to fight the Monday blahs.
Did you do anything special yesterday?
My day went a little something like this…
Movie? Yoga? Movie? Yoga? Movie? Yoga?
Yoga.
I had been to the cinema the day before (aka Sunday) and my desire to tone up a bit before my friend’s June wedding won in the end.
What I learned is that to properly reclaim Monday I have to have my plan devised by Sunday evening. That way I can look forward to the after work plans all day instead of putting off the decision till after work.
Nonetheless , it was still a good class, I can feel that I had a good workout, and nothing tops the view from the yoga studio.

My campaign to ‘Reclaim Monday’

Lets face it; Mondays are quite possibly the worst day of the week. For too many years I’ve experienced a severe case of what is commonly known as ‘the Mondays.’ You know what I’m talking about – the dreaded wakeful hours Sunday night reviewing the next day’s to-do list, the chore of waking up on time to the early alarm (and it doesn’t matter how lovely the alert – the songbirds are still a rude awakening), and the migraine I get as homework after a long stressful day back in the office.
Not cool, Monday. Not cool at all.
So after a bit of thought (and some inspiration from my friend Candace), I’ve elected to shift my approach. Cue the Campaign to Reclaim Monday.
Today was day one in my quest to shift Monday from being ‘blah-I-hate-my-life’ to ‘well-that-was-manageable.’ Good news is, it worked. Here’s my secret…
Make Monday evening fun. I decided last night to go to the cinema this evening. With my new Cineworld card, I get unlimited films for £14.99 so it’s time to make it work for me. Tonight’s plan of attack involved a friend from work and a 6pm showing of ‘The Muppet Movie’.
Verdict? First Reclaim Monday was a success because I am feeling lovely relaxed. And the demands of the day seemed manageable knowing I was due for some excitement come home time.
Care to join the revolution? Just chose something fun for Monday night and make it your focus to get through the day!

Jamie told me to… Eat bacon

Ah, the bacon buttie… Also known as a bacon sandwich. It’s good stuff. Fry a bit of bacon, add some fresh bread, a dab of sauce (brown, Mayo, whatever – I’ve used butter) and BAM be ready for a flavour punch.

The bread is Spelt from Abel & Cole, and the tea is Lavender Earl Grey from Twining’s.

Sharm El Sheikh

I’m back.

Despite Embassy warnings of riots and other tensions in various Egyptian cities, those of us in Sharm were quite safe. Sharm El Sheikh, I learned, is a relatively new city – approximately 30 years old – that was built as a tourist destination. As such, the security levels are quite high and it’s safe to walk around at night.
El Sheikh is located in the eastern part of Egypt, on the Red Sea. It is a five hour flight from London Gatwick airport, and several airlines fly into Sharm. The airport is only 30 minutes from the area in which our resort, The Royal Albatros Moderna, was located – Nabq Bay in South Sinai.

Our resort was right on the beach, which was lovely. There were three pools – all cold – but who needs a pool when the Red Sea is just a few metres away? With the sun out, the weather was perfect – no sweaty beach issues, just a cooling breeze to offset the sun. The temperature was around 24 degrees while we were there. Lovely. We spent as much time at the beach as possible, and if you peruse the photos below you’ll see some of the sights we found.

On our second full day, we took a Yachting trip out into the great blue wonder of the Red Sea and went snorkeling. The instructor taught me how to dive deep down, although I need to practice a bit more before I can go to the sea bed. Lindsay and I both agreed that this was our favourite day; the snorkeling, the crew, and the variety of random sea creatures appearing on board made for a very interesting experience. We bought a DVD of our day trip, but I haven’t seen it yet.

We spent the rest of the time lounging at the resort. The food was not amazing – this hotel had nothing on the All Inclusives that I’ve been to in Mexico – but it also cost a LOT less. Either way, I wasn’t ready to come back afterwards!

View back at our hotel from the pier

Camels!

Royal Albatros Moderna

This is a conch – it has googly eyes!

Swarms of sea urchin

This, I believe, is an albatros

Relaxing in the sun on our first day

Next to the relaxation pool at our resort

Out in the water

Hermit Crab

Our MTS Guide, Temo, holding a scary orange fish they caught off the yacht.

Our crew of affiable yachtsmen.

I think the umbrellas look like toadstools

First day of sunshine

Lindsay on the beach at our resort

Tips:

- We found that the best place to eat was the ‘Tagine’ restaurant, which served local dishes vs. greasy British meals
- don’t drink the water! But the bottles are free in the fridge
- being a new city, Sharm didn’t seem to have much in the way of old architecture. In fact, outside the resort it was quite desolate. We kicked in inside, relaxation-style
- don’t let the beauty salon guys convince you that you need your face threaded… or let them show you an ‘example’.

Red Sea, Here I Come!

Five days in Egypt – yes please! I won’t have Internet access, so only leave me a phone message if it’s an emergency.You know who you are! Text if you need to get in touch.

Xxoo JR