A Ferris Wheel For Us Big Kids

I met my friend for coffee in Hampstead and there was a Christmas Fair. There were food stalls, a petting zoo, birds of prey display, reindeers and an organ machine playing Christmas carols. 

On the upper end of the high street was a ferris wheel and other rides.

So my friend and I got on the ferris wheel. The enjoyment of high amusement rides is different for us big kids. The little kids were calm with their accompanying parent. But for us, if we weren't squealing, we were wailing in trepidation.

Terror...

Glee!

A Tale Of The Spinning Burrito And My First Shiner

It happened on my way into the office after I popped out for a burrito. We have auto revolving doors but sometimes you need to push them manually. I approached and it started to revolve so I walked through and it stopped in my face. My cheekbone hit the metal handrail and nearly smacked my glasses off.

I was shocked. Not only because of the impact, I also dropped my burrito. I was trapped in the door so I gave it a push and suddenly the doors spun twice as fast! So quickly I couldn't pick it up. I jumped out of the doors and watched helplessly as my burrito rolled anti-clockwise in some kind of ridiculous taunt.

I looked up to see the receptionists' stunned faces and caught the eye of one sympathetic gentleman who got up from his chair to make sure I was ok. I pretended everything was fine and rescued my burrito, still hot and foil wrapping intact. 

A few hours later, my upper cheek swelled and a shiner was coming through. I couldn't wait to get home, into my onesie and make cheese souffle. It's not a cure but as long as I'm not looking in the mirror, everything will be just fine. 

My shiner a few days later. 

This Is Autumn

 The sun shone so much today the sky was burnt blue. A walk through Hampstead Heath set the scene for autumn. Dogs, coats, gumboots and kites. By afternoon, the light was gone and people scurried home from the shops to prepare for the cosy indoors. 

Saturday Starting With Irish Soda Bread

It's not officially winter but its weather has kicked in. I slept in till 10am-a stretch since I hate wasting hours of sunshine. I felt lazy and was relieved in a way that it was raining outside. There was no incentive to leave the flat.

For breakfast I whipped up a loaf of Irish soda bread. I got hooked on the stuff in Dublin. It has a delicious smell and takes only half an hour to make. The ingredients are buttermilk, wholemeal flour, white flour and salt. All which I had in the kitchen. I thawed the buttermilk as I keep some in the freezer and picked out a heap of raisins out of the cereal box to add to the bread. I like soda bread with fruit so you gotta make do...

The bread turned out perfect and smelt a treat as it was coming out of the oven. 

Thanks to the buttermilk, the texture was soft and well aerated. The aroma intensified as I sliced it while it was still warm. Soda bread success!

The slices went into the toaster and was served with lashings of Anchor butter. (Grant's favourite from NZ.) Utterly scrumptious.

I did some chores and by the time I walked out of the flat to go shopping, it was night-dark and only 5pm. 

I went to Camden where I bought a sweater from a charity shop and pearl jasmine green tea, white peony tea and a glass tea infuser. Teas are really my "thing" at the moment. It's comforting, healthy and kind to the tummy. 

Grant and I went to Leicester Square for dinner. I had an uncontrollable craving for Five Guys burgers. It was manic out there and awful having to wait in a queue freezing. Poor Grant promised he would go with me to Five Guys and he took the wait on the chin. We were suckers for punishment. It was so busy, I reakon we waited for an hour from when we got in the queue to when we got our food. 

Grant asked for no onions but it seemed like he got double the serve of onions in his burger. I complained and they gave him the correct burger straight away. No point of paying nearly £9 for a burger if it's not to full satisfaction. Mine was tasty and very messy but it was a craving down and I'll never do Saturday night Five Guys again.

Then I started posting in my new blog, My Hair Growth Story. It's based on my quest to grow my hair to the bottom of my ribs, something which I've never done before. As a little girl I was never allowed to grow hair past my nape but now it's rebelling big time!