Showing posts with label Whitstable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whitstable. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Sea and the Gloatfest


On Monday, two of my Flickr mates took me on a great daytrip to Whitstable, a little seaside town in Kent. It's just the sort of place where I could imagine Mr. Peggotty, Ham and Little Emily living in their overturned-boat-turned-house, although I think they lived in Yarmouth. It was really fun -- great company, and nice to be in a place where the scale of things is smaller than in London.


The three of us happily wandered about with our cameras, pointing at the sea, rocks, beach huts, birds, and boats. I took dozens of photos and will add more to my Flickr photostream when I get a chance to sort them out.


Yesterday, I walked through Southwark and went to the Imperial War Museum in the morning (there was a roiling sea of school groups in the museum, so I didn't stay long, but did go through an exhibit about the WWII experience of children in Britain), bought knitting needles at I Knit in Lower Marsh Street, met a Flickr mate and a Ravelry mate for lunch, and looked for Donna Leon books for rosenbeans at the book stalls under Waterloo Bridge (sorry, no luck). After that, a group of six of us did our volunteer work at Southbank Mosaics. I don't have any photos of that
, but I will write more about it later (here's one of my mates' photos of me working on one of the Blake mosaics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76743095@N00/2436035855/).


Then, it was on to the Royal Festival Hall for the Guess Where London meetup, a.k.a. Gloatfest, in the bar. It was so nice to see people I'd met last autumn again, and to meet more of the group.

Today is my last day of exploring, and I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do. Time to check the weather forecast and make a plan.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Almost Set to Jet

Cheyne Walk circa 1800.Cheyne Walk c. 1800Plans are falling into place for London. I've got Spooner's birthday prezzies all ready to pack, including a few from his ex. The weather over there has been like a yoyo -- in the low 60s on Friday, then 30s and snow today -- so I can't figure out what clothes to pack. Here are some highlights of what I'll be doing over there:
Rosenbeans has requested that I look for floaty pens, Earl Grey tea and Donna Leon books for her, so I'll check my favorite souvenir stand next to St Martin-in-the-Fields and a bookstore in Belsize Park called Daunt. ScribeGirl wants more soap from Covent Garden Market. Anyone else with requests should let me know. Stay tuned for further developments.