South London Day

A couple weeks ago I spent a day visiting both my old South London stomping grounds and also exploring some parts of South London that I'd never been to. A day on buses is, like, my favorite thing! Check out this Google map I made of my day. Click on the placemarks for info and some pictures.


View South London trip in a larger map


My day:

South Woodford - tube to Stratford
Stratford - bus to Blackheath
Blackheath - hung out with old buddy Joe
Lee Green and Lewisham - past my old house and neighborhood
Lewisham - bus to East Dulwich
East Dulwich - bus to Denmark Hill
Denmark Hill - decided I wasn't ready to get on the train home, so went way south instead, on a bus
Penge - got off the bus at the wrong place, walked way over to East Penge station to find out it was the wrong one, walked over to West Penge where I could get on the Overground train to the city, texted Pete from the train and planned to meet him, but had to kill some time so got off at Wapping (north of the River)
Wapping - quaint area I'm mostly unfamiliar with. Still had to kill time before meeting at Canary Wharf, so took the bus through CW to Asda at Crossharbour
Crossharbour - got a sweater for £7 at UK's Walmart, then back on the bus to Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf - to meet my handsome husband for dinner
Then home the boring way, on the tube.

Be nice to me

I gave blood yesterday.

Pete and I regularly donate blood, mostly motivated by the fact he is O- (a universal donor), as I tell everyone, he "has a moral obligation to give." It's pretty fun.





Neither of us is squeamish or has any problems doing it and mostly we find the other "regulars" are the same. Plus you get free tea and cookies.




Pete thinks he is so special for being an O-. You should see him swagger in to those school gymnasiums.

One of my favorite things about it here

The little "dot" sprinkles are called Hundreds and Thousands.

I finally found egg nog

At least, I guess it is. I searched for it during the holidays to no avail. Then I spotted this at Tescos recently. I bought one but haven't been able to get myself to try it yet.

These are juice box-sized cartons, btw, and not refrigerated. ?

Valentines Weekend: White Cliffs of Dover

On Sunday when we left the resort we went to Dover, to see the famous White Cliffs. Typical English weather (gray, rainy, windy) and it was really beautiful.













We tried to take a picture of us in front of France (across the sea there) but mostly it's yet another close-up in which my husband is handsome and I'm .. not.




And ten points to anyone who gets this reference:

Valentines Weekend: Canterbury

A little slideshow I made of our Saturday in Canterbury. We loved it there - definitely a place to visit if you can!

Valentines Weekend: the ribs

There was a beautiful pub down the road where we had dinner our first night. They had a deal where if you can the entire ribs platter, you get a free chocolate ice cream sundae. Say no more to my husband!

I wish it was a clearer picture, but it is that whole huge thing, hanging over the side. This is an enormous plate.


My face while he was eating.
He didn't stop, and said he could even eat another rack of ribs when he was done. I have NEVER EVER seen such a huge strip of ribs. And it was resting on top of a whole plate of fries.
Well, it WAS a tasty sundae (I was granted a bite).

Valentines Weekend: the place

My Auntie Joyce and Uncle Rob gave us a Valentine's weekend away as a wedding gift. We had THE BEST time. We were in Canterbury, in Kent.
Above is the main building of the resort (!), and a video I took of the beautiful lodge we had for two nights!



That main building had a beautiful, huge reception area with two roaring fires, a snooker room, a pub, and a restaurant. Sadly we didn't have time to use any of those, but we did go in the pool.

This pool was smaller so Pete did 60 laps!

Birthday Part Two

I sometimes call Pete "an 8 year old" and what I planned for his birthday was evidence of that. It was a surprise night and I just told him where to drive.

First stop: McDonalds!
Pete opening his presents there.













Second stop: Waltham Abbey Marriott!
Pete jumping on the bed.













We both were talking recently about how we haven't been swimming in years. Also Pete LOVES and I mean LOVES hotels. So we had a surprise stay at the Marriott and had the whole pool to ourselves. Pete did 34 laps.. one for each year.

Next morning: Breakfast at the Candy Café!Great place.

My old man

Yeah Pete's birthday! Ok it was a month ago. But we had a great time. These are some pictures of our dinner out with his buddies.






Neil










Matt










Egle











Spencer



















Back at our house for cake and ice cream!