I now have a nearly full set of Nordic Christmas Fairs in my basket of seasonal shopping activities. The last one (I promise) was a Danish one, which was held at Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead. This is an annual occasion and seemed very popular with locals and those travelling a bit further away. … [Read more...]
Wine tasting at The Old White Bear, Hampstead
I haven't been to a wine tasting for a very long time - in Wiltshire we used to go to our local, The Lamb On The Strand, which according to my country sources is still serving good food and great wine & beer.During our time, the wine tastings at The Lamb were quite rowdy affairs. The old … [Read more...]
‘Salt of Life’ at The Everyman Cinema in Hampstead
Valeria De Franciscis and Gianni Di Gregorio in Salt of Life. Picture Guardian online If you love Italy (Rome in particular) you'll love this film. It's a gentle, tragic and funny story of Gianni, a fifty-year-old man who after having been made redundant is being trampled on by all the women … [Read more...]
Summer lunch at Wells Tavern, Hampstead
The Wells TavernA London friend and I realised last week that since I'd moved up to the city, we hadn't once had lunch together. When I lived in the country I came up about once a month and we'd take in an art exhibition (with an MA in History of Art she's had the uphill struggle for many years to … [Read more...]
A wet Saturday in Hampstead
You'd think that amidst a recession on a wet Saturday afternoon, the staff at the gastro pubs in Hampstead would at least try to act friendly.In our usual haunt, The Holly Bush, I've yet to come across bad service, but oh my, does The Horseshoe miss the mark.Husband and I met up in … [Read more...]
The Chaos Theory
We've lived in the new flat in North London for nearly two months, one of which I spent galavanting around the Nordic countries, so for me the new life following our Big Move has only lasted a few weeks.Weekend before last Husband remarked that we really ought to stop treating our new life as a … [Read more...]
Heath Time
In the series of what a great city London is and what a great part of this city we are lucky enough to reside in, Hampstead Heath has to feature strongly. Before moving here, I'd only been to the Heath a couple of times when visiting friends. In those days the children were small and I was more … [Read more...]
I must have been dreaming…
During our flat-hunting weekend up in Hampstead we had the good fortune to see another play at the Donmar Warehouse on Saturday. This time it was the turn of Simon Gray's The Late Middle Classes with Helen McCrory, Peter Sullivan, Eleanor Bron and Robert Glenister. I have to admit to an … [Read more...]
In a spin over plates
When I sit down at a table in a restaurant and the first course is served on a oblong, square, or half-moon shaped plate, or even worse on a piece of slate or wood, my heart sinks. I may be dull and old-fashioned but I like my coffee in a cup and my food on a round plate. When it's anything else, I … [Read more...]
