The last 2 weeks

As you may have noticed, I've been struggling to keep up with LJ this year but not to the point of being completely absent.

A few weeks ago I got the chop from a friend's  LJ in one of his periodic culls. I am not sure what 'crime' I committed as I am certain it was I who had commented last, but I'll never know as his is a friends-only journal. The irony is that he used to complain about people disappearing without a good-bye!
I was a bit disappointed as we had met him in the past, although very briefly; on the other hand there was often a bit of a sting in the tail in some of his comments (but of course, it could all just be in my mind), so oh well, I won't be slitting my wrists quite yet.

So before I bore you all with a summary of my last 2 weeks, please feel free to hit the de-friend button should you feel compelled to do so. I am big boy (as I have often been told! LOL) and I can take it.

Two weeks ago we were very daring and had a night out mid-week.

It started with dinner at The Ivy



We went for the affordable set menu (available until 6 pm - my office is a 2 min walk from the restaurant - and after 10 pm).



We both had the same starter: "Slow cooked salt beef hash with fried hen egg, HP jus"



and main course "Corn-fed chicken breast with creamed polenta & vine roasted tomatoes"



Adrian chose the "Chocolate orange steamed pudding with custard" for dessert


while I enjoyed a "Piña colada parfait with peach melba"


It was all rather yummy and beautifully presented.

After the meal, we went to the Duchess theatre for a preview of





The play is about an am-dram group putting on a murder mystery. And of course everything goes wrong with hilarious consequences.
It was very funny (Adrian was crying!), and it must have been really physically demanding and exhausting for the cast, who were probably full of bruises (I would have been!) by the end of the play.

That week, on the Saturday, I baked some natas (Portuguese custard tarts) flavoured with orange



which we later took with us to the Crystal Palace's Antenna Studios for a "free evening of 3½ short films starring the palace, the park and the subway. A night that frames Crystal Palace as a magical zone of pleasure and transformation."
We went with Michael and Christopher, who live in Crystal Palace.





The movies shown were (descriptions taken from the Deptford Film Club website):

• The Pleasure Garden (Dir. James Broughton 1954, 37mins)

"Amidst the ruins of the Crystal Palace Gardens, a frock-coated Minister of Public Behaviour (John le Mesurier) is determined to stamp out the least sign of indecency or lewdness. However a fairy godmother (Hattie Jacques) comes along in his wake and sets the characters in the park skipping, loving and dancing once more with the aid of her magic scarf. A Cannes-winning valentine to the land of Edward Lear, Shakespeare and pantomime."

• Amelia & the Angel (Dir. Ken Russell 1958, 26mins)

"A delightful mix of religious allegory and magical fantasy directed by Ken Russell, who lived in Crystal Palace for many years. A young girl, Amelia, distressed about losing the wings she was to wear in her school nativity play, is saved when she follows an angel into a mysterious building."

• Journey Into a Lost World (Dir. Ken Russell 1960, 22mins)

"The poet John Betjeman reminisces on Britain’s great historical exhibitions: Barnum and Bailey’s circuses, Brighton fairgrounds, Crystal Palace, Alexandra Palace, the original White City pleasure ground, the Empire Exhibition at Wembley and the Festival of Britain."

• Setting Sun (Dir. Dom & Nic 1996, 4mins)

"The video for Chemical Brothers’ 1996 hit, with vocals from Noel Gallagher."

Last Friday we went to the cinema in town to see


We loved it! It's about the unlikely (and rocky) friendship between a Welsh mining village and a London-based lesbian and gay group which was collecting money for the striking miners in the mid-1980s.
It's inspired by a real story and it's a very moving and funny film.

And now the garden.
The e-mail about the scaffolding at the end of the garden that I sent early on Thursday morning to the council produced unexpectedly swift results.
When I got home that same day it had gone!
We thought it a coincidence and informed the council, but they replied that an 'enforcement officer' had spoken to the scaffolding company that very morning. Since the permit had expired, they came round to remove it at once.

On Saturday we emptied the shed, and moved it so that now we have access to our narrow (2 ft) strip of land between our fence and the 2 flats, through a little gate in the fence.
By moving the shed we also managed to chop down a mock orange bush, which was too tall and too close to the building. A shame, I know.








While we were in the garden, we noticed some people on the roof of the top flat's bathroom. They came back to finish it off!

Also the landlord came to talk to me because I had sent him an e-mail to point out that the elevation of the its flat has been increased by a row of bricks. While this doesn't particularly bother me (and I won't report him to the council), I just wanted him to be aware that he can't just flout the regulations of a conservation area.

Here is a time-lapse view of the back garden from the back bedroom window: with tree, scaffolding and all the bushes; without the tree; without the tree, scaffolding and the mock orange bush.



In a way, we are already used to not having the tree any longer.
It often seems to be the case: you worry about things, and afterward it's all a bit 'meh'.

This week I am slightly concerned about the referendum on Scottish independence.
They are of course very welcome to do as they wish (coming from a country which was 'united' just over 150 years ago, I can understand them wanted to be 'independent') but I know that if they vote Yes, we'll paying for it, starting from the pound which will take a severe beating.
Oh well, we'll see.