From 'La Mole' to Penge

These pictures should really go on london1952 's journal as he took them all (apart from the last two).


Repotting some seedlings in the morning

In the afternoon we went to Gary& Luca's BBQ (erstexman  was also invited).

Did we have fun? Well sort of. Apart from the neighbours (Sue, Lynne) the majority were bitchy South-African twinks (friends of Luca's) and we didn't really mix at all.


Wallflower or sociopath?

I know I should have made more of an effort, but well I'm too old to pretend and to care!

The weather also turned rather chilly.


Lynne went home to get a couple of blankets


and a vintage board game (London buses) which kind of saved the day

All the neighbours (and Evan) left together and came back here to get warm, drink tea, eat cake and play "20 questions" and Consequences.  And that was the best part of the day! (the BBQ food was also great: thank you G+L)


Sue and Lynne defrosting

We just got back from Richard and Con's BBQ/Birthday party.

It took a while to get there because I left the piece of paper with their address at home.  And my mobile too so I didn't have Richard's no. either.

I could only recall that the first of the three digits was a 1. We looked for signs of a party and tried to smell a BBQ, but in vain. After some wandering, we spotted a couple who knocked at a front door and it was RIchard who answered it! 

*-*-*-*-*        
It was a mix of bears and neighbours.

I am not very good at socialising at parties (and hopeless at small talk in general) but I made a valiant effort.

I recognised a guy who I used to chat to on-line ages ago and started talking to him:
"Last time I saw you, we were all in Sitges"
   "Yes almost 2 years ago"
"And you were with a stag party. You were the one getting married, weren't you?"
   "Yes it was me"
"Where's your partner tonight?"
   "We split after only 89 days"

Bloody hell, I thought. I put my foot right in it! It was my last overture of the evening.

Lynne and Jennifer invited us to a barbecue they organised for all the people living in their road, due streets up from us.
They closed the road (it's a cul-de-sac), and with the help of neighbours set some tables and chairs in the middle of the street; they had 3 barbecues going in their front garden.
Adrian prepared lots of pork and vegetable kebabs, and we brought some sausages (cooked at home) too, plus beer.
It was a very nice afternoon/evening: we were there eating, drinking and chatting from 3 pm till 9:30 pm!!
Peter and Sim, Neil and Bobby, Sue, and many other friendly faces were there.

It's amazing that we are in London (only 18 minutes by train from Victoria) but yet it's a place where you talk to your neighbours and there's a sense of community. This is really because these four streets are quite separate from the rest of the neighbourhood (being a conservation area) and we have a rather active residents' association. (The fact that there is a number of gay/lesbian couples helps too!)

We had quite a bit to drink... so when we got home Adrian (london1952 ) decided to sing me some Celine!! The camera only recorded about 30 seconds before switching itself off.... but isn't he just so funny and adorable?