london1967 | Entries tagged with neighbours

I had a short week at work since I was in Italy on Monday but by the time Friday night came I was rather exhausted.
Work has been stressful as I had to sort out some problems (passed over from the Indian office) with the software just hours ahead of going live at a client's site. (And I'm sure it's not over yet - I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, although I never am anyway! lol)

So on Friday evening I arrived late at Mike and Alex's who had invited us round for dinner but couldn't do otherwise as I had been told that I was allowed to leave the office until the problem was sorted.
We had a lovely dinner and Adrian (

london1952) has already posted the pictures.

This week-end I have done very little.
Yesterday I did something slightly out of character and went round to a couple of neighbours 2 roads up demanding back for some stuff that they had borrowed 6 months ago.
T. (one half of a gay couple) took over the editing and production of the residents' association's 'magazine' from us, as we got a bit tired after a few years of doing it.
He borrowed a memory stick and the complete 'magazine' collection in September, and not only he didn't produce the magazine before Christmas (or even afterwards) but he stopped replying to e-mails.
So yesterday I had a quite enough and knocked on his door. I was kept waiting on the doorstep while he rummaged upstairs for the memory stick and the magazines. Then I was sent off without even an apology but with just a 'There you go. Bye'. When I looked at the folder he gave me, I realised that they weren't even our copies but a collection of articles and notes for the never published issue of the magazine.
I was fuming. I went back and knocked again and told his partner that it gave me the wrong stuff. Apparently they are going to ring us when they find them. Probably at the same time when pigs will fly (as they don't know our telephone number!)
But I'm going to go round again next week-end. Oh yes I am!

When I was at my parents', I finished re-reading (3rd time I think), the Mapp & Lucia series by E. F. Benson (and the title of this post is paying homage to Mr. Georgie).
Our estate is not quite Tilling but in a way it's not that dissimilar with the gossip, the falling outs and the intense interest in the little everyday occurrences which are so much more important to all of us than world events.

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

John and Sarah are coming to dinner tonight.
They are the couple who took over the old 'estate house' - which had been empty and neglected since the 70s - and turned it into a small and lovely gardening centre with cafe'.

These are a couple of things I made.

A basket of bread sticks (sea salt/sesame seeds/poppy seeds)
P1050763

to go with a very green pesto and pea soup.

And for dessert, bonèt a traditional Piedmontese amaretto pudding which I chose to decorate with cream and raspberries
P1050771

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: London, SE20

So here we are on the last day of the Diamond Jubilee week-end.
It's also the day of our local street party. It is dry so far but the weather forecast is far from encouraging this afternoon.

It may also be Adrian (

london1952)'s last event as the residents' association's social even co-ordinator as he resigned a few days ago. I think he's burnt out and a bit fed up with the apathy: not many people are bothered enough to help or even reply to flyers and e-mails, but everyone expects smashing events and are always ready to moan. But that's human nature, I guess!

Putting aside all this negativity, I hope that the street party will be fun!

There's a "Grand Trifle Competition" and since it doesn't seem there will be many entries, I made a trifle to boost the numbers.

It started as a traditional trifle but along the way got a Piedmontese twist with zabaglione (instead of custard) and Chantilly cream on top. I've decided to call it "Double-trouble trifle" due to the large quantity of alcohol used not only to soak the sponge base, but also to make the zabaglione.

How will it fare against Adrian's "Anglo-Italian trifle"? (which is my favourite to win). Will we come home with a prize or in disgrace, with no alternative to moving away from the area? Only time will tell!

I also made some "patriotic" almond macaroons...

It all started well with two eyes (reminiscent of the Trip Advisor logo) staring out of the Italian meringue

The bake produced mix results but there were enough good ones to make these

The colours are not quite right but well, what can one do?

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

and of course the handsome director, in a Marie Antoinette meets rainbow Marge Simpson wig!
(Pictures taken by Matthew, a neighbour)

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, WC2H

Today it was the first "A Taste of the Cottages" event in which a number of residents open their house for one of the 4 one-hour slots and other neighbours (and friends) go and eat. Think of it as a party on the move!

It was a good afternoon with an excellent turnout.

Mike and Alex joined us

This is what we prepared

It was fun but tiring. I don't think I want to bake again for quite a while! lol

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: London, SE20

Last night we had the first read-through of

with a few members of the cast.

They all appear to enjoy it and were very complimentary about my efforts! Such lovely neighbours!

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

Tomato and almond soup:

Focaccia:

Cumin roast chicken:

Cherry and raspberry pavlova:

Vin santo ice-cream:

The aftermath.

A full Adrian:

Stuff to put away:

Current Mood: full
Current Location: London, SE20

A neighbour was so taken with a photo in sepia of the rose climbing up our cottage, that she wanted an enlargement to frame.

So I ordered it and last night I mounted the photo (using some board left over from my City & Guilds photography course 5 years ago), and put it in the frame that she had provided

She was very pleased with the end result.

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, WC2H

The weather has been so dry in the last few months that I've often found myself wishing for some rain.
Well it all arrived yesterday afternoon... in time for our local Open Gardens event!
At first it was drizzle and then heavy rain.

People were not put off (good idea to sell the tickets in advance! LOL) and neighbours and their friends visited 17 gardens around the estate.

Ours was opened too and we also sold greeting cards (with pictures of the/inspired by the cottages taken by a number of residents, including yours truly) and jars of 2 different local honeys produced by the lovely Miranda's and Lynne's bees. (Profits went to the residents' association).

In spite of the rain there was a lively (and very British!) atmosphere and we met some new neighbours too.

Here's Adrian with everything ready

and here are 2 bears (our friends Alex and Mike) ~~in the woods~~ in our waterproof gazebo

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

Our 'Royal' Afternoon Tea party went very well. (Despite the name, not many people had tea, judging from the number of empty bottles of sparkling wine!)
We had 26 guests (down from the 46 at Christmas when it was just too crowded to move around) and everyone seemed to have a good time.

The Queen Elizabeth cake (thank you

bobalone for the recipe!) that Adrian baked looked rather exotic with its coconut flakes topping and it was a huge success!

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

All our hard (but enjoyable) work paid off and we had a fantastic Saturday afternoon.
An exhausting afternoon with setting up, then the dress rehearsal, followed by the performance and tidying up.

We had about 120 people in the church hall and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. There was a lovely buzz and all the actors (and ourselves) got a great round of applause.

I must say that it was fantastic to see a product of my imagination come alive, although I feel I didn't really manage to watch the show properly as I was too busy with following the script to see when I had to play the music tracks (it was a murder mystery with a show within - the audience loved the magic tricks and singing along to WWII favourites).

I only took some photos before the dress rehearsal and after the show, but Miranda took plenty and I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

Fiona (Adrian's sister) came down from 'up north' to play clairvoyant Miss Topaz Orb on her birthday

Singer Miss Gracie Twitter and "off-duty but always alert" Police Constable Eugenie Hopper

The cast before the rehearsal

and after the performance

Fiona wasn't the only person travelling a considerable distance. Our lovely friend David (

bazanges ' partner) shone as retired Inspector John Knowall.

But I guess that the real star is our community: it is wonderful to be able to stage such events with neighbours and for neighbours!

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: London, SE20

On Saturday evening we had planned a quiet evening with Lynne, with a fish & chip supper in Beckenham just the three of us.
But as it often happens, other neighbours joined in and the evening ended in Lynne's garden with 13 of us.

PJ and Sue

bought a couple of Chinese 'flying lanterns' and of course they had to be lit up.
The first one didn't quite follow the plan and got briefly stuck on a neighbour's bedroom window on its ascent!

It looks like a fun evening from the photos and it was for most people. But somehow I felt quite miserable (I had felt 'down' all week) and sat quietly in a corner listening in to the 3 or more conversations going on at the same time.
I guess one cannot always be cheerful!

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

As enjoyable as the evening at the theatre was, we couldn't really let Lynne get away without a party - after all, you turn 40 only once.
We decided to invite only who we thought were - in Adrian's words - her nearest and dearest; the problem was of course surprising Lynne.

We managed last year with a mid-week gathering after a meeting at the police station; this time I came up with the idea of a late morning "breakfast party"!

It worked - we got her hook, line and sinker!

She arrived with Miranda (our accomplice) carrying a wash&vac machine we asked to borrow (some mulled wine was spilled on the carpet last week-end); all our guests were waiting quietly in the sitting room and when I opened the door, it was clear that she wasn't suspecting anything as she joked quite loudly about the vacuum giving the best blow job of my life!

She carried on talking as she walked in the dining room, and when everybody started singing Happy Birthday, she screamed!

It was a lovely little gathering and we all had a great time!

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

Half the cast of Lady Bountiful came round this evening to record their charachers' introductions.
Lynne and Miranda filmed and directed, I shot with another camera and Adrian set the scene.

It's late and my ankle is the size of a (small) melon but it was worth it: such fun!

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: London, SE20

The 50th anniversary Tea Dance on Saturday was a great success!

Adrian (

london1952 ) should be proud of what he achieved as it was organised impeccably with so much attention to detail. Of course he couldn't have done it withouth the help of many other neighbours, especially Lynne, and Miranda.

We are very fortunate to live in a tiny corner of London where we have an active residents' association and most neighbours are friendly (I'm sure it's not the only one).

Many people made cakes, jams, brought flowers, dressed "eggs" and even many more turned up for afternoon tea and dancing. A great time was had by all.

We invited a few friends but only Roy - a friend from the gym - could make it.

When he got there, he said that it was like stepping back in time (and that it looked like Little Britain! Well, it did!)

Here are a few pictures:

(Lynne made this!!)

Should you want to see more, here's the complete set:

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, WC1A

Do you prefer to do things on the spur of the moment or to have everything planned?

I am a planner but I seem to enjoy spontaneous activities more, probably because there is no time to build up expectations.

Having so many friends who are neighbours means that on spur of the moment social activities are very doable.

Last night, for instance, Lynne popped round in her car so to deliver the cherries and plums that she had bought earlier in the countryside for Miranda and us. Neil was at Miranda's and Emma (visiting from Berlin) was with Lynne so they all called for a drink/cuppa before dinner, and it was lovely.
Even though I was in the middle of washing up pans, saucers, cutlery after making some jam for the competitions linked to Saturday's tea dance.

(Hopefully the Tea Dance will live up to expectations – Adrian’s put so much work into it).

I am not a jam-maker but I thought it'd be nice to enter something to boost numbers. Sadly my first jam (blackberry) went into the bin (too solid and caramelised); the second (kiwi and lime marmalade), although firmer than expected, was rather nice and the third (chilli jam) turned out well.

After washing up, my hands were burning because of the chilli and couldn't get them to cool down: I had to put on some aloe vera gel for burns!

On Saturday we had an impromptu outing: we went to the Lambeth Country Show at Brockwell Park (only 7 minutes away by train) with Lynne and Miranda.

It was the expected mix of funfair, food/drink/plant stall, charity and organisations stall, and the competition tent.

The most popular section in the tent was the one with the vegetables 'dressed' to look like animals, celebrities (MJ of course!), etc.

Of course we had to stop for tea and cakes. We were joined by Claire, a friend of Miranda's and then bumped into Graham, another friend from Penge, and we

A sight that wasn't as welcome, was a large (about 30) gang of black youth, sporting yellow scarves who were walking in our direction near that stage. That sort of encounter would end up in hospitalisation under normal circumstances, but in this case they were closely followed by a group of policemen.

Here are more pictures from Saturday:

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

What a busy week-end! I feel more tired than on Friday night.

Saturday was dead-heading the Albertine rose after the copious blooming, followed by a lovely dinner at Neil + Bobby's (with Peter and Sim).

Yesterday we also took the decision off cutting back the clematis armandii that grew up the front of the house. I think it was about 20 years old and out of control: branches using the attic as an anchoring point, and under the layer of green leaves there were masses of dead wood.
Hopefully it'll grow back.

And here it's the before and after (6 hours of work, 13 bags of garden waste, a number of cuts and scratches):

We only had time for a bit of light baking

apricot clafoutis (Adrian had made panna cotta in the morning), and a shower before going to Lynne's for a delicious roast chicken dinner (and a delightful evening).
[We even met a new bear recently moved to Penge, Guy, a friend of Miranda's].

And in a few hours it's back to the grindstone....... noooooooooooooooooo!

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: London, SE20

Can it really be Sunday night already?

The week-end went in a flash.
On Friday evening, Lynne, her Mum and Auntie Mary came round for dinner and a game of Sybarit. There was much laughter.

Saturday was spent pottering in the garden and doing some tidying up.
Wonderful weather, not a cloud in the sky as Adrian realised later. Poor

london1952 !

Today was the Open Gardens event: 15 gardens were open around the estate to neighbours and their friends.

Mike and Alex joined in the fun!

(P.S: The tarts in the picture - I am talking about the tomato ones (LOL!) - were some of the food we prepared to offer our visitors together with scones and mini-eclairs).

I went around the gardens with Alex and Mike (we all looked very respectable - a vicar always adds a certain gravitas) while Adrian stayed behind, and later we swapped.

The afternoon ended with drinks and nibbles further up the road; when we got home Miranda came round for a glass of Sangria. And now time for supper and then bed.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: London, SE20

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

Current Mood: slightly grumpy (long day!)
Current Location: London, SE20

Amazingly, we've had another sunny week-end (with only one very brief shower).

Saturday was spent pottering in the garden and being lazy; today we had a lovely Sunday roast (beef) at Lynne's to celebrate PJ's birthday (another neighbour).

As PJ and Sue loved the Simnel cake at Easter, I made one for them and we turned it into a birthday cake by sticking candles in the marzipan balls.

It was a great afternoon!

erstexman 's dance card is already filling up with the neighbours! LOL! (if you fancy a change from sightseeing Evan).
Next Sunday we are all invited to a BBQ at Gary and Luca's; while the following Saturday Peter and Sim, and Lynne are coming round for dinner.

The garden is looking quite lovely at the moment.
Here are some pictures of the tulips and of some of the other flowers:

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: London, SE20

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london1967

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From 'La Mole' to Penge

Not always a smooth journey

Entries tagged with neighbours

How tarsome!

Cooking

Food for the street party

The fabulous cast of the panto

Baking week-end

Panto time!

Another lunch party

My 'mounting skills' (lol)

Be careful what you wish for!

Tea for 28

Lucille's Seaside Spot of Bother

Shenanigans at Lynne's

Lynne's Birthday (part 2)

Action!

50 years!

Plan or improvise?

Bye bye Armandii

(no subject)

My Sunday

Sunny week-end in Penge